RE: Adding weight
You'll get no flame from me. Well said and so true. I'll exhaust all other alternatives before adding dead weight. There are times I do want a heavy plane for purposes of cutting through high gusty winds or high wind slope soaring for example. But even then, I would rather make the added weight useful weight rather than just dead weight. But most of the time lighter is better. Take a 10 lb plane and cut it to 9 lbs and you'll think you put a bigger engine on it not to mention how much better it flies. It's just common sense really.