On Oct 30, 10:41 pm, "bumper" wrote:
Back when I worked for a living (though some employees may think that never
occurred), it was convenient to slip off to the airport and pull the Stemme
out of the T-hangar. Unfolding the wings took minutes, pre-flight a bit
longer, but altogether much less time and effort than rigging a glider.

The Stemme allowed me to go soaring as easily as pulling a Mooney out of the
hangar. It also allowed operations at a tower controlled airport (Napa, CA)
with no hassles either as a power plane taxiing out or, a few hours later,
as a glider returning to land. There's no way I could have enjoyed such
spur-of-the-moment soaring with the ASH26E I own now.

The Stemme S10-VT is uniquely capable when it comes to ground handling,
cruising under power, cruise climb to high altitude (great for saw-tooth
eating distance), and soaring performance including high speed polar. All of
this capability rolled into one package does come at a price. Systems are
complex and ship maintenance shouldn't be ignored. Yearly maintenance costs,
while not a deal breaker, will be significantly more that with a pylon
self-launcher.

So why did I sell the Stemme for a ASH26? I retired and moved to Minden, so
some of the Stemme's advantages were no longer needed. I continue to fly the
26E alongside my Stemme friends. The ships perform very similarly, though
the 26E will outclimb the S-10 in smaller or weaker thermals. Running
between thermals at 90 knots, the sink rate is so close it's hard to tell a
difference.

Under power there is no comparison. The S10-VT easily climbs at 90 - 100
knots and is still going strong at 18K. In level cruise it easily does 125
knots without pushing hard. The ASH26E can climb 8K AGL if you're patient.
In level cruise it'll do 70 knots (due to the climb prop). On the plus side,
my 26E has been very reliable.

Yup, I lived through the VT's early-on prop, gear box recalls and most of
the AD's. Even so, if I needed the capabilities of the Stemme I'd consider
buying another.

As far a bemoaning the prices of self-launchers and motorgliders in general
. . . have you checked the price of a new Cessna? Even with the weak dollar,
compared to the aluminum stuff new gliders still look pretty good.

bumper
Quiet Vent kit & MKII "high tech" yaw string (the cheapest toys you can get
for your glider)

Bumper,
As usual you are right on. My situation is more like yours when you
operated out of Napa. Also like you, my living situation may change
when I retire. That would change my requirements and a self launcher
would be more acceptable.
Dan