On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 4:59:36 AM UTC-8, WB wrote:
Here's how you can afford to get a club glider: Finance it with a loan with the longest term you can and that will allow you the option of paying interest only. We did that to buy our first 2 seater. Some months, we could only afford the $50 interest. However, it got us going and we ended up actually paying off the loan early. Some people will cringe at this strategy and tell you it is financial idiocy. However, with a glider club, where we typically have a lot of membership turnover,no single individual ends up paying much more with this type of financing than with just buying a glider outright. If you have enough interest to keep the glider busy, it will soon pay for itself.

Not only that, but a glider isn't a car that will depreciate to nothing in ten years. It's not even a power plane with big engine overhaul bills every 2000 hours.

Gliders have a 50+ year lifespan (especially plastic ones) and require next to no maintenance (especially plastic ones), so it's perfectly sensible to pay them off over 20 or 25 years. If the club folds before that, you'll be able to sell the glider for enough to be able to pay off the loan.