ASW-20 nose weight retrofit

[David Krautter]

Hi All,

I'm looking to fly a friend's ASW-20a.  The the glider has been refinished but as a result the tail weight has increased significantly such that the CG is beyond aft limits with my weight.  Unfortunately the original owner did not take the option to add the bar for installing nose weights.  Does anyone know if that option can be retrofitted as there doesn't seem to be a TN that does it.   

Thanks,

David

[Eric Greenwell]

I added a nose weight mount to my ASH26E years ago, a simple task. The ASW20a is probably very similar, maybe even identical.

[Hank Nixon]

Some older 20's had a nose ballast provision. It was a wood disc(layered plywood), about 1-1/4 inches thick), that was shaped to fit the curve of the inner nose forward of the rudder pedals. It had a 10 mm diameter threaded rod stud in the center that stood about 4 inches high. It was bonded in with epoxy/flock.

Later Schleicher ships (29's as an example) have a metal ballast mount that is mounted to the front of the rudder pedal assembly. I may be able to do a photo of this..

UH

[Eric Greenwell]

The metal ballast mount is what i was referring to in my previous post. It's a factory part that fits the ASH26E, and I think it might fit an ASW20.. Contact the Schleicher dealer, who can tell you what works in the 20, and get you one if they are still available.

Eric

[Hank Nixon]

Excellent suggestion.

UH

[Hank Nixon]

The ASW-20 Maintenance Manual has drawings of the fuselage. I'm pretty sure the nose drawing shows the original ballast mounting.

UH 

On Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 8:28:30 PM UTC-4 David Krautter wrote:

[George Haeh]

There may be tail ballast above the tail skid. The previous owner of the 20 I had was a big guy and I had to remove several pounds of lead sheet to get the CG right for my weight. 

You have to take the rudder off to get to the ballast. 

There should be a note in the manufacturer documentation about added ballast, but earlier owners may have added or subtracted. 

--

  George Haeh

  403-370-9033

  gh...@fastmail.fm

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[Charles Mampe]

Here are some pictures of a factory ASG-29 nose weight mount. Based on this, we made similar for the ASW-24E I fly. It was made from 1/8" thick sheet, cut and bent to fit. It requited changing some bolts to mount it.

Feel free to ask questions.