last night the condition inspection went fine. we assembled and weighed the glider as well. totals came out at 330 lbs on the main gear and 30 lbs on the tail. the last time it was weighed, in early 2005, it was 395 lbs total. a major improvement. the weight loss was chiefly (I think) due to using slightly lighter weight fabric (1.7 oz vs 2.0 oz) and the previous paint job vs. new. Previously the fabric was doped, which is, I understand, a pretty heavy process. Then in 2003 or 2004 the glider had a coat of Poly Fiber rejuvinator and a coat of Poly Fiber topcoat painted onto it. Supposedly the Stewart Systems process that I used is lighter than poly fiber which is lighter than dope, and I did a few things that made it as light as possible. 1, I brushed on 2 cross coats of the UV Blocking charcoal EkoFill but the rest of the spray coats of primer were the non UV blocking White. I suspect that the white is slightly lighter because it doesnt have the UV blocking particles in it. Most importantly, I sprayed the topcoat on very lightly. Not entirely intentionally but between struggling to see how much I was spraying thanks to the off white topcoat on white base plus a bit of over paranoia about not putting it on too thick to avoid finish problems. Not to mention that because of the white base I didn't NEED to put on a super thick coat of topcoat. The finish is certainly not a glossy museum quality job, but it is light!
I'll recheck the weighing tonight. I need to search through my documentation and see if I can find an authoritative answer on what reference to use to level the glider. Notes from the last weighing say use canopy rails although a fellow in Australia says they level the top longeron. I also need to make sure its really 30 lbs on the tail and not 29 or 28. That large distance makes a big difference in CG location. Previously the weight was something like 367 on the main and 28 on the tail.
