On Friday, December 2, 2016 at 1:25:16 PM UTC-5, Craig Funston wrote:
On Friday, December 2, 2016 at 6:28:43 AM UTC-8, Luke Szczepaniak wrote:

Most gliders work out at about 6 (30 kg/m^2) dry with a 240 lb pilot, don't they?


An ASW27 would be about 40kg/m^2 with a 240lb pilot weight

L

Cost and repairability are factors with pre-preg although power aircraft like the Lancair use prepreg extensively. Newer spread-tow pre-pregs are amazingly light and stiff.

From a performance standpoint, span loading is a significant factor. For an equal wing loading and span, the lighter sailplane with the lower span load has lower induced drag. Reynolds numbers also play a factor when the chords get so small, but the aero community seems to be getting better at developing profiles that aren't hurt too much by this.

Cheers,
Craig

I've heard conflicting sides about pre-preg repairability. Greg said its a misconception and can be repaired fairly easily and I have seen a Sparrowhawk that has been repaired by him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYcHDPzx1ao