On Monday, November 20, 2017 at 10:05:44 AM UTC-6, flgliderpilot wrote:
On Monday, November 20, 2017 at 1:59:49 AM UTC-5, krasw wrote:
We have had glassfiber gliders for 60 years but you can still actually ask if that material (developed by witches and black magic) is repairable or costly to maintain.

Of course fiberglass is easy to repair and easy to maintain, but I'm asking about the costs of having a certified aircraft mechanic do that work, and if it's more expensive than riveting aluminum and stretching fabric.

Fiberglass involves layup and lots of sanding, dealing with sanding dust, following with gel coat, polishing, etc.

I imagine that to be more expensive but maybe it's cheaper. It's not the material, it's the hours involved.

There seem to be as many value/cost opinions as there are pilots. You ask if there is a difference in maintenance cost between vintage materials and state of the art (well almost, Carbon etc excepted) materials.
Here are a couple of thoughts,

First I believe that any hobby/sport requires an certain amount of investment.
This investment is complicated and multifaceted, not only time away from family, but job time, to earn that green and folding, and personal energy including maintaining enthusiasm. The rewards of flying gliders must justify these expenditures.
In your original post, you stated former ownership of an 1-26E.
during the time you owned that ship, did you ever wish for more? Or were you always content with it and it's performance? I would guess if you were always content, you would be happy with a 1-26E again.
However, your O.P. implies that you are interested in more. More in this case would seem to require glass.

Here I purposefully exclude vintage high performance wood, for no other reason than they can be maintenance Hogs, and commercial wooden aircraft repairmen are a thing of the past.

I believe that fiberglass 'routine maintenance' is both less comprehensive and cheaper. Much less comprehensive compared to tube and fabric, and maybe a little less that monocoque aluminum construction, (ignoring possible corrosion)

Fiberglass ships, if not damaged, seem to go on forever. Gelcoatings, not so much.

I think the question of which is cheaper to repair 'after damage' could be considered 'moot', Very, very few gliders are damaged, even fewer are repaired after major damage. One could rather ask, How much insurance should I carry on this glider?, as the main consideration seems to be what percentage of the value of the glider results in a 'total loss'

In my experience, deciding what will make you happy is much more difficult than actually obtaining that thing.

Best of Luck,
Scott, Standard Cirrus, SHK, 1-26E, 2-33A.