Posted this on the seaplane forum as well,.....

I am in the process of rebuilding my floats (some sealing and re-painting). I have all the bolts out of the floats and are going to replace them all. I'm new at this and have been researching bolts. As I understand, I need a "AN" (Army / Navy) bolt for aviation, designated by an "X". I've found AN bolts at Aircraft Spruce. There are options for regular AN and Cadmium plated. I assume that I would want to order Cadmium plated for floats. Can anyone verify this?

Also, the different sizes of bolts have different markings on them. In addition to them all having an "X" in the center, some have "R" and "M" stamped on them, some have "A", "O" and "F" on them and some have "C" and "S" on them. Can anyone tell me why the different markings?

One last thing, I've found every size I need there but one. One size of my bolt types is longer than anything I can see available from Aircraft Spruce. Can anyone recommed another location to get these?

thanks.

garth

thanks for the link - checked it out - they are quite a bit cheaper than aircraft spruce.

garth

Call me paranoid, but I really like to put NAS bolts in high stress locations. Like where the float struts connect to the fuselage.

The extra cost is minimal.

Each time I swapped my wheels for floats and floats for wheels I put new NAS bolts in place. Really cheap insurance.

Having a float or landing gear depart your aircraft can negatively effect your day.

TD

I suggest you get a copy of AC43-13 and read the section on hardware closely. Then you'll be an aircraft hardware expert!

(The other sections ain't so bad either)

Whether you buy plated bolts or not you need to slather on LP4 or something similar as you put the bolt in place. Friction wears the plating off and the corrosion protection is then offered by the coatings you apply.

Be sure to seal the holes where the ventral fin bolts come through the fabric and remember to corrosion coat those as well. The belly can get a lot of splash off the floats.

This all may be a bit of overkill for your location. We have this large salt pond out here to contend with; therefore, corrosion control is a big deal.

TD