1800 Straight Floats and Sky Tec Starters

steve whitenect · Post by **steve whitenect** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:23 am

Hi to all
If using these starters, ensure u have a good battery and your ignition
systems are in good shape. Suppose to be prone to splitting their housing
if a kick back occurs.
Just sold my EDO floats and moving to the next step of constructing floats
for my Rebel. Are the Murphy 1800's the only one "to" use? Are there any
others available that are worth the money? Is the performance, center of
bouyancey and floatation adequate? Any comments out there from experienced
float people? Dealing with Colleen now on a new kit but would like to hear
what the list has to say. thanks and take care

Steve W # 637

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rebel · Post by **rebel** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:23 am

Just my opinion, of course, but I think the 1800 amphibs are very

well matched to the Rebel. I have loaded mine up real good many

times, and still have no trouble getting on the step and getting

airborne. Yet they are very light for amphibs. They are also very

stable, and can handle rough water well, and I don't hesitate to

do downwind landings in 10 mph chop, or take-offs for that

matter. I flew to Powell Lake with the wife the other day for

lunch, where take-off into the wind required a long taxi downwind

first. My initial intention was to step taxi way down and then

turn around. However, being lazy, I thought I would try take off

downwind first. And sure enough, it took awhile, but kept picking

up speed, and then lifted off. At the point of lift-off, the

tailwind was strong enough to start forming whitecaps, so it had

to be at least 10 mph. Besides the wife and I, we had 25g fuel

and about 20 pounds baggage, so it was not a light load. I have

flown other airplanes on floats where I wouldn't be doing this,

because of the tendency to nose over or dig in. But with the

Rebel, it has this nice nose-high landing/take-off attitude on

these floats, where it just feels rock solid. I have also flown

it in low cloud/fog over the ocean, where I was also over glassy

water, and because you couldn't tell where the surface was, had

to fly with the flaps down at 65 mph, and had the floats touch a

few times unexpectedly, but with no adverse results. I just

pulled it up a bit and tried to fly a few feet higher and still

stay out of the fog.

Of course, straight 1800's should be even better.

I'm sure there must be other floats that work well on this

airplane, but FWIW, this has been my experience with the 1800

amphibs.

One other float I might consider are the 2150 Full Lotus. I know

many people don't like them, because they are high drag. However,

I have heard from a couple people now that used them, and they

say they actually perform pretty good off the water on the Rebel.

The big advantage with these, is the ability to pull up on a

rough beach, and not worry about rocks or sharp gravel.

Again, just my opinion, and others feel free to differ.

Walter

"steve whitenect" <srwhitenect@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BAY24-F14dvspqZYoL10000a05c@hotmail.com...

Hi to all
If using these starters, ensure u have a good battery and your ignition
systems are in good shape. Suppose to be prone to splitting their housing
if a kick back occurs.
Just sold my EDO floats and moving to the next step of constructing floats
for my Rebel. Are the Murphy 1800's the only one "to" use? Are there any
others available that are worth the money? Is the performance, center of
bouyancey and floatation adequate? Any comments out there from experienced
float people? Dealing with Colleen now on a new kit but would like to

hear

what the list has to say. thanks and take care

Steve W # 637

_________________________________________________________________
Take advantage of powerful junk e-mail filters built on patented

Microsoft

steve whitenect · Post by **steve whitenect** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:23 am

Thanks for the reply, Walter.
If u really use floats for what they were intended for; accessing the back
country rather than the 100 dollar breakfasts, the lotus floats are the way
to go but I just can't put something so ugly on an aircraft with such pretty
lines!

thanks again

Steve

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