TJ wrote:
Hi,

End of the season sale. 30 rolls of
white gap tape for US$40 (post paid
in the US).

End of the season and a few boxes of tape
left. Go together with a friend and stock up
for next year. Tape is 1 inch wide and approximately
30 meters long.

TJ -

This sounds like the cheap off-brand variety which leaves a gummy
residue when removed. I now only use 3M white electrical tape; it is
about 3x the price, but worth it because you don't have to clean up the
mess left by cheap tape. I also find that I can use it twice if I am
careful, which makes the price differential insignificant.

I also have started taping just the upper gap (with a few inches on the
bottom of the wing). I have long suspected that that was all the
sealing necessary because it is high pressure air bleeding thru to the
upper, low pressure, air foil that creates the extra drag. Well, I got
a chance to test that hypothesis last weekend. I taped only the upper
gaps of my DG-400/17 and flew with a friend, who also owns a DG-400, on
a cross country flight in the same general region. We both were
carrying flight recorders and compared our flight statistics (from
SeeYou 3.4) after the flight. Rudy reported an average glide angle of
45.5, while I had 46.7. This, however, is not adjusted for our slightly
different wing loadings (I am probably 25 lbs heavier). I hope to do
some side-by-side glide tests in the future (weather permitting).

Tom Seim
2G
Richland, WA

Richland, WA