Got a mix of them, not liking the ones you don't need to take out to pump. Can't pump a couple compartments because of some of those type gone wrong.

I have the Lakes and Air ones from WipAire. Some are a challenge to remove and then it seems that every third flight or so I have one or two that seem to vanish in flight, no matter how I beat them in. Always carry a few spares in the glovebox. If there was an alternative to them that combined ease of removal and a tendency to remain on in flight would be super. The little grippy pull on the Lakes and Air ones also seem to break off on one side fairly early in their lifespan.

The Lake and Air plugs have some advantages. You can tie a piece of parachute cord to them to ease removal, but if there are ravens around, they just LOVE to pluck those things out and toss em in the water.

The original balls actually work fine, and probably are still available from Kenmore, as far as I know. They can take a little more fingernail digging to remove sometimes......

Never found a perfect plug.....but if it weren't for ravens.....

MTV

The cord running down through the tabs is a fine idea but.. On the Caravan that is 30' of cord! More lines for a stupid monkey like me to trip over. Then there is the stupid tab breaking, nixing that plan. I suppose there is no perfect solution, aside from walking down the floats pounding on each plug. Makes me look like the angry psychotic pilot on preflight. I am strangely calmer before takeoff though. They really should sell them in 10 packs.

BTW, on an unrelated side of pumping out the floats. When I get back to the hanger, I have found that using the shop vac makes short work of pumping the 28 compartments on the Caravan.

Form rubber practice golf balls from the local sports store at $5 per dozen. They can be had in fancy colours making it easier to spot them once the ravens have discarded they upon discovering they are not a food source

You can also try the variety used by Aerocet. I bought mine from Park Rapids Aviation in Minnesota.

Second the shop vac. Works great. I cut the head off one plug and slide it over the end of the vacuum hose so that it makes a tight seal.

go to your local drug store and buy walking cane rubber tips, they are like $.75 each come in two packs. Drill a whole in the top for your cord and off you go.

Ravens or some other critter seem to like whatever I use so I quickly realized storebought plugs would break me.

At the local dollar store there are small rubber balls for sale cheap. I cut them in half, poke a couple holes and run a zapstrap through. They fit nice and tight and are pretty easy to pull out.

Place I trained used rubber feet, I thought they were from old school desks but they might have been feet from walking sticks per the above suggestion.

I use metal fishing leaders to tether my plugs to the float. I have the edo2440's so with the round top I drilled a small hole in the drip rail and wired the swivel end through the hole so they are nice and short (and apparently as a bonus, raven proof). Not as easy on flat tops i suppose but I have yet to lose one!

And, another off topic note: For conventional floats of reasonable size (sorry dogpilot, prolly wont work on Caravan floats), just buy a small wooden dowel from Ace Hardware and Aviation Supply. They come in like three foot lengths.

Now, in the morning, instead of pumping every compartment every day, pull the plug, dip the stick down into the float, pull it back and see if there's actually any water there. If not, move on. For good tight floats, it actually saves a good bit of time.

And, ravens don't actually think those things are a prospective food item. Ravens have a sense of humor...... A really evil sense of humor.

MTV

mtv wrote:Ravens have a sense of humor...... A really evil sense of humor.

MTV

x2.

Those birds are a ton of fun to watch, so long as they're not getting into your stuff. Way too smart.

The dowell idea would be cool but won't work in my floats, I have tubes that run from the pump holes down to the lowest points in the compartments, the tubes aren't straight unfortunately

Headoutdaplane wrote:The dowell idea would be cool but won't work in my floats, I have tubes that run from the pump holes down to the lowest points in the compartments, the tubes aren't straight unfortunately

Yeah, sometimes it works, but with curved pump out tubes......

MTV

Thanks for the replies... trying to figure out what might be Raven's representatives in Chile
Those alternative plugs will work on Wiplines? I'm ready to buy from Lake&Air but boy are they expensive

Canalguna wrote:Thanks for the replies... trying to figure out what might be Raven's representatives in Chile
Those alternative plugs will work on Wiplines? I'm ready to buy from Lake&Air but boy are they expensive

Since we are talking about seaplane stuff, I believe the proper expression would be "buoy are they expensive".

The lake and air ones are difficult to use and fly out.

The best ones I've found are the latest (2018 or 2019) ones from Aerocet.

They have a tiny lead of line built in, fit well, and are easy to install and remove.

nickelb wrote:The lake and air ones are difficult to use and fly out.

The best ones I've found are the latest (2018 or 2019) ones from Aerocet.

They have a tiny lead of line built in, fit well, and are easy to install and remove.

Will they fit Wiplines?

Dan Dufault of Supercubs North and seaplaneoutfitter.com has a new style pump out plug that looks neat. All rubber construction. No need to remove it to pump the floats and no ball and spring like the old style. Fits edo style cups, I don't think he has them for PK's yet.

I'm I the only one who just leaves the pump out plugs out all summer?

-Levi

Seaplane Outfitters Plugs are one way valves. No bending over to remove and replace during preflight float pumping.
They will not come loose in rough water operations. Each valve allows air pressure to release through the one way plug to remain tight.