Maintaining Your Beautiful Glider

Your trailer is not a sterile time capsule. I received a glider for maintenance that was left for 10 years. Sadly it does not just collect dust and cobwebs. The wings revealed crazing that is beyond applying wax and ignoring. Maybe with some luck, block sanding will be enough to smooth it out. If not I will refinish parts of the wing.

Even here in the desert there is moisture and it freezes. When some of that water gets in the crazing and freezes, you can imagine how it grows. If you protect your gelcoat, the gelcoat will last longer. I know of shops that will hardwax once a year and then wax twice a year. I have watched gliders yellow and craze over the years as owners are not interested in maintaining there finish. They are then offended with the low resale value of their glider.

My youngest daughter was born while I was in Hobbs NM at the Open Nationals, so I took a flight home and my brother brought the Nimbus 3 back after the Nationals. They were unable to stick it in the back of a hanger and after sitting in the rain for 2 weeks it was un-airworthy. The gelcoat had lifted most of the way off and we used a paint scrapper to remove the rest of it.

You need to protect your glider by keeping it looking beautiful.

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.