On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 11:24:08 PM UTC-5, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
I'm gearing up to make a couple sets of water ballast release valves for HP-24 kits, and I'm curious if there might be any interest in them as retrofits for other gliders.

I've seen some really goofy setups where you have to manually connect hoses inside the fuselage, with awkward arrangements of spherical valves and hoses and cables. And some of those were factory setups.

Well, I'm having none of it.

My setup will be similar to what the later DG and Schleicher gliders have.. Each valve is located inside the wing, actuated by a rod that protrudes from the root rib and engages a socket in a walking beam on the fuselage. You pull little lever and a cable actuates the walking beam which pushes the valve open. Water drains out of a hole in the bottom of the wing. No in-fuselage valves or plumbing, no chance for water to flood into the cockpit.

Anyhow, I'm just seeing if anybody is interested in a kit to convert their older glider to a more modern setup. Of course there'd be some wing surgery involved, and of course these would only be for gliders with Experimental AW certs. Cost would probably be about $400 for the two valves, mounting brackets, walking beams, cables, levers, and a sketchy installation diagram..

You'd be on your own for installation, including cutting and reinforcing the drain hole in the bottom of the wing, but it's not exactly rocket surgery.

Email me bob at hpaircraft dot com if you're interested.

Thanks, Bob K.

Retrofit kit produced for Schleicher gliders would do what you want to do. Contact me directly for more info.
UH