prospective buyer

[drwise]

O.K. experts…
Help me out a little…I’m seriously considering buying a ASW-15b…Having never owned a glider, what could I expect to spend each year on maintenance, insurance, annual inspection and other items I’m sure I’m overlooking?
Are there areas I should pay special attention to when I make my initial inspection?? There are some helpful members of my small club but none of them have any experience with the ASW-15…
Finally could anyone tell me where I could get a replacement canopy for it and what it might cost???
Thanks and I hope to be part of your group soon…Oh, should this deal fall through, any recommendations for another glider???

Dave

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

There are no special weaknesses in the ASW15. Just do a (as always  ) thorough daily inspection.

There are some point to look for if you are just buying any (second hand) sailplane:

• The most important: did the glider crash in the past?
• Privately of club owned?
• Check for cracks/bendages in the undercarragage
• Turn the hull upside down to check for those wheel in damages
• Play in the controls
• Leaks in instruments and static system
• Electrical avionics still working fine?
• All mandatory airworthiness directives (Ad's) successfully completed?
• Is the pile of paperwork complete? (Logbooks, certificates for hooks, belts and so on)
• And last but not least: the condition of the trailer

All those items are no show stoppers; you can use them in your price negotiations.

If I come up of some more items to check for, I will add them here. By the way, you are very welcome in the ASW-15 community. We hope to welcome a new owner in the near future.

[drwise]

Johan
Thanks for the information it was helpful. Since I made the posting I found an article by Aland Adams, “So you want to buy a Fiberglass Sailplane?” that was extremely informative. If you are a member of SSA you can go into their magazine archives and it’s in the May 1991 issue, it’s about 3 pages in length and fairly comprehensive.
The sailplane I was hoping to get isn’t panning out. The sailplane and trailer seem to be in fair condition but the owner wants to strip most of the instrumentation out and it would cost several thousand to replace them. The canopy is pretty banged up and would also have to be replaced. I’m not sure how much a new canopy would cost. One good thing, installation would be cheap.
There’s another 15 in Wings and Wheels but it’s located in Texas. It’s an early model and Texas is a looooog way off. If anyone hears of one for sale, please let me know.

In the mean time I’m enjoying your site.

David

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

A new canopy would be around 1200 euro's and if you would go for low budget instruments, you have to add another 1500-2000 euro's. So the plane you have your eye on, should not be expensive...

The canopy is pretty banged up

What do you mean by this? Swirls, cracks?

[drwise]

Both
One crack is about 6-8 inches in length...
Has been glued and there is a brace screwed in at the end of the crack in an attempt to keep it from getting bigger...

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

Has been glued and there is a brace screwed in at the end of the crack in an attempt to keep it from getting bigger...

Over here, we make a very small hole by drilling (1 mm) or push a heated needle at the end of the crack. Ugly glued cracks can look better when you polish them. It's a hell of a job, but could be a big aesthetic improvement, without the costs.