On Dec 22, 8:06*am, Tuno wrote:

So, the factory seems to be firmly convinced that residual moisture is
the shrinkage culprit.

Either that, or a very convenient way to blame the customer for the
problem. Personally I don't buy it. The humidity inside a wing in
some US states and many European countries is probably far higher for
a sailplane that has never been loaded with ballast than for one in
Arizona that has been loaded, dumped, and stored with the fill caps
off.

I got water inside the wings of my 28 when I landed out and got dumped
on by a torrential thunderstorm. The winds were high enough I secured
the airbrakes full open. Water filled the airbrake boxes and then
made its way into the wing. I tried very hard to drain in out, I
tried to vacuum it out with long tubes, but nothing worked. I could
still hear it sloshing around in there. I called the US agent
thinking the next step would be to drill holes in the wings, and he
said don't worry about it. I had pulled off the aileron push rod
seals to vent the wing aft of the spar and left them off for a few
days. After cooking in the trailer in the Arizona sun for a week or
less there was no more sloshing. All the water had gone.


Andy