Gel Coat Cracks or is it worse?

On Wednesday, June 27, 2012 8:25:48 PM UTC-6, (unknown) wrote:
It's a Kestrel. I realize that these will need to be repaired at some point if not right away and the negotiations would take that into account. That's why I'm looking for more informed opinions. By pretty good shape I was basically referring to the overall condition other than these cracks. The rest of the gel looks quite amazing considering the age and compared to some other ships I've inspected with much more recent finishes. The rest of the ship's gel is so good that it would be a real shame to have to refinish the enitre wings and tailplane just to fix these localized cracks. Yes there are cracks. All of the ones on the tail are pictured and there are maybe 6 or so on each wing. I'd just like to get a better idea of what kind of repairs I might be looking at if I were to purchase the ship. However as I mentioned it's very hard to tell in person without being able to dig deeper, let alone by looking at some pictures online. Thanks for the help.

There are Kestrels, and then there are Kestrel 19's. There was an odd 19 in Nevada I looked at nearly 30 years ago that had 'funny' tips that needed work. It didn't look like a Slingsby Kestrel 19, so I think someone added the tips to a 17. I passed on that one.

The forward attach on the horizontal appears to need some tidy work. Safety wire before flying through that hole in the front handle and the tab with the hole.

If it were two cracks, I might have though it was from a wing saddle. Six on each wing might indicate the glider was tied out, maybe with wing covers.. Is there a set with the glider? I've seen interesting cracks and crazing on surfaces on the 'sunny' sides of wings and horizontals in fiberglass topped trailers and from use of wing covers. Maybe there's a 'pattern' to the location of these cracks that matches the trailer structure (moisture drips) or cover seams. Kestrel wings are balsa/fiberglass sandwich skins. I'd probably thump around the cracks with a large coin to see if it buzzes, but these look like 'weathering' rather than structural.

Frank Whiteley