On Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 7:10:49 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Helped the new owner beat his 27 together, last Sunday.............he looked shocked when I suggested he "taper" at least one pin. Nothing too severe, just 15 degrees and only on the part that extends out the back side of both spars. Found a 40mm pin in the barn from K-21 and it has 5 degree taper that starts an inch from the end, that sharpens to 15 degrees about 1/2" from the end. Looks professional, did Schleicher ever offer a tapered pin? Anything would be better than their blunt pin that will only start when everything is EXACTLY perfect!
JJ

Hmm... the two 15's, two 19's and the 20 I've dealt with all had a moderate but helpful taper on the portion of the pins that extend out aft of the spar. None of them looked like they had been modified. I've helped one 26E owner who was having trouble taking the wings apart (he had previously owned a single pin type glider and at the end of a long day forgot to take the second pin out before derigging - as you can imagine the wings were most reluctant to come out) but I've never helped put one together nor did I take a look at the pins on that ship. Maybe they used to taper them more?