FLOATS AND SEA-PLANE RATING

[buchanan]

The topic I'm interested in is floats. I have a 170B with a O-360 and I'm thinking about fitting it with straight floats. I'd like opinions on which floats are the best and, of course, economy will also play a role. My son and family live in Galena AK 1/2 way between Fairbanks and Nome. We are building a house in the village. The last time I was up there I got a ride in a M-7 Maule on straight aqua floats. That was my first float plane ride and I got bit by the bug. I would also like reccomendations for a place to get a sea plane rating. I have quite a bit of time in from Cubs to Skyraiders. My home is Montana so some place not too far away would be good.

Thanks in advance, Buck Buchanan

[gbclanh]

I can only speak in terms of my aircraft with any real knowledge. I am on Edo 2000's but I have the Cont 0300 145HP engine. I have heard good things about the Wipline 2100's and with the 0360 you could possibly go to amphibs if you wished. Check with Seaplane Pilot's Assoc. for names and numbers for guys in your area on floats. But, feel confident that you will get quite a number of responses from 170 guys more experienced than I who operate or have operated 170's on floats with the 0360.
Strongly suggest you get instruction from more than one person. Have a couple of thousand hours on floats but every time I fly with someone or read another article or book I learn something very valuable.
Runways are somewhat predictable. Rivers, bayous, streams, lakes, and ponds are all different. Floats, in some ways, are much easier to land than conventional gear but you must always be on your toes.
Feel free to e-mail me anytime at gbcchnh@earthlink.net. George

[mit]

The topic I'm interested in is floats. I have a 170B with a O-360 and I'm thinking about fitting it with straight floats. I'd like opinions on which floats are the best and, of course, economy will also play a role. My son and family live in Galena AK 1/2 way between Fairbanks and Nome. We are building a house in the village. The last time I was up there I got a ride in a M-7 Maule on straight aqua floats. That was my first float plane ride and I got bit by the bug. I would also like reccomendations for a place to get a sea plane rating. I have quite a bit of time in from Cubs to Skyraiders. My home is Montana so some place not too far away would be good.

Thanks in advance, Buck Buchanan

My plane is on edo 2000's they are by far the most common installed floats that I know of. Most people believe that they are too small. Which is probably true but if your runing the 145 you can't get any heavier. I do not know of any gross weight increase on floats. As it is you go down on floats from 2200 to 2107. At least you already have the 180hp most folks have also changed to a longer prop with the 180. I live in Fairbanks look me up when you are here. Was that Roger Huntingtons Maule?

[spiro]

EDO 2000's are the only floats approved on the TC.
PK 2300's and Wipline 2100's are STC'd.
EDO 2440's have been installed by one-time STC's and Field Approvals.

legal gross on EDO 2000's and Wip 2100's is 2106#
with PK 2300's it's 2300# but they're rumored to be slow

new Wips are more than 2x the price of good used EDO's. One of our members here in AK just switched from EDO's to Wips this summer - hopefully he'll pop in here and tell you if he thinks it was worth the $.

It's hard to find EDO's w/ 170 rigging, even harder to find PK's or used Wiplines. Assume you've already got a float kit in the airplane?

[buchanan]

Thanks for the floats posts.

I am fortunate that my company owns a 160 hp Super Cub. Neither my personal C-170 or the companies Cub has a float kit. I have been thinking that it would be more economical to put floats on the Cub than the 170. The down-side is slower cruise slightly smaller loads less
comfort than the 170. The up side is that the Cub could operate from smaller water than the 170. I REALLY liked the Cub until I we got the 170.

Buck Buchanan, Valier, MT

[2814C]

I flew the Edo 2000s for a few years and I put on a set of Wipline 2100s this summer. The Edos are a great float and you can do just about anything you want with them -- just about. With the 180 hp engine, the Wiplines provide MANY benefits over the otherwise very good Edos (i.e. more floatation, bigger hatches for fish, gas cans, flat tops, etc...). Give me a call and I'll share my experiences. As for takeoff performance, I was able to easily get out of a 1000 foot lake at 2000' elevation and no wind this fall with me, 25lbs of survival gear, and about 30 gal. of usuable fuel in the tanks. I was off in 1/2 the lake -- about 500 feet! Cubs can get out pretty short, but I'm very happy with that performance. I do have the 80" prop and Sportsman Stol kit. I understand that the cost new are fairly comparable, but there exist a lot of used Edo 2000s out there and very few used wiplines. And the rigging for both are very difficult to find used.

-Rob Stone
stonelaw@alaska.com

[2814C]

Whoops, I forgot to answer Paul's question -- yes, they (the wips) were worth the money -- although I did not pay the "new" price.

-Rob

[grizzly71]

Have flown EDO 2440's, 2000's and Wipline 2100's. For now, the 2100's are nice. Getting them was not fun. Had quite an experience with Wipaire. Can not say that I would give them a glowing endorsement. I will say that they had enough integrity to make good on a series of big mistakes however. When I go amphibious I will take a hard look at the new Baumans.


Check out the following link for pics:

http://www.c170.com/gallery/view_album. ... me=album05