Gary Emerson wrote in message .com...
I'm really curious what weak link people are using to winch launch
Blaniks with. If you are using the CG bridle, do you use the blue tost
weak link (in the BGA list) or a stronger one?... The
L-13 manual suggests a 2000 lbs link if you are using the bridle,
however there is no similar wording in the L-23 manual.

My club autotow-launched a Blanik L-13 1995-2000; we used dacron rope
and the standard bridle with no weak link because we tested the actual
breaking strength of the rope with a tensiometer and found it to be
1800 lbs. new. The standard L-13 bridle has a factory-supplied weak
metal link that meets their criteria. After we had tested our rope, I
simply removed this weak link because we found that if the weak link
is at the glider end of the system and a break occurs, the bridle
falls off into a corn field or a factory roof and is never seen again,
and at about $200 per bridle this is a bit much.

Auto-tow lauching is hard on the truck-end of the rope, creating a
natural weak link through abrasion; when this end of the rope breaks,
it's also very easy to find the bridle.

I've written a long manual based on our ground-launching experiences,
located at
http://amygdala.danlj.org/~danlj/Soa...nch/index.html

Dan Johnson