There are (were?) some Black & Decker (?) shop stands available from the bog
box home improvement stores that make far better wing stands than anything
else I've seen. The also make great tie down wing stands. They are made
of square steel tubing, have four feet and infinite vertical adjustment with
a strong adjustment lock. The top is a ~ 12" x 6" flat and tiltable plastic
table. They fold flat for storage/transport. You're probably seen them at
a gliderport since they are getting popular.

I modified my stands so the top tilts on two axis to fit flush with the wing
bottom. I also modified it to accept wing cuffs for tiedown. The stand
gets tied down securely but the wing just gets captured by the cuff. Of
course, the nose and tail get tied down very securely. The wing cuffs
usually just keep the wings from rocking and chock the ailerons but can hold
down a large lifting force if neccessary. There is normally no up or down
force on the wings.

Often airport tie downs are long cables anchored with concrete "dead men"
every so often. If I can arrange it, I will position the wheel right on a
deadman and anchor the wheel axle to it with heavy turnbuckles. This way,
the glider is going nowhere except to rock and swivel. The nose, tail, and
wing tie downs prevent that. My glider has ridden out 75 knot winds secured
this way.

Bill D


"JJ Sinclair" wrote in message
...
JJ, I agree with you and defer to your experience. However, I'd be
concerned
with tying down the cuffs from the front only. The spar being further
back,
wouldn't there be risk of the cuff exerting too much downward pressure on
the unsupported leading edge of the wing?

Yes, but that would (could) exert undue pressure on the trailing edge
(ailerons & flaps)
Definitely use a wing stand under the spar with a wide padded area.
The dinky one that came with your Cobra trailer isn't wide enough.



I, and a few others I've seen, will often survey the ramp before an
incoming
storm, checking tie-downs and trying to fix those that look shaky. People
that leave their gliders out during real blows are braver than me.

Yep, the last one I saw had two G-103's break loose and one slid up-
side-down into another bird. An intense discussion then ensued about
inadequate tie-downs. Finally a local judge ruled that it had been an
act of nature and the Hit'er didn't owe the Hit'ee any compensation. I
picked it up on the salvage market and she's flying today. BTW, next
winters project is a Puchacz that experienced a sage-brush landing at
Minden. The instructior (smallish gal) pulled the plug at 1000' to
test her student's (big guy) rope-break abilities. An intense
discussion then ensued about which runway would be most appropriate
(left back to 30 or right to 16). They fought and finally nestled (not
so gently) into the sagebrush about halfway between the two runways.
Bad spiral broken boom, but I just found a good rear-end from a spun-
in Puch, a little cut & paste and she'll live to fly again!
:) JJ