Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

I'm not 100% sure of this, but it's my guess as to what happened.

I opened up my glider tube (C -12) after about 2 months of neglect and found my glider laying in about a pint of liquid. There doesn't seem to be any way that the water could get in their, and nobody else seemed to have the problem. So what did I do different? I bought one of those bags of crystal desiccant designed to be hung in a closet or cabinet to prevent mildew by sucking up humidity. I put it all the way at the back of my tube and put my glider in after it. When I removed the bag it was full of water and all the crystals were dissolved in it and in the water laying in my tube.

The chemical is Calcium Chloride, a pretty harmless salt. Although my glider had probably been laying in this solution for weeks at least, there was no mildew at all. I thought there was, until I cleaned the tube and the whole glider and bags, and while a little dirty, it was completely unmarked and undamaged.

To my surprise, apparently the desiccant continued to suck water out of the air and hold it in my tube, even as a liquid. This liquid would not readily dry, and had to be neutralized with vinegar before it would. Fortunately, it also acted as an anti-fungal agent.

Don't do what I did. Don't put desiccant in your tube, and don't spit into the wind.