I'm daydreaming a bit about putting my airplane on floats. The logistics of making it happen..... a dock, lift, trailer, truck to pull trailer, hangar near a boat ramp... are a little overwhelming.

So the subject of amphibs came up.... but I occasionally land on gravel strips. Nothing hardcore like river beds or places no man has gone before... more like Lake Hood Strip (that's just an example ... as I assume with floats one would land in the lake).

How well do amphibs handle fairly smooth, maintained gravel strips or grass?

The cost of the amphibs coupled with insurance for a low time float pilot might be a deal breaker anyway but I'm tossing around the idea.

A fella at our airfield operates a light plane on amphibs off grass all the time.

He notes the ride is "rough" because there is basically zero suspension. Its a pretty smooth grass strip.

I would think rough gravel would be pretty hard on the MLG equipment. Smooth gravel or tightly packed gravel, who knows?

I’ve operated amphibs on gravel strips (including LHD) plenty. No issues. And, by the way, every set of amphibious floats I’ve ever seen do have a auspension system. And most gravel strips are smoother than most grass strips.

I wouldn’t worry about it at all

MTV

mtv wrote:I’ve operated amphibs on gravel strips (including LHD) plenty. No issues. And, by the way, every set of amphibious floats I’ve ever seen do have a auspension system. And most gravel strips are smoother than most grass strips.

I wouldn’t worry about it at all

MTV

Thanks!

That leaves $$$ as the only worry.

I know of a set of Edo's for sale with 180-185 rigging... Probably take 10K for them as the market for Edo's has tanked since PK's and Aerosets are more popular..

Brian

Brian-StevesAircraft wrote:I know of a set of Edo's for sale with 180-185 rigging... Probably take 10K for them as the market for Edo's has tanked since PK's and Aerosets are more popular..

Brian

HI Brian... thanks! I sent you a pm.
Keith

I keep a white gelcoat kit in the plane for patching scratches and chips in the Aerocet hulls. These are not damage to the composite, just the gel coat. I suspect but can't confirm that a couple were caused by gravel runways.

I'm not fussy about that sort of thing. I trained myself long ago to love the first scratch on a new truck so I can relax! If one is the type to want things pristine, then only land the amphibs on smooth pavement and/or soft water!

Pierre

Pierre_R wrote:I keep a white gelcoat kit in the plane for patching scratches and chips in the Aerocet hulls. These are not damage to the composite, just the gel coat. I suspect but can't confirm that a couple were caused by gravel runways.

I'm not fussy about that sort of thing. I trained myself long ago to love the first scratch on a new truck so I can relax! If one is the type to want things pristine, then only land the amphibs on smooth pavement and/or soft water!

Pierre

LOL! I can see the Barnstormers ad now: "only landed on smooth pavement using soft field techniques and on softened and glassy water, courtesy Culligan." Soft water is more slippery, of course.

It's a beautiful day for flying--maybe I should go do that instead of attempting humor.

Cary

Resurrecting this topic also dreaming about making my airplane a worse airplane and fragile boat. In NC we have no gravel but many nice grass strips including home base. There are lumps, burms, and shallow ditches at the sides of runways though.
Are they prone to bottom out with such a long wheel base and low clearance?
What about slopes with taxiing up, down, or sideways? Can they handle those forces?
They look unpushable. I assume most have a bar system and use a tractor or big tug?
How do you do wheel maintenance or gear swings if you can't hang from the ceiling?

I fly on Aerocet 3400s

They’re tougher than they look. Grass runways are ok as long as there aren’t holes big enough to lose a wheel into. I’ve landed on gravel several times without any trouble.

Pretty good suspension. I’ve never bottomed out. You can roll through shallow swales and one caster might leave the ground. It doesn’t cause significant strain on the floats, rigging, or fuselage because the nose wheels carry so little weight.

Servicing is easy. There are instructions to jack on the keel in specific places. I have some wood crates I built to rest it on for gear swings and wheel and brake service.

Very easy to handle the airplane on the ground. Nose wheels caster so you can spin it at will. Push on the spreaders bars to roll it forward and back.

I don’t try to keep them pristine. They see sand and small pebbles, sometimes rocks and sticks on shorelines. They are easily repaired. If they begin to show wear through the gel coat after several years I’ll have them re-coated. I bought them for me to use, not to impress some guy I’ll only know for a few hours many years from now when I sell them.