Piper with Floats?

[Pilawt]

I do recall seeing a Cherokee Six on floats waay back in the late 60's. IIRC they were amphibious floats.

Floats were only available on the 300-hp Six; and IIRC none were amphibs.

The factory also offered floats on the early Cherokee 160 and 180. Would hate to dock one solo, though. Interestingly, floats were not an option on the PA-28-235.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

1965 Cherokee 180. Constant speed prop, Float Kit and Robertson STOL.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-Cherok...231558c7:g:A2IAAOSwB09YD9Fo&item=172387293383


"The "float kit" is the ABILITY to be put on floats. There are no floats with it. This plane has briefly been on floats in it's early years."

Runout engine

 

[weilke]

Floats were only available on the 300-hp Six; and IIRC none were amphibs.

The factory also offered floats on the early Cherokee 160 and 180. Would hate to dock one solo, though. Interestingly, floats were not an option on the PA-28-235.

That's why the brochure shows them beaching it ;-)

It would probably make more sense to fly this from the right seat. On the Six you could even get to the fuel selector.

 

[edo2000]

The Aztec on floats just might make sense. How many twin float planes that size existed?

I think that was probably the idea. The only twin seaplane I can think of close to that size is a Widgeon, and it is larger, heavier, burns more fuel. There was an Aztec on floats flying out of Beluga Lake seaplane base at Homer, Alaska for many years. It looked pretty cool. I always assumed it was for flying out to Afognak, Kodiak and the Aleutians, places where two engines would be nice to have. You have to wonder how the single engine performance would be on an Aztec floatplane.

 

[James331]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-Cherok...231558c7:g:A2IAAOSwB09YD9Fo&item=172387293383


"The "float kit" is the ABILITY to be put on floats. There are no floats with it. This plane has briefly been on floats in it's early years."

Runout engine

That actually seems like a good deal with those mods.

I'd also be interested to know what exactly goes into a piper factory float plane,if it's anything like a Cessna, that's major structural improvements and full factory corrosion proofing, plus the STOL kit, that'd be worth buying and putting a fresh overhaul on all day long, even if you never put it on floats, if everything else checks out.

 

[kgruber]

Cessna and Piper use different "factory corrosion proofing." Piper sprays zinc chromate on the parts and then assembles them. Cessna assembles the parts and then sprays them.

Many Cherokees, including mine, have a skin here and there that is zinc chromated. Piper had a lot of extra seaplane parts left over when the Cherokee seaplane turned out to be a flop. They still used the parts.

The Twin Seabee is the same size as the Aztec, but has much less power. I liked the water rudder feature in the "Nomad." The gear handle operated the waqer rudders.