Pond Flyer

How does the stock Beaver fly on floats. I am looking for a simple plane that I can fly off a lake.

SteveVag

Good Question!

I have a GWS Beaver and I've bought the GWS floats but have yet to construct and install them. My guess is that water takeoffs are much easier than water landings. My Beaver sometimes trips on its landing gear and ends up on its nose on runway landings, if I'm not very careful about my final approach and touchdown. I'm afraid that the friction forces on the floats as they hit the water might tend to cause "nose into the water" landings if one isn't very careful.

Steve V.

Foamaholic

My Feedback: (1)

Maybe it will want to tip over, but the floats stick pretty far out in front, or they should.
I have floats on mine, but haven't tried water.
I have flown it over grass by hand launching and landing on the grass. Doesn't tip over.

SteveVag

Thanks for the feedback, Foamaholic.

Maybe I'm expecting a problem where there isn't one. I'll have to put my floats together and see how it lands on grass. My wheeled landings on grass end up with a nose down tumble over, but if the floats give you a smooth landing on grass they would probably work well on water landings. Please give us a report on your first water landings with the Beaver.

By the way, what motor/gearbox/prop are you using on your Beaver? I've got a GWS EPS 300C driving a GWS 10x4.7 two blade prop. I was told I might need something more powerful to lift off from water with those 4oz floats.

Steve V.

Foamaholic

My Feedback: (1)

It probably does take more power to get off water than grass.
On the other hand, if you can get going fast enough it should lift off.
Might take a tug of up to separate from the water.
If the water is smooth run around a little to get some ripples going.
That will tend to make the plane bounce when takeing off and help unstick it from the water.
If the 300 motor won't work you could try a 350. Has more power.
Also could try a 7 cell batter pack, which reminds, me, you'll want to protect the pack from water getting in, a piece of tape or something.over the hatch. The receiver and esc seem pretty well proteced inside the plane.
Here's a thread that talks about the Beaver on floats.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...=beaver+floats
Another.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235088
There is a Waterplane forum here.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=174

SteveVag

Thanks for the links to the great Beaver threads! I'll definitely try to get my floats installed before the summer's over. And I've got a spare 350 motor I can use to beef up the power if needed.

Steve V.

SteveVag

Well, I upgraded the Beaver's motor from a 300 to a 350 series one, and it handled very well at my local park. I was surprised to see it flying so well. I was able to take off from the infield dirt pretty easily, dispite the added friction involved. So I headed for the water, choosing a nearby river. Directly opposite the bank I was on is located a canoe and kayak rental boathouse, so I figured in the worst case scenario I could go rent a canoe to rescue my Beaver. There was a little more wind than I had hoped, but it was blowing slightly towards the bank I was on, so I thought if the plane flipped it would blow back to my side of the river.

Anyway, I quickly discovered the plane's direction was uncontrollable in
the water, as it would just turn into the wind regardless of what I did with
the rudder. So I figured I'd just try to speed up a little but not try to
take off, and the plane promptly tripped over its floats and capsized . The
wind and current took it parallel to the shore so I had no choice but to wade out to my thighs, far enough to hook it with a 15' collapsible pole as it floated by. I drained it and tied kite string to it and put it back in the river, just to practice water taxiing. As I tried to speed it up it would lift one pontoon slightly up and then trip on the one still on the water. After a
few dunkings and retrievals the receiver quit. When I replaced it the wind
had increased to the point where it was too dangerous to fly. So I called
it a day and went home.

Later on I got on a water plane forum and read that the c of g of
the plane must be right over the step in the pontoons, and mine was almost a couple of inches forward of it. So I reattached the floats so the tips stuck out more forward to get the c of g over the step. I also waterproofed the electronic components and battery.

The next water session was pretty exciting, as I got my Beaver float plane to take off from the water for the first time. By chance some kayakers came by and I got their promise to rescue the plane in case of a capsize. Turns out I really needed their help a few times. Anyway it was pretty neat to see the Beaver doing water takeoffs and landings, well worth the effort and expense of adding the floats to the plane. I even had a small crowd on hand watching my initial efforts to take off, and on the first successfull takeoff I got an ovation from the gallery.

To make the Beaver harder to capsize I then added a small piece of foam wing on either side of the pontoons. The foam is angled in such a way as to provide a righting force on the side that the plane is tipping towards. The force comes not from bouyancy but from the foam piece hitting the water surface at an angle when the craft starts tipping while moving at high speed on the water just prior to taking off. Using my training floats I've cut down the number of capsizes during a water RC session considerably. If anyone's interested I can post a link to pictures of my float helpers.

Steve

Foamaholic

My Feedback: (1)

Cool. Sounds like fun. I'd love to see a pic.

SteveVag

I'll take some pics of my Beaver and floats with my digital camera and post a link to them.

I've since bought a season pass at a local canoe rental service and I've been using it as a base from which to fly the Beaver on the river. Unfortunately I once flew it into an overhanging tree branch, which ripped off a few inches off the wing. But I was able to retrieve the piece and mend the wing in the canoe, enough to continue flying.

Another time the wind became completely calm and it was very difficult to get the plane's floats out of the water. I had to jerk a bit on the elevator to get it airborne, then quickly level off to build up enough airspeed to climb. So a little wind makes takeoffs a lot easier, requiring less groundspeed from the plane, just like on land. The little waves caused by the wind also help to get the plane to fly out of the water.

One thing that surprised me is how easy a water landing is compared to water takeoffs. It's been the opposite for me when flying on land. And crashes that would severely damage a plane on land seem pretty painless on the water. The plane once got behind me so I lost sight of it. It then did a nose dive into the water, but no damage resulted. A similar crash on land would have ended the flying session. Of course, the electronics have to be waterproofed, especially the receiver. I have it in a small plastic bag which is sealed with a twist tie where the wires are routed. But fortunately the motor doesn't seem to mind an occasional swim.

Steve

Foamaholic

My Feedback: (1)

Sure sounds like fun. One trick to take off in calm water is to run around in circles a little to make some ripples.

SteveVag

Here's a link to some pictures of the Beaver with its modified float system:

community.webshots.com/user/stevevag

Just select the RC airplanes album

It's having trouble lifting off from the water lately, as the weight from numerous repair jobs with tape, glue and epoxy has been adding up. Also, when it lifts off from the water it's at stall speed, and often can't climb out of the ground effect. I think it needs more thrust from the motor to overcome the drag from the water and the extra weight of the floats.

I'm using a GWS 350C with c gearbox and GWS 10x4.7 prop with 7.4V 1200mAh LiPo. The data sheets say this motor puts out 410 gms of thrust with that prop and battery voltage, and is the best I can do at 7.2V. The GWS 10x8.0 prop seems to develop more takeoff thrust and the plane will lift off, but it may not be good for the motor? But I only need full power for a few seconds during take off. I'm going to try a GWS 11x4.7 prop next.

dalosiman

My Feedback: (1)

Here is a link to a good video of a beaver on floats http://www.silentflightonline.com/Si...Asp?ImgNum=937
Hosted by www.silentflightonline.com 10.6MB.

SteveVag

Thanks for the link to the Beaver videos, dalosiman. I've got a dialup modem so I'll have to wait till the wee hours of the morning to download them.