There are also price-performance issues. I happily fly 34:1 wood. To
move up to 40:1 glass would cost me a few (five?) thousand. For 45:1,
double it. For 50:1, double it again. For 55:1, double it again. For
60:1, double it again (GPB 80,000 for a second hand ASH-25). So to
clear room for a cheap 40:1 mass-produced glider, lots of pilots have
to make the jump up to 45+:1 ... which is expensive.

Bob K is on the road to getting that done. The HP-24 was designed from
the start to make use of production tooling and jigging for a serial
run of airframes.

I have not asked him what he has in to it so far, but my guess is he
could be flying around in one of those expensive 45:1 or 50:1 ships.
But instead he see's a makrket niche and at the same time is
satisfying a dream to design and build his own sailplane.

I am helping as much as I can, since I also have the dream of making
my own ship from the ground up............when we are done, we will
have some nice ships and the molds will be ready to fill for the next
pioneer to step up to the plate.

Brad
HP-24 S/N 2