Hello all, longtime stalker , first time poster. Any recent news of the Seabear L-65 / L-72 out of Russia? I've looked at their website and youtube posts but the website news section is not showing much recent activity. Looking around the web there is a fair bit of info from various blogs and magazines but no pricing info. I'm guessing if they are ever available in the US they will be well north of $250k but I would sure like to see an actual number. I have emailed Seabear and if I ever hear back I will update. Fortunately for my patience, I will not be in the market until late 2021... maybe this will be good timing.

Contact Kevin Oaks in FL. He's an Aviat sales rep. I remember him having some information about them.

I texted with a friend about them last fall. He went and flew one at the factory a few years ago. They can’t be imported here so they make them available in kit form. The first kit is being built in Ontario. They figure it will cost $200k to buy and complete the kit.

Easily $200K. Those two engines with props are going to run $100K+! Sweet looking aircraft though.

282 hp, 2500 pounds empty, take off in 800 feet?
I’m calling bs.

Well I talked to Kevin - thanks Zzz. Looking like importing the Seabear as a complete, flyable aircraft to the USA is a long, long long, long, LONG way off. As far as North America goes, the only actual airframe here is in Canada being completed as a kit, and the builder ran into problems getting Air Transport Canada to inspect his project due to COVID.
And... prepare for sticker shock. The kit is going to run closer to $300k with finished airframes going to other countries like the Australian Mike Smith's bird being more in the $400k plus range. (see articles in the March/April 2020 Issues of Water Flying and Australian Flying).
Also besides price the other question I simply could not find an answer to online is that yes the only difference between the L-65 and L-72 models is Rotax vs Lycoming. The Lycomings would add a lot of weight and probably the only real benefit would be if maintaining the Rotaxes in a given locale is not an attractive option IMO.

There's always the Gweduck twin amphib. It was designed in Renton, Washington as a composite replacement for the Grumman Widgeon. The designer built the first one for himself, but a composite company in Redmond, Oregon is in the process of creating a kit version. The original flies into Port Townsend once in a while and it's pretty impressive. While recreating the design in composit materials, the designer got rid of some of the stability problems in the original Grumman.
https://www.gweduck.com/index.html

Flyhound wrote:There's always the Gweduck twin amphib. It was designed in Renton, Washington as a composite replacement for the Grumman Widgeon. The designer built the first one for himself, but a composite company in Redmond, Oregon is in the process of creating a kit version. The original flies into Port Townsend once in a while and it's pretty impressive. While recreating the design in composit materials, the designer got rid of some of the stability problems in the original Grumman.
https://www.gweduck.com/index.html

I love the Gweduck, I was able to get a couple rides in it, amazing machine. Unfortunately I think a well finished example will make the Seabear cheap by comparison.


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Halestorm wrote:

Flyhound wrote:There's always the Gweduck twin amphib. It was designed in Renton, Washington as a composite replacement for the Grumman Widgeon. The designer built the first one for himself, but a composite company in Redmond, Oregon is in the process of creating a kit version. The original flies into Port Townsend once in a while and it's pretty impressive. While recreating the design in composit materials, the designer got rid of some of the stability problems in the original Grumman.
https://www.gweduck.com/index.html

I love the Gweduck, I was able to get a couple rides in it, amazing machine. Unfortunately I think a well finished example will make the Seabear cheap by comparison.

And at this pace - it should be available some time around... 2035 and never. They have been talking about a kit for years... and so far they have two halves of hull...

I think I actually found out about the Seabear after looking for information about the Gweduck. After seeing the article in the June/July 2013 Water Flying, (http://www.gweduck.com/uploads/3/2/3/9/3239522/water_plane_flying_jul-aug_2013v2.pdf), I thought recently to look into how things were progressing. Boy, was that a disappointment. Good things don't always come to those who wait.

corefile wrote:

Halestorm wrote:

Flyhound wrote:There's always the Gweduck twin amphib. It was designed in Renton, Washington as a composite replacement for the Grumman Widgeon. The designer built the first one for himself, but a composite company in Redmond, Oregon is in the process of creating a kit version. The original flies into Port Townsend once in a while and it's pretty impressive. While recreating the design in composit materials, the designer got rid of some of the stability problems in the original Grumman.
https://www.gweduck.com/index.html

I love the Gweduck, I was able to get a couple rides in it, amazing machine. Unfortunately I think a well finished example will make the Seabear cheap by comparison.

And at this pace - it should be available some time around... 2035 and never. They have been talking about a kit for years... and so far they have two halves of hull...

hmm so I emailed the folks that are doing the Gweduck kit and got the following:
We are making kits now and they are available for sale, the first kit is just being finished and we have started the second one. The base price is $367,500 and the completed airplane with full builder assistance is $750-950 K

its a way out of my budget - but I do hope to see some of these get built. maybe someday I can get a used one for a discount