I was at the Schleicher factory last week, and asked about this. They
did purchase new higher temperature curing ovens to try to solve this
problem, but it has not helped much. It seems that it just has to run
its course over time. They did say that the shrinkage seems to be a
one-time thing, and it is complete after about 4 years. So if you wait
until then to refinish, you should not have to do it again.

Roger wrote:
Anyone know what the factory is doing to correct this problem? Has it
affected the buying decisions of those who bought ASW-27's or were
thinking of buying an ASG-29?

On Nov 2, 3:22 pm, "Mike the Strike" wrote:
One of the reasons I switched to Schemmp-Hirth from Schleicher was the
latter's recent problems with wings, especially the ASW-27, which was
my intended new ship. I have several colleagues with ASW-27s of both
old and newer production and they all have suffered from this problem
to a greater or lesser degree. I know of a couple that have needed two
refinishes since new, although this seems to be less common. I've seen
ASW-27 wings that look really ugly and that are well beyond the point
that performance is compromised.

There is no solution other than to refinish the wings, unless you're
happy to pay $100,000 plus for a ship that performs like an old ASW-20.

The ASW-28 does not seem to have suffered from this problems from the
few examples I have seen.

I have no personal knowledge of the 29, but plenty of rumors, which
I'll leave to others.

Mike

On Nov 2, 3:15 pm, wrote:

I have heard that the new ASG-29 and many of the ASW-27's have had a
noticeable spar cap shrinkage problem. I am looking for an unbiassed
discussion of this problem, the extent of the problem and possible
solutions (other than a wing refinish).