Floatplane/Amphibious Maintenance - worth it?

spooky981 · Post by **spooky981** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 1:21 pm

My parents own three houses, all on large bodies of water. My girlfriend's parents are retiring at a lake home in Virginia. My favorite place to travel is Ocean City, MD which is basically a long beachy island. It seems completely logical that I would get involved in an amphibious LSA.

I read recently though that maintenance on a float plane is similar to that of a boat. Whereby every single time you do an amphibious landing there is considerable maintenance involved when you get back on land. I also heard that salt water pretty much destroys anything it touches over time.

Anyone with experience in this avenue? I need some advice.

Daidalos · Post by **Daidalos** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:14 pm

I've never flown a float plane. But did consider getting the rating once.

A tiedown neighbor of mine had a Republic Seabee at KHWV. He landed mostly on lakes but occasionally salt water. He always pulled up to the FBO to rinse off the hull upon return after either fresh or salt water operations. They are high maintenance!

Also note that a mistake that would cause a hard landing in a land plane could sink one on floats.

drseti · Post by **drseti** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:55 pm

Daidalos wrote:They are high maintenance!

Let's see, now... if a boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money, and an airplane is a hole in the sky into which you throw money, isn't it a logical syllogism to consider a floatplane as a hole in the sky into which you pour water?

spooky981 · Post by **spooky981** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:33 pm

I can handle a little spray down whenever I land at an airport. Small price to pay for the flexibility to land in a lot more places.

MiamiSeaplane · Post by **MiamiSeaplane** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 2:40 pm

A topic i enjoy most!

Seaplanes & amphibs; off the bat owning a seaplane, amphib is going to involve more work, however with the right care & mind set you will be rewarded with an ability most pilots envy! Things to consider...Are you seaplane rated? How often do you anticipate flying? What type of water environment are you anticipating upon? I personally fly Lockwood Drifters **note i will post photos shortly since you'll be scratching your head "Drifter?"** Fk-9 on straight floats & a Cessna 172 on straight floats; all which have been on salt on a working basis. All of the birds come home to a fresh water lake. I spend about 2 hours alone when caring for the C172 as its a "large" bird, after washing the liberal use of corrosion X or WD40 goes a long way in keeping your bird in good working order. Notice i mentioned all aircraft on straight floats; we had a cessna U206G on edo 3500 amphib floats, the floats alone came in at 800Lbs! So goes payload when you add wheels. Maintenance will naturally increase due to the mechanical nature of anything in a watery environment. There are so many more items i can get into!

Just post what comes to mind & i'd be more than happy to share my 16 years of exp!

Light chop & Blue skies!

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 4:32 pm

That's certainly a problem with aluminum planes but modern composites can minimize the problem. We are putting a SeaRey on the line next spring and they have an excellent salt water history including full certification in Australia where they operate almost exclusively off of salt water. We have the wash pad ready and plan to scrub her down after every flight. We also can get parts domestically (made in the USA) which will keep cost and time out of service to a minimum.

Helen

Pawlander · Post by **Pawlander** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:27 pm

Helen wrote: We are putting a SeaRey on the line next spring

Helen, will that be the LSA version of the SeaRey? If so, can you give an idea of what would be involved for existing Sport Pilots (and higher licensed pilots exercising sport pilot privileges) who want to get checked out in it? And will you be renting it, or just using it for instruction?

Thanks,

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:42 am

It will be an SLSA. We will be offering add-on ratings at the light sport through commercial levels on it. At this point I do not believe that we will be able to get insurance to rent it out so the plan is to sell shares of the planes. (I know we can do up to at least quarter shares which means about $30K each which I think is reasonable in this area.) Owners will have renter like ability to use the plane. When they aren't using it, it will be leased back to the school for everyone else to train on. Lease back will address the costs and work of ownership of a salt water amphib for owners as the school will take care of it for them and the flight training will pay to hangar and maintain it.

We will be offering both basic (for the rating) and advanced courses on the plane. The advanced course will be required to check out owners.

Helen

spooky981 · Post by **spooky981** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:21 am

I am bumping this post because I believe Chesapeake Sport Pilot got their SeaRey up and running recently.

Helen - how is the new plane? What's the maintenance like?

CBKERR · Post by **CBKERR** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:07 pm

Spooky
Check out there website for some cool videos of the searay. Nice plane. I also am looking into my "water wings" I just past my sport checkride on 4/19/12 so just getting in some hrs for now. CSP is a great outfit, that's where I trained.
www.chesapeakesportpilot.com
Brian

drseti · Post by **drseti** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:27 pm

CBKERR wrote: CSP is a great outfit,

I second that!

Jack Tyler · Post by **Jack Tyler** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:28 am

My intent is not to rain on anyone's parade...but I do think there are two basic issues that, when choosing a LSA seaplane/amphib, are forced on its owner(s). The first has to do with the intended mission. The same airframe components and design requirements which make any a/c capable of water takeoffs and landings will also make distance flying more difficult. A cruise speed of ~90 mph is not going to gobble up lots of miles quickly. If the water mission is absolutely paramount, then speed may seem less relevant. But I would hope there are lots of (fresh) water bodies within an hour's flying time because distance flying is going to be less appealing. (I live in Florida, which abounds with [sort of] fresh water lakes. Little amphibs are relatively popular here. But I keep wondering: After you land on lake #5, is there really a lot of appeal to land on lake #6?)

The second issue relates to whether the plane will be used in salt water...or in brackish waters adjacent to the nation's coasts - especially the Gulf and East Coasts. Seaplanes take far more abuse than most boats simply because most boats are now built of GRP which is pretty impervious to salt water. It's good to read that the SeaRey's aluminum parts have been anodized (but also irridited? it doesn't say...) but a look at any sailboat's anodized spars will indicate that this protection is not complete, especially where there are joints, overlaps and other crevices where salt can reside and do its insidious work. And these spars are not usually bathed in salt water, just the salty sea fog at the water/air interface. For the tube & fabric sections, how is the steel tubing protected? (Whatever the answer, its duration will be finite). How is it inspected, since fabric will put some or most of it out of sight? Purpose built, expensive amphibs like the Lake brand have a great deal of protection built into them and contain no steel parts, yet they suffer corrosion issues. What is reasonable to expect in a light weight LSA if exposed to the salt water environment?

Hosing off a plane after each use when anywhere near a salt water or brackish environment is a common and important practice. Just keep in mind you are hoping to dilute & wash away the salt crystals that have been exposed to several thousand parts that are each riveted, screwed and welded to one another, and no wash job is going to succeed fully. And the parts not fully flushed are going to be the same ones, every time.

jnmeade · Post by **jnmeade** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 10:00 am

I have a seaplane rating but not a lot of time flying them. In the upper midwest, there are seaplane friendly and seaplanephobic areas. Don't assume you can land anywhere there is water.
If I won the lotto.......
They are a lot of fun and it is easy to see that in the right envirionment they could be very useful. I flew in fresh water and can't speak to the maintenance, but i lived dirctly on the North Shore on Oahu for a while and can tell you that salt spray permeates everything....everything.

zaitcev · Post by **zaitcev** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:08 pm

SeaRey has about the speed of a traditional Cub, e.g. about 85 knots true. It is slow, but you can get from place to place in Florida, if you really want. If I had extra money, I'd think about getting a SeaMax LSA (I know Helen disapproves, but it seems rather appealing, in theory).

patmike · Post by **patmike** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:53 pm

just saw this story today, but it happened a while ago. what it boiled down to was the wing fell off due to poor maintenance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt_yazNRvY8