I have always had a thing for flying boats and really like the looks of the SeaRey. My 7AC is well underway to being done and I am already thinking about what to do next. I want to have one flying/for sale aircraft and another project, so hopefully I can save up enough to buy an unfinished kit aircraft before I sell the Champ.

Looking at the SeaRey in phots with the gear up, there seems to be enough room to extend the gear a bit and use some slightly bigger tires. I am also thinking a regular aircraft engine rather than a Rotax may be more to my liking.
Have any of you flown one of these? Seems like it could be a good compromise of both water and rough strip use, as opposed to amphibious floats. Since I live right next to the Columbia river, and across the street form a 180 on floats, plus less than 5 miles from lake Chelan, an amphibious aircraft has to be in my future.

D.

Definitely NOT a rough strip aircraft! The gear is by far the weakest part of the airframe. Many gear failures attributed to taxiing on unimproved surfaces. I have heard that smooth grass strips aren't any problem, but I have only landed one on asphalt so can't really speak to that.

I'd second the concern about the gear. I've flown one off water, and taxiied into and out of the water, but not landed on the gear. It looks pretty frail to me, but who knows?

Otherwise, a really fun little seaplane to fly on water, and surprisingly good water handling characteristics.

MTV

DavidB. wrote:I have always had a thing for flying boats and really like the looks of the SeaRey. My 7AC is well underway to being done and I am already thinking about what to do next. I want to have one flying/for sale aircraft and another project, so hopefully I can save up enough to buy an unfinished kit aircraft before I sell the Champ.

Looking at the SeaRey in phots with the gear up, there seems to be enough room to extend the gear a bit and use some slightly bigger tires. I am also thinking a regular aircraft engine rather than a Rotax may be more to my liking.
Have any of you flown one of these? Seems like it could be a good compromise of both water and rough strip use, as opposed to amphibious floats. Since I live right next to the Columbia river, and across the street form a 180 on floats, plus less than 5 miles from lake Chelan, an amphibious aircraft has to be in my future.

D.

There's a Searay 914 (turbo 912) for sale here at Boulder -Great little airplane but doesn't fly much. Think if you go to Aviators Bulletin it's listed there . Anyone interested I'll get you the info send me a email and I'll get you connected. My email is [email protected]

The gear might be completely different, but a guy here built an Avid Catalina a few years ago. I think it was a bad luck airplane- the first flight that he put the gear up on, he forgot to put it down again when landing. Doh! On the third flight after the required repair work to the fiberglas belly, something in the gear mechanism failed & the gear folded up. Double doh! More 'glas repair work followed. he was kind of disgusted at this point so he sold it off. A couple years & two owners later, the airplane crashed on takeoff from a lake in Texas & killed the pilot.
This accident showed up on the AOPA newsletter recently & it sounded like a water leak had developed where the gear entered the fuselage, which was a possible factor in the crash -- maybe overweight due to being full of water. I can see where landing on rough terrain might tend to encourage water leaks like this.

The Avid appears to have completely different gear, but I agree that the SeaRey gear does seem a bit light for rough strips. I still like the looks and specs of it. I am not actively looking for one, but if I came across an unfinished kit, damaged aircraft, or otherwise cheap and in need of work SeaRey, I would take a serious look at it. Even if it was limited to grass strips, there a plenty of those around here, plus I live on the Columbia, although it would be just as easy to land at Chelan Municipal (4 miles away)
I have always had a thing for flying boats. I used to watch "Tales of The Gold Monkey" with my grandpa which I just got a couple seasons of from netflicks (still a good show too) There is more Grumman Goose flying in that show than any movie or show since. A friend of mine in high school used to go camping and fish in his grandparents PBY. I got to go once and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

What about building one with no gear at all? Opeate it as a straight seaplane & keep it docked on the river.

hotrod150 wrote:What about building one with no gear at all? Opeate it as a straight seaplane & keep it docked on the river.

My dad had a Seabee back in the '50s and since there were no airstrips around here then he took the wheels off and only flew off the water. He said the plane was lighter and flew faster.

hotrod150 wrote:What about building one with no gear at all? Opeate it as a straight seaplane & keep it docked on the river.

All that is around my house is public boat launches with 8 hour limits. There is a guy down the road a bit with a water front orchard and a 180 on floats. I am told he brings the 180 to where I am working for maintenance, but I haven't met him yet. I am sure I will soon.
Oh, he is also the guy who made the new over in Seattle when he flew into the TFR while Obama was in town. I guess he landed on lake union and was met by lots of secret service and swat.

I have moved on from the SeaRey anyways, I read quite a few forums on them and even the guys who own and love them think they are flimsy. I think something on floats may be a better option. I will have the Champ done in March. I want to fly about 100 or so hours in it and hopefully buy another project while it is for sale.

Speaking of Sea Bee's, there is a very nice one in a hanger at Chelan Municipal. I heard it has always been kept in annual by no one ever fly's it. I guess there has been some sort of story associated with past owners and various reasons that they pay to maintain and house it, yet have no interest in flying it. Sad, I would use the crap out of that thing. If I had gas money, I would fly to Stehikan everday for lunch. There is also a beautifully restored Fairchild in the same hanger, been sitting too.

A couple friends of mine used to own a 90-horse Champ on Edo's. It performed pretty well. There's been a lot of 65 horse T-Craft float planes, with that big wing they do well. Pretty affordable way to get into float flying, if you can find a place to keep it-- maybe rent a beach-front tiedown spot from the 180 guy.
Anything on amphibs is gonna need some horsepower to perform well, off land or water. This takes it out of the "affordable flying" category (at least for me).