Eric's comment is correct, and could do with some expansion.

From personal experience, owning a 30+ year old glass ship is something of a
never ending tinkering excercise.
The seals are rotten, and the canopy doesnt fit like the designer intended, and
the hinges are worn (still legal but I'd like to replace them), and the gell
coat is dull (got to get better with the polish, or maybe that refinish is due)
and then you have to get some regulated part worked on, like - your oxygen
cylinder tested and there is no ISO documentation.

Please note that this is with what many consider to be a "mint" condition 1971
model Schempp-hirth glider. A neglected one, or a rare and poorly supported one
is going to be a lot of work...

I happen to enjoy working on the toy as much as flying her, but if you want a
"get in and fly" experience a new glider will inevitably be less work.

For us it is academic, no PW5s in the country.


Eric Greenwell wrote:
Willie wrote:

The PW5 seems to be a good fit for me in terms of performance, but I
have heard and read nothing but negative comments from other
sailplane pilots. Is it really a bad ship? It seems to have the
performance that I'm looking for (33 to 1) or better.


It isn't a bad ship. The negative comments are basically 1) "it's ugly",
and 2) "you can buy a used glider with more performance for less money".

The #1 is personal taste. #2 is correct, but not decisive. If you want a
new glider instead of a much older one, or want to fly in the World
Class, then the PW5 is worth considering. There are groups much more
enthused about the PW5 than some the posters here; for example, try

http://www.wcsa.org/ [World Class Soaring Association]

I think the New Zealanders like them too. I had two nice flights in PW5s
when I was down there a few years ago.