The VG allows you to radically change your gliding speed so you
want it working well

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to fly a new Wills Wing T2C
144. Larry Bunner flew the Wills Wing T2C 144 that I have been flying for the
last year and David Williams was flying Larry's glider, that Larry just sold to
him. We all went on the same task together.

Before we took off David had mentioned to Larry how hard it was to pull the VG
on Larry's glider. After we got back to Quest Air, the first thing Larry said to
me was what a dream it was to fly my glider as the VG was so easy to pull. I
told Larry how much easier it was to pull the VG on the new T2C. Larry said no
wonder he had to have surgery on his shoulder given how much work he had to put
in to pull his VG.

Perhaps proper maintenance of the VG would have been a cheaper option.

I published Jonathan's articles about VG pulley maintenance previously:

http://ozreport.com/18.206#2

http://ozreport.com/18.211#0

http://ozreport.com/18.234

He's talking about maintenance at many hundreds of hours. I'm here talking about
VG's that are hard to pull at around 100 hours, maybe less.

It is extremely important to have a VG that is very easy to pull on because you
want to be encouraged to pull it on and get the glider tight at every
opportunity. You don't want to be thinking about how sore your right arm is.
Easier is better.

I asked Steve Pearson what he thought about VG maintenance. He said:

There are several thing you can do to restore the VG performance.

1. Do not use silicone lubrication. Instead use Harken Sailkote
http://www.mclubemarine.com/sailkote. We have it in stock or you can
probably find it online. SailKote is very lubricious and does not leave a sticky
residue. It also works well on zippers, battens, etc. Clean the keel surface and
as much as possible under the large plastic saddle. Spray a heavy coating on the
top of the keel and let it dry before activating the VG.

2. For older gliders, it may be necessary to service the lower VG system.

A. Replace the small bearing in lower downtube fitting. This bearing becomes
corroded and frozen after about a year of use.

b. Replace the lower VG cord. Make sure that the cord and pulley system is not
twisted in the downtube. It is important that it is adjusted properly—at VG
loose, the top pulley should be very close to the top fitting in the downtube or
the system will bind at the bottom of the downtube before VG tight.

3. On glider with more than 300 hours, it may be necessary to replace the
traveling pulley inside the downtube. On even older gliders, it may be necessary
to replace the pulleys at the back of the crossbar wedge.

http://www.amazon.com/Mc-Lube-McLube-Sailkote-16/dp/B005MZ7EIO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427503774&sr=8-1&keywords=sailkote