On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 3:11:45 PM UTC-6, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
I know on the Schempp turbo gliders, many remove the exhaust restrictions to get a few more horses and better climb. Apparently the Schleicher gliders do not have an exhaust restriction, one would have to port and polish to get more from the engine, has anyone on this group done the port and polish with a Schleicher?

I own and fly a SH Ventus 2cxT. It has been an excellent glider and the turbo has never let me down. However, I haven't had a lot of reasons to use it for self retrieve. I have almost 1100 hours on the ship and less than 6 on the engine. I mostly operate out of Boulder, elevation 5288', but have flown all over the SW at airports up to 7500'.

Like Jonathon mentioned I removed the restrictions in the exhaust and put in high altitude jets. This supposedly bumped the HP by about 15%.

The highest I have had to power up to was about 9000' but higher when considering density altitude. At 7000' (higher considering density altitude) the turbo delivers about 2 kts or 200 fpm climb in still air.

The biggest benefit I have found is when I have launched too early while trying to go big and I have to hang out until I can connect. Then, even fully ballasted, I can climb at over 100 fpm at 8000'.

The self retrieves I have done have been painless. BUT you always must remember the rules of flying a powered glider and never expect the engine to save your ass. Further, popping out the engine in bad sinking air is never a good idea.

Be safe

Bob