I am going to build a hanger next to the lake and would like to use it to house the plane on both floats and skis. I will be using a rail system to move it inside in the summer when on floats. The question is how to easily get the plane in and out on skis in the winter. I realize the rail system might have to come out for winter ops. I can imagine problems trying to winch it up a bit of an incline from the ice into the hanger (back of skis digging In). Have any of you done this, know anyone that has, or have any thoughts? Thanks. Steve

If you really want to make it fancy, put a turntable on top of your truck(carriage) sitting on your tracks and taxi on to truck, winch into hangar and in the warm confines turn it 180 degrees and run it back out, if you use a endless cable with a few wraps around the winch capstan you can power out and in. you just need a pulley on the other end of your track, hook both ends to your truck.
Had a friend with a Super Stinson in BC who had a track that took the plane about a 150 ft and at least 40 ft elevation to his hangar.
Hook it up with a garage remote and you won't even have to get out in the cold.

I had a friend in Kodiak who kept his Cub on a lake in town where his home was. He built a hangar out over the water on piling. The siding went down to the water level, which was very consistent. He had a winch inside the hangar. In the fall, when he thought it was going to freeze up for good, he'd hang the plane from the winch for the night. If it froze, he'd (after the ice was thick enough to walk on) pull the floats off, and install the skis. The floats slid over to one side on top of the ice. When the weather got warmer, he'd hang the plane from the winch again, and install the floats. When the ice was gone, he was flying again. He build an underwater ramp inside to ramp the plane on when it was inside the hangar, and the hangar was large enough to turn the plane around inside.

The hangar wasn't heated, but he had electricity to it, and it was insulated. It was a beautiful setup, and very practical. The big issues these days might be getting permits to build out over the water in many states.

MTV

A turn table would be nice and I had thought of that, but thinking and taking the time to make something like that, are probably two different things. Also, still have to see what I come up with for a means to get into the building.

Mike, the original plan was to build in-over the water, using the rail to get in the building and out of the water. This also had the benefit of housing the boat. Great plan, but the cost and work of building in the water turned out to be unbelievable. First, the drilling rig required 4 feet of ice before he would go on the lake, so that meant keeping a few hundred yards of lake clear of snow all winter until March (maybe even flooding it), in order to come up with the required thickness. Next the cost of drilling all the holes and well casing-cement was going to be $35-$40,000 and we still have not bought the building material and rented a crane to hoist the trusses for a 48 ft wide building. Then to top things off, it took a year to get approval from the two different Government agencies involved and found out I would probably end up paying them at least $2000 per year for a land use permit for the lake and also pay for a survey (estimated at around $5000). So I have moved to plan B, a building on my land, which still needs approval from the Ministry and will require a massive amount of dirt work, but will be a lot cheaper to build. I don't suppose it would be any easier if I did it on the other side of the border, but what a hassle. All I wanted was to keep the plane out of the hail, sun and snow off the wings.

Thanks for your responses. Steve