When you try to get a sail plane without spoilers down on a hot day with boomer thermals, you come to really appreciate them, even if they are rarely used. The one or two times they save your plane from a fly-away you'll say they where well worth the effort.

Ailerons will work on some sail planes, not on others. If you're working with a polyhedral wing, ailerons aren't really necessary, just a good size rudder. If you have a wing with dihedral or a straight wing, then ailerons will be more effective. For thermal flying, unless you are going into competition (then you'll want a competition specific plane, but that's a topic for another day), a rudder/elevator/spoiler sailplane is going to be as effective anything else.

I've always flown my sailplanes 2 or 3 channel, 2-meter and standard class, preferably 3-channel.

Hogflyer