Generic Floats

[Sempai-mj]

Would like to try flying off water this season, is there such a thing as generic floats that can be fitted to a plane?

[Mick]

Hi Mike, look at the Great Hobbies site and search for floats, you will find a wide selection of types and sizes. The generic advise is to have them big enough so that the step is just behind the CoG and the front of the floats extends out in front of the propeller by a good distance. This is so that when the plane is skimming the water "on the step" it will rotate with up elevator. The fact that the floats extend so far ahead of the prop is so you have stability to avoid a nose-over on landing. Generally if the floats look big for the aircraft, then they are probably about right. Fortunately they often come in 25, 40 or 60 sizes so it takes the guess work out of choosing the right one then you use the above to get them positioned right. Allow plenty of clearance between the prop and the water. The incidence of the floats sometimes looks to be negative to the wing incidence, a little bit helps the take-off as the wing has positive incidence relative to the floats position when on the step. If the wing is symmetrical, you will need a lot more incidence difference.

Happy to help more during the build.

[beto9]

We should declare the WIMAC Web site the "RCWiki", such is the aggregated knowledge displayed here...

[Sempai-mj]

Thanks for the advice!