PH-528 Tailwheel - canopy hoop?

[gill]

In the pic in gallery captioned 'final approach' I notice you have a tail wheel. Is this an approved mod, did you have to buy plans/kit from agent? Is it outrageously expensive? 
I fly from a strip with narrow tarmac runways and our best conditions often involve strong crosswinds, so a tail wheel would be a bonus
also there appears to be some kind of 'hoop' in the canopy - what is that?

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

In the pic in gallery captioned 'final approach' I notice you have a tail wheel. Is this an approved mod, did you have to buy plans/kit from agent?

The tailwheel is an official and approved mod, you can order the kit directly at Schleichers

Is it outrageously expensive? 

No, the item is not expensive (cheap is not possible in aviation ) We did the work ourselfs under supervision of a certified technician to keep within the budget.

I fly from a strip with narrow tarmac runways and our best conditions often involve strong crosswinds, so a tail wheel would be a bonus

In crosswinds it is for sure a big plus!

also there appears to be some kind of 'hoop' in the canopy - what is that?

Our ship is registered in the Netherlands. In the past, barbed wire was widely used by farmers. After some incidents and accidents the dutch air authorities set the "barbed wire deflectors" mandatory. Nowadays there is less barbed wire and due to better glide ratios lees outlandings, so the "hoops" are your own choice. For the 15 they are quite handy to handle the canopy.

[gill]

Thanks for that, will certainly think about tail wheel, once I get used to 15, only had two flights so far, one weak wave and one thermal, so far am very happy person  always flew our club asw19 from choice and the 15 is at least as lovely (not so happy with weather lately tho)

wondered if that was reason for 'hoop' - and an aid in handling canopy a boost, on second flight had to remove canopy on my own after landing - next time will make sure to pull over to grass at end of run