Hoe lijnen te vervangen van een (wedstrijd)scherm

Vandaag de dag hebben veel competitie schermen en performance DHV 2-3 schermen dunne lijnen. Deze lijnen zijn kwetsbaar en dienen regelmatig vervangen te worden. Een complete lijnenset vervangen kan een hele uitdaging zijn. Deze "How-to" geeft je wat tips....

Competition lines don’t give you more max speed, but gives you a better glide ratio. Because of the lower drag, the position of the pilot (in relation to the wing) is more “in front” of the wing. The lower drag changes the angle of attack while flying an thus gives you a better glide ratio. 

The bad thing: these lines wear out after a few years. Some manufacturers advise you the change them every year! The decision of changing them is up to you. I’ll advise you to check on you lines frequently. Especially the brake (mine were pretty bad after two years). If your into Acro thang, don’t wait two years!

Lets get started. I’ll explain it to you in 10 steps

1. Prepare 
2. Sort out the lines 
3. Remove the old lines from the left wing 
4. Install the new ones 
5. Compare left wing with right wing 
6. Don’t forget to eat 
7. Remove the old lines from the right wing 
8. Install the new ones 
9. Compare left wing with right wing 
10. Safety

Step 1 - Prepare

A basic lesson in life “if you want to be successful… prepare”. This means, get yourselves a good and a big room. A gymnastics room would do perfect of a whatever room with a clean and obstacle free floor. Remember, the with of your wing is 12 to 14 meters and line length of aprox. 8 meters in both directions, so the required space to lay down you glider is 15 x 20 meter. An other 10 x 10 meter to lay down you new lines. So you need 400 m² (if you are as inefficient as me) 

Next, get a good line plan from the manufacturer of your wing. Check to see if the labels of your new line set match the labels of the line plan. If not, make extra notes on you line plan. Trust me, you will thank me afterwards. 

If you want to keep your old lines as backup, get a hand full of ribbons and a pen. (or you can use the ribbons of you new line set, but that has disadvantages (you’ll need more room and better planning)

Step 3 – Remove the old line from the left wing 

Remove the A lines from the riser. Flip them to the other side of your glider. If you decide to keep your old line as backup (just in case you run in trouble on your flying vacation), start to remove the knots, otherwise you can cut them en throw them in the bin. Start at the riser side. Lay down the old removed lines in a similar way as the new ones. Use the ribbons and label them (the same way as the new ones). Tip: If the knots are very tight, use the tip of a pair of pliers of a “leatherman tool” to loosen the knots. The knots of the inner A lines are the most firm ones. The more you get to the outside of the wing, the more loose knots will be.
Don’t make the mistake to remove all the lines at ones (left and right wing).

Step 4 - Install the new lines 

Now you should have a wing with only lines at the right site. Go to the place where you’ve spread out all the lines and pick the ao1 and ao2 line. The ribbon with a01 should contain two lines (left en right wing) only pick one line from the ribbon. Remember what line is in your left and right hand (I found myself very chaotic at this point an had often turn around again to remember the position of the lines). Go to your glider and attach you first lines to the glider (a01 and a02). Easy. Repeat it for a03 and a04. Now you can pick aou and knot ao1 and ao2 together. Repeat it for ao3 and ao4. The last step is to combine the two aou’s and knot them together with A1 the main line. Check, check and double check (it's your life not mine) to see if you didn’t make a mistake. 

Next pick ao5 and ao6 and so on, and so on…. Remember not to start with the “B” lines unless “A” is completely finished. So now you should have the old lines at one site of your glider and the new A-group at the other site (to avoid confusion). 

 

Tip: Use a pen to make more room for the lines

So allways start at the glider side and loop (like the 8 shape) the lines together.

Step 5 – Compare the left with the right wing 

To be sure that you didn’t make an error and to see how bad the old lines were, you should compare the lines from the left wing with the new ones from your right wing. Attach both risers to a carabin hook and attach it to something heavy (something that doesn’t move). Walk to your glider and start to compare the line length of the left en right wing. 

 

Don’t be surprised to see that the new lines are as much as 3 cm longer than the old ones. Especially the inner A lines. (In Holland we don’t have any mountains so we tow. People say that it’s bad for you lines and that they get longer and longer. Well, mine didn’t)

Step 6 - Eat 

By now you will be hungry. As I told you, a friend of me (who lives in Germany) has this nice room where we can change the lines. Even when the weather is bad. This is often the case because you don’t want to change them on a beautiful spring day or summer day. A nice colleague of Uwe came by and brought us something to eat. Lets say “the real thang” Schnitzel with Jagersauce and French fries! Be careful not to eat so much (as we did) because you sill have to bend over…. 

Before

After

 

Step 7 - 8 and 9 The right wing

To speedup my typing proces: You know the drill. The same as you did for the left wing.

To see if your break toggles are the same in length, get both first knots an hold them together. Now you can knot het right toggle.

 

Step 10 - Safety

Oké let's cut the bullshit. If you arn't 100% sure of yourselves, bring the glider to an authorized dealer and let them double check it. It's your life on the "line". Changing lines is'nt difficult, but you have to stay focused, an error is made quickly.. Fly safe.

 

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