Hi all,

This is my first post on bcp. After 14 years and several thousand hours of flying Cirrus's, I bought a 185 a few months ago and got my tailwheel endorsement and about 30 hrs in the 185 on wheels.

It will soon be time to put the floats on (3430's). I live in northern MN, and live on a lake. There is a public seaplane base on my lake (Ely Lake), and I intend to keep the airplane there in a hangar most of the summer, but would occasionally like to store it overnight at my house during periods I am flying a lot.

I have an L shaped floating dock, 20' x 20', and we have a fair bit of boat wakes. I've read about using a ramp, but need some help designing one. I couldn't find much info online. The water drops off pretty aggressively on my shoreline. It's about 10 feet deep at the end of the 20' dock.

How should I construct the ramp? What do I do with it in the winter?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys!

Ross

Welcome. Nice area and a good problem to have. There was another thread similar to this a while back. I will see if I can find it.

Edit:

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/buil ... help-23011

A simple wood ramp, made of 2 by stock, anchored at the shore end, and weighted at the far (water) end works fine. You’ll need to weight the outboard end so your floats can slide up on the ramp smoothly.

I’ve weighted the end with concrete blocks hung beneath, or in one case, I filled a large diameter piece of PVC pipe with concrete and fastened it under the outboard end. You’ll have to play with it to get it so it rides right.

So, you beach the plane by running up onto the ramp. Idea is to “stick” the plane, then get out, turn the plane around and pull it up on the ramp by the heels of the floats.

In Kodiak, I used a ramp that was fastened inside a U shaped dock, which worked really nice. Water levels didn’t change much there. The U shaped dock was sunk just off shore, with a gangway to it from shore. The wood ramp with weighted end was fastened at the “bottom” of the U.

It’s important to keep the plane nosed out with wakes, cause if plane is nosed up, those wakes can/will sink aft float compartments.

You’re gonna love that 185/EDO 3430 combo......super combination.

MTV

Thanks Guys! 16' long and 12' wide should do I'm thinking? Any experience with freezing the ramp in? My lake is small so ice heaves aren't common.

My 185 has a 550 and Mac 401, Flint tips and Horton STOL. Really looking forward to seeing how it performs on floats loaded up. It has been a total BEAST on wheels in freezing air with no load in it.

How do you post a picture on here?

you are going to want to build the ramp longer than that, the first ramp I built was about 16', it's fine for sitting on, the problem I found was when launching the the front of the floats drop off the end and the rear portion of the floats banged down onto the ramp. I extended it to 20' and now it is floating when it clears the ramp so it just slides off.

also you want it long enough that it is not steep so Like MTV said you run it up and it "sticks" to the ramp. Believe me it is a huge pain and a bit of a panic moment if you run up in the wind and it slides backwards because it never slides back straight...... don't ask me how I know!!


Roamer

Ok good to know. So you want the "deep end" to be like 12-18" underwater rather than on the bottom? It's almost 10 feet deep where the end of the ramp will be.

Ross4289 wrote:How do you post a picture on here?

If you've got 3 1/2 minutes to learn, this is the preferred way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Fa1Io-pxQ



Otherwise just attach a file to your post. Use the edit button if needed.

Thanks! I was clicking the Img button at the top.

Attached is a drawing of where I'm thinking of putting the ramp.

Congratulations on your new airplane!

I agree 100 percent with MTV. Wood ramps work great! They are all over Anchorage on Lake Hood, Campbell Lake and others. Dont put it too close to your dock, when coming into the ramp with the wind blowing the last thing you want is potential objects to hit. Also, you dont want the wing over hanging the dock, people will hit their head on the wing while walking on the dock.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt! Can you or anyone else help with a quick sketch on how to build? I’m thinking 20’ 4x4’s as stringers, and 12’ 4x4 “ribs” on top of that, with 20’ 2x6’s as decking (parallel the direction of the aircraft).

In a past life (when I was a teenager) I worked as a dock hand at a seaplane base, and as I recall a 185 wing was high enough to walk under at the dock. But I cut my forehead open pretty good on a Luscombe aileron.

If it's 10' at the end I wouldn't put it on bottom, 12-18" should be good, keep the slope as shallow as you can.

also I would have the 2x6's perpendicular to the floats (parallel to the shore) that way the floats will sit on the keel, I wouldn't want to chance the keel getting caught in the seams, at least that's the way I built mine.

Here is a video of my ramp, this was my first try at it and it is way too steep, I dug it out and reset it. I have a steel frame buried in the ground and a steel frame under the portion in the water. it is pinned together so it can pivot and I lift it out of the water in the fall. I don't get a lot of ice movement but the 2 years I did leave it in the water took the 2x6 that was at water level with it in the spring.

not sure if this helps you or not

Ian

https://youtu.be/FK6UimNwQ8w

Build a frame out of 2x8’s or 2x10’s so the boards are vertical and run parallel to the floats, space the the boards about 2 or 3 feet. Next cover the top with 2x6’s perpendicular to the floats leaving a gap between them of about half to 3/4 of an inch. Make sure you make the ramp plenty wide keeping in mind that a perfectly centered ramping may not be possible in the wind. Give yourself some room. Figure out a way to anchor both ends. We never removed ours in the winter, nor have I seen any removed, everyone left them in, the ice no had effect on the properly anchored ramps.

I caution you, over time the ramp will get real slick, easy to fall and bust your backside! Also, make sure no screw or nail heads are exposed, you don’t want them scraping the keels of your floats. I suggest screwing the whole thing together, use countersunk screws.

Kurt

Thanks Guys! I think I have what I need to get this done!