The latest glider covers?

On Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 14:53:54 UTC+2, Eric Greenwell wrote:
What, specifically is "just awful" about using outdoor covers in a hangar? Will harm come to
the glider?


Well I was quite obviously referring to lengthy and painful (for someone with my agility) process of putting them on the glider, compared to light dust covers. Or what did you thought I meant? You can use what ever adjective you feel appropriate in place of awful, but I doubt it is a very positive one.

And Mark yes, I have opinions. This is a discussion group. We will present opinions and argue for and against them. This is how ras works. You may disregard some opinions or posters all together as you wish.

My glider sleeps outside from march to september since 2006. I just received the third set of cloud dancer covers. They fit great, they are 100% water and sun proof. After 5-7 years they tend to get burned by the UV and they become more prone to tearing (and they produce white dust like soaringjac said), so you have to be more carefull when putting them on.

krasw wrote on 3/24/2021 1:00 AM:
On Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 14:53:54 UTC+2, Eric Greenwell wrote:
What, specifically is "just awful" about using outdoor covers in a hangar? Will harm come to
the glider?


Well I was quite obviously referring to lengthy and painful (for someone with my agility) process of putting them on the glider, compared to light dust covers. Or what did you thought I meant? You can use what ever adjective you feel appropriate in place of awful, but I doubt it is a very positive one.

And Mark yes, I have opinions. This is a discussion group. We will present opinions and argue for and against them. This is how ras works. You may disregard some opinions or posters all together as you wish.

It seemed like such a strong statement, I wondered if there was a more serious concern than the
difficulty of putting on the covers, like hangar mice burrowing into them to get nest material.
I do agree my light-weight covers are much easier to handle and store than my friend's Cloud
Dancer covers!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

On Wednesday, 24 March 2021 at 13:51:53 UTC, Eric Greenwell wrote:
krasw wrote on 3/24/2021 1:00 AM:
On Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 14:53:54 UTC+2, Eric Greenwell wrote:
What, specifically is "just awful" about using outdoor covers in a hangar? Will harm come to
the glider?


Well I was quite obviously referring to lengthy and painful (for someone with my agility) process of putting them on the glider, compared to light dust covers. Or what did you thought I meant? You can use what ever adjective you feel appropriate in place of awful, but I doubt it is a very positive one.

And Mark yes, I have opinions. This is a discussion group. We will present opinions and argue for and against them. This is how ras works. You may disregard some opinions or posters all together as you wish.

It seemed like such a strong statement, I wondered if there was a more serious concern than the
difficulty of putting on the covers, like hangar mice burrowing into them to get nest material.
I do agree my light-weight covers are much easier to handle and store than my friend's Cloud
Dancer covers!
--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

For a place like MInden I would buy Vertigo covers without any hesitation. Jaxidas, Cloud Dancers and Kerry covers etc all have the plasticky finish and if that decays through UV exposure and goes powdery the protection is greatly diminished. Vertigo covers have a very fine weave finish that looks like it can't possibly be waterproof but in fact is totally waterproof and very UV protective. They don't seem to decay over many years outdoors and if they do they can be re-proofed. The fit, finish and customer service is excellent.

As it happens I have chosen CloudDancer Uncutables for my current glider and they are of excellent quality of fit and fabrication. The only reason I didn't get another set of Vertigos was because of the particular circumstance that when that glider was sent to South Africa over 3 UK winters and left outdoors the red iron containing ultra fine dust that got on the covers and then got rained on left unsightly stains on the covers. The performance wasn't affected and other Vertigo owners parked in the same place didn't have the same issue - I have no idea why. Vertigo cleaned them and re-proofed them and they were as good as new.

On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 1:00:41 AM UTC-7, krasw wrote:
On Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 14:53:54 UTC+2, Eric Greenwell wrote:
What, specifically is "just awful" about using outdoor covers in a hangar? Will harm come to
the glider?

Well I was quite obviously referring to lengthy and painful (for someone with my agility) process of putting them on the glider, compared to light dust covers. Or what did you thought I meant? You can use what ever adjective you feel appropriate in place of awful, but I doubt it is a very positive one.

And Mark yes, I have opinions. This is a discussion group. We will present opinions and argue for and against them. This is how ras works. You may disregard some opinions or posters all together as you wish.

The process of putting on and removing the covers can go quite fast if you have developed the proper technique. First, I use 2 wing stands (it can be done w/o the stands, but they make it easier). I also have spoiler box tiedowns. I leave one wing tied down and disconnect the other. I undo all bungee cords and Velcro fasteners. At the end of the 2nd wing I pull the cover towards the tip after removing the winglet cover. With the cover bunched up at the end of the wing (keeping the 1st wing tied down prevents the 2nd tip from dropping) I thread a cord thru the entire cover and tie it. I lift the bunched and tied cover off of the wing and put the wing stand under the wing. I untie the 1st wing and put the wing stand at the tip (to keep the tip from dropping) and repeat the process. I have spent about 5 min to this point. The remaining covers are then removed and stored, taking a total of 10 min.
Putting the covers on is this process in reverse, except I don't tie the wings down until both covers are on. Bunching the covers and using the cord is the trick to doing this quickly. I also reach thru the bunch to put my hand on the winglet while putting them on (this keeps the winglet from stabbing the covers).

Tom