On Tuesday, January 1, 2019 at 8:13:46 AM UTC-7, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Mon, 31 Dec 2018 19:21:45 -0800, WB wrote:

There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to ground launching,
auto tow, winch, whatever. It's pretty much all been tried. Derek Piggot
wrote a book that is a great resource for learning about ground launch
in it's many forms. Unfortunately, it appears to be out of print.

ITYM "Gliding - A handbook on Soaring Flight"

Edition 7, which I have (blue cover showing a DG-800B with its motor
out), has two chapters on ground launching and is currently on offer from
Amazon for $3.60. His books may be out of print, but you can easily find
copies. Amazon even has a Derek Piggott author page.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

That books looks promising. Thanks for the link.

With regard to the pulley: what diameter would it need to be? I've seen somewhere that a higher grade of UHMWPE--New England STS-12 (formerly Endura 12), recommends a sheave:rope diameter ratio of 8:1. That would mean for a 1/8" rope, one could get away with a sheave of only 1" in a pulley. Somehow that just doesn't seem like a good idea in this application though, but I don't know. So I'm asking.

If this were the case then, one could simply order these items off Amazon and be done with it:
https://www.amazon.com/Smittybilt-27...s=snatch+block
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I25Z5F4...v_ov_lig_dp_it