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#11
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I fail to see why anyone would leave a glider rigged - outdoors, particularly in the Northern winter. This is what hangars were invented for. The airport (3B3) is privately owned and we do not have a lease. We are "tennants at will" and could be "asked" to leave at any time. A permanent structure at our expense is out of the question. I suppose the caption is that it will look like what you treat it like. There are only about 12 T hangers on the field. There are several dozen more powered aircraft - all left outside all year. THEY don't look like the L-33. Tony V. BTW: at a nearby airport (KASH) where I fly the Skylane that I own a (small) piece out of, T hangars are renting for $600/month. |
#12
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Our L33 was hangared and paint began coming off almost immediately. It came
off in sheets. If the aluminum was treated with anything before painting, it was ineffective. To Blanik America's credit, they did pay a significant amount of the repainting expense. Brent "Bruce Greeff" wrote in message ... Tony Verhulst wrote: Tony Verhulst wrote: Does the paint last? In a word, "no". Ours looks awful. I'll see it I can get a pic this weekend. Here are the L-33 pics. This glider has spent a lot of time outdoors - but, so have the Cessnas and Pipers a few yards away and THEY don't look like this. We have a painted L-23 that doesn't look so hot either. Cessna, Piper, and others have figured out how to paint aluminum. LET, apparently, has not. Tony V http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2165.JPG http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2166.JPG http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2167.JPG I fail to see why anyone would leave a glider rigged - outdoors, particularly in the Northern winter. This is what hangars were invented for. LET L13s that I have seen all appear to have shabby paint - even when kept, as we do, inside hangars except when flying... Never seen a L23 or 33 in the metal. I suppose the caption is that it will look like what you treat it like. |
#13
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Tony Verhulst wrote:
I fail to see why anyone would leave a glider rigged - outdoors, particularly in the Northern winter. This is what hangars were invented for. The airport (3B3) is privately owned and we do not have a lease. We are "tennants at will" and could be "asked" to leave at any time. A permanent structure at our expense is out of the question. I suppose the caption is that it will look like what you treat it like. There are only about 12 T hangers on the field. There are several dozen more powered aircraft - all left outside all year. THEY don't look like the L-33. Tony V. BTW: at a nearby airport (KASH) where I fly the Skylane that I own a (small) piece out of, T hangars are renting for $600/month. Hi Tony My point is not how expensive hangarage is - It costs a lot here too. It is just the proportion that sounds wrong to me. Sterling Massachusets has 49 Properties listed on Realtor.com. They start at $250K+ for a decent house and end in the $690K+ for a mansion. Surely the folk who live here can afford to put up a hangar? A Canadian operation has a canvas roofed hangar that handles Ontario weather. Presumably this does not count as a permanent structure, so you can take it with you if you move. Around here a hangar costs about the same as a 30+ year old first generation glass single seater. We get a 19m Kestrel and a 15m Std Cirrus into one. The difference in maintenance alone makes it worth it. OK we get a lot of sun, and hail, and the local population would steal or destroy it if we left it out so we have LOTS of motivation to put it in a nice steel shed... |
#14
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Sterling Massachusets has 49 Properties listed on Realtor.com. They start at $250K+ for a decent house and end in the $690K+ for a mansion. Surely the folk who live here can afford to put up a hangar? Being able to afford one and being willing to build one appear to be 2 different things - at least that's my cut at it. The town would love to have the property to build a school or something. The airport is close to a major reservoir and we're talking septic tanks and so there would be an environmental problem. In any case, the property owner is unlikely to spend money on a new hangar. A Canadian operation has a canvas roofed hangar that handles Ontario weather. Presumably this does not count as a permanent structure, so you can take it with you if you move. Yes, we're looking into this. Thanks for the info. Tony |
#15
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I owned an L-33 for about a year. It was tied down
outside from mid-April thru November in WI. The only problem I had with the paint was on the rivets on the trailing edge. It seemed like the rivets were not cleaned well enough and probably had some oil on them when they were painted. This ship was 3 years old when I sold it and only had 54 hours on it when I bought it the year before. It was stored in the trailer during the winter. GORDY |
#16
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Why not keep it in a trailer?
1000s of gliders in europe are kept that way and rigged when needed for flying. Thats what the wings come off for. |
#17
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#18
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Ask not whether a Blanik is rugged enough for your
club. Instead, ask whether your club is rugged enough for a Blanik. At 01:36 12 May 2004, Bruce Hoult wrote: In article , (OscarCVox) wrote: Why not keep it in a trailer? 1000s of gliders in europe are kept that way and rigged when needed for flying. Thats what the wings come off for. I know people who keep their DG1000 in the trailer and rig/derig it every day. I'm sure it would be nice to have a hangar, but rigging doesn't seem to be too much of a deterrent, even with such a big two seat glider. I think it can be done with two people, but three makes it easier. -- Bruce |
#19
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Hi Jeff,
I owned a 1993 L-33 from for about 2 years. It lived outside in the South Florida sun and rain. It rains everyday in summer. I had wing covers and a durable canopy cover made and I would remove the horizontal stabilizer and slide a Sunbrella "sock" over the fin to protect the fabric rudder. I waxed it with Nufinish car wax 2-3 times a year. It held up very well. Had red trim that faded a little in the sun but the ship kept its shine. I did have some small paint blisters where the felt padding on the tie-down sleeves stayed wet and loosened the paint. I believe it would hold up very well in most climates. I heard lots of talk about fragile tails. The L-33 was the first single-place glider I ever flew after training in L-23's. I never had any trouble landing it. My instructor (Burt Compton) taught us to land gliders level - not tail first. A bunch of other pilots with less than 100 hours time flew it without problem. Everyone seemed to like it. I now have a Discus with gelcoat starting to go. I would much rather repaint than refinish gelcoat. I would imagine that the pieces of an L-33 would fit many automotive or truck spray booths and the ship could be repainted for a couple of thousand dollars instead of 15-20 thousand for gelcoat. My 2 cents: Its a great club glider. Stuart jeff rothman wrote: Our club is seriously considering buying a Blanik L-33 but I have heard a few reports that the fuselage can be easily damged if a tail first landing is made. I would appreciate it very much if clubs that own an L-33 could give me guidance. Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for club use? Does the paint last? Is it easy to work on? I know that the L-23 and L-13 are difficult to service. Does Blanik support it well? Are parts readily available? Is it expensive to fix? On the balance would you recommend an L-33 for club use? Thank you for any information. -Jeff |
#20
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We've had one for several years now and despite some rather shall we
say "authoritative" landings and a groundloop nothing's actually broken on it. The ship is tied down outside April to October. The paint has deteriorated quite a bit. Mostly it has just lost all its gloss but in a few areas (on the skin joint on the wings at the inboard edge of the airbrake box and at the wing root where the tape is placed to seal the wing root/fuselage junction) it has started to crack and peel off. As far as I can tell the LET aircraft are all made of anodized aluminium. I have a brochure our club got at the time we started shopping for the L33 which says you could choose either silver or gold anodizing or a paint finish. Maybe we should have taken the unpainted option. My familiy's business is paint, many of our customers being in the aviation field, and I know that getting paint to stick to anodized aluminium is not particularly easy. The first two L23's we bought and all but one of our L13's had no paint on them except for the stripes, fabric, and registration markings and their finishes held up well. One of our L13's was painted years ago after a hailstorm with a two part polyurethane by a very capable aircraft painter and it still looks beautiful. The painter still says that there was some luck involved in it working so well. All in all a good ship. It looks a little ugly now but still flys nice. |
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