Tying down a fiber glass ship.

Don’t have a hangar, so planning on tying down the glider, a standard cirrus, during the weekend. Has any one done this consistently. How bad did the gel coat deteriorate; any tips?

have only done an occasional overnight tiedown. you have screw in rings for the tiedown points on the wings?

what kind of trailer do you have? if you start wanting to deal with covers and stuff to preserve the finish while leaving the glider tied down, you might find that it is just as much work and time to just put it in the trailer for the night.

But for a flying weekend, it is awfully nice to just come out on day 2 and the glider is assembled and ready to go. I get that. If the overnight weather is pleasant I don't think you're going to have too many issues.

On Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 1:09:23 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Don’t have a hangar, so planning on tying down the glider, a standard cirrus, during the weekend. Has any one done this consistently. How bad did the gel coat deteriorate; any tips?

Covers are a lot cheaper than a refinish.

Overnights, you will not likely notice. A contest worth, if the weather is nice, again, you probably won't notice if you do one or two of these a summer. Tie it out all summer, you will notice.

As Tony said, for a 15 meter ship like the Std Cirrus, it is about as much time to cover as to rig. But with covers, you aren't lifting heavier things. If your trailer is a pain, do something about it!

For overnights to make the weekends more enjoyable, by all means, tie out.

Steve Leonard

This is a great subject. Most glider manufacturers neglect the need for real tiedown points, especially on single seaters.
An easy tiedown point addition is a pair of "bras" for the wingtips. Essentially a loop of webbing with a D-Ring sewn in, and webbing to prevent the loop from sliding inboard to attack the aileron.
For gliders with no wingtip beyond the ailerons, adding a hard point is a better idea.
If it's going to be humid/wet, use good covers.

Simple text drawing (from above or below). All are loops. D-ring at the junction on the left.
For something like an LS4 or 6, I found using the (optional) strap around the trailing edge keeps the strap from sliding around the curved leading edge.
Jim

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On Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 2:01:46 PM UTC-5, JS wrote:
This is a great subject. Most glider manufacturers neglect the need for real tiedown points, especially on single seaters.
An easy tiedown point addition is a pair of "bras" for the wingtips. Essentially a loop of webbing with a D-Ring sewn in, and webbing to prevent the loop from sliding inboard to attack the aileron.
For gliders with no wingtip beyond the ailerons, adding a hard point is a better idea.
If it's going to be humid/wet, use good covers.

Simple text drawing (from above or below). All are loops. D-ring at the junction on the left.
For something like an LS4 or 6, I found using the (optional) strap around the trailing edge keeps the strap from sliding around the curved leading edge.
Jim

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|__________
| |
| | --- (optional)
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SZD-55 has screw-in rings.

On Wed, 17 Jan 2018 11:01:43 -0800, JS wrote:

This is a great subject. Most glider manufacturers neglect the need for
real tiedown points, especially on single seaters.

Agreed: Here's what I put together to tie my Std Libelle down:

http://www.gregorie.org/gliding/tie-down/

I'm very pleased with the result, which work well with or without
CloudDancer covers on the glider.

Rather than Jim's "bras" I made moulded, foam lined fittings that slip
over the tip TEs. If you run the tiedown ropes inboard, over the LE and
vertically down to the anchors, then they tend to hold the mouldings in
place and don't put unwanted stresses on the wings because there are no
fore/aft loads applied. I used:

- balsa and blue foam to make make forms for the foam lined fittings
because my background for this sort of thing is in model building

- carbon and glass cloth plus epoxy for the fitting because I had all
three available

- pieces of a foam sheet underlay for a sleeping bag as the
foam linings because its cheap, soft enough and durable

- 'Claw' tiedowns because they were about the same price as corkscrew
anchors, easier to use, less bulky to transport and have shown no
sign of working loose on strong, gusty winds.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Schleicher has an option where you can get tie down bushings in wing tips for screw in tie down rings. Also a wing wheel saddle is good for a tie down. i have one saddle I use just for tie downs.

On Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 11:01:46 AM UTC-8, JS wrote:
This is a great subject. Most glider manufacturers neglect the need for real tiedown points, especially on single seaters.
An easy tiedown point addition is a pair of "bras" for the wingtips. Essentially a loop of webbing with a D-Ring sewn in, and webbing to prevent the loop from sliding inboard to attack the aileron.
For gliders with no wingtip beyond the ailerons, adding a hard point is a better idea.
If it's going to be humid/wet, use good covers.

Simple text drawing (from above or below). All are loops. D-ring at the junction on the left.
For something like an LS4 or 6, I found using the (optional) strap around the trailing edge keeps the strap from sliding around the curved leading edge.
Jim

|
|
|
|__________
| |
| | --- (optional)
| |
| |

the Anchors in the Std. Cirrus (and Std. Austria) are really nice in this respect.

On Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 10:09:23 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Don’t have a hangar, so planning on tying down the glider, a standard cirrus, during the weekend. Has any one done this consistently. How bad did the gel coat deteriorate; any tips?

I find using covers is a little easier on me than derigging (18m motor ventus). Covers are fast to remove. I use a wing saddle on each wing, with trestles pressing up under each wing close by, and straps pulling the wings down on to the trestles. I'm now at Minden, and my glider is outside all summer. It was psychologically hard to leave the glider outside initially, but there have been no problems, and I feel the covers are perfect sun protection.