Which 18m FES sailplane to buy?

I have ordered a GP12 E FLEX. The -2ms speed is 185kph at max allowed
wingloading (45kg/m2). The VELO will be better than that. It is self
launching of course, and the electric motor is not FES but on a pylon. This
is preferable to FES because with a folding prop there is very little drag
with the pylon out, and it is much more efficient aerodynamically, no FES
drag (1% or so), and less battery drain! Retract takes only 5 secs anyway.
Obviously an ultralight cannot compete with a fully ballasted 18m racer,
but then look at the price difference, 50% including a trailer! QED


At 13:46 09 December 2015, Casey Cox wrote:
On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 12:38:14 AM UTC-5, Surge wrote:
On Wednesday, 9 December 2015 01:10:25 UTC+2, Casey Cox wrote:
I can understand why one would want a specific glider if one was
planni=
ng to compete, but with so many more advantages of having a 13.5m, I
wonder=
why more people do not consider them.
=20
The performance of 13.5m gliders is a lot lower than even previous
genera=
tion glass/carbon gliders. Most of the 13.5m gliders have max L/D's in
the
=
high 30's or low 40's and their performance drops drastically when some
spe=
ed is added (typically 2m/s sink rate at around the 170km/h mark). Their
lo=
wer wing loading limitations doesn't lend them for the booming weather
foun=
d in Africa/Australia/Western USA.
Most of them also have much lower Vne's (around the 220 to 230km/h
mark)
=
and this becomes an issue at higher altitudes where one becomes Vne
limited=
..
=20
The only benefit that I can see in owning a 13.5m glider is easier
riggin=
g and derigging due to lower weight components but I'm not age limited
yet.

I figured that but seeing someone else actually state it helps. The
other
=
advantage you missed is Self Launch. I did not realize that Vne
limitation=
became a problem. (Haven't got there yet).

It just seems more manufactures are building 13.5m (LAK just introduced
the=
Mini Lak at the 1st International 13.5m), and I wonder what sales are of
1=
3.5m compared to 15m and 18m.

I'm hoping in 4-5 yrs I can be in a position to upgrade to an FES.