On Jan 7, 8:36*am, "noel.wade" wrote:
Hi All,

Assuming a budget of under $30k, I'm looking at upgrading my Russia
AC-4. *She's an excellent ship and I could do a whole lot more with
her... But with our weak conditions locally, I find myself itching for
a few more points of glide (currently about 31:1) and a lower min-sink
(currently somewhere around 130-140 fpm). *

snip

Any alternate suggestions of aircraft I may have overlooked?

Libelle? Light & easy to rig, not self-conecting but not hard to do,
and in light weather it will be at the top of the heap at our club.
Cheap as well, at least in the UK! Certainly a better glide ratio
than your current ship, and in the UK a guy has done his Diamond 500k
flight in one in 2007.