Thatcher Smith wrote:
-do those of you who operate these or similar machines ever lose
soaring days due to malfunctions in the power system?

To add to the other posts: OF COURSE! My general rule is that the
maintenance on a glider is roughly proportional to its utility. So,
with any motor glider or self launcher, you can probably expect 90% of
your maintenance to be propulsion related. But the ship is 10X as
useful unless you're a purist who only uses the engine to launch. So,
yes, you'll lose some days to propulsion maintenance & repair. But
you'll also get to fly on many more days that it wouldn't make any
sense in a pure glider. Overall, you'll be far ahead in the number of
days you can fly -- particularly if you can base a motorized glider
closer to home than the typical 1-2 hour drive to a gliderport. I'd say
the biggest barrier to most people owning MG's as opposed to unpowered
gliders is cost.

Martin