74cj5

I need a little advice. I have been flying for about 6 years now. Last year I converted my high wing trainer to floats. My local hobby shop put them on and the job was done very well. The floats are plastic, hollow and have a small drain hole pin size in the top middle. The would get water in them after one flight. The water was extremely hard to get out of this small hole. I enlarged the hole pluged it and put duct tape over it. After 3-4 tanks through it I pull the plugs and drain any water. This has worked fairly well but if the plugs don't seal perfectly then the plane takes on water and is teribly out of balance. The plane in the water tends to pull to the left when power is applied. This makes for hair raising takeoffs. The water rudder is a single unit on the left float. It is held in the water by a rubber band. I would much rather land than take off. This is totally backwards from how I feel flying off grass. Here is my question. Do you think I sould buy different floats? If so what would you recomend for a 40 size airplane. Can I keep the floats that I have and fill them with liquid foam? Is the water rudder possibly causing me all my problems on take off? Would you recomend annother rudder or a retractable rudder? I have tryed it without the rudder without much luck controling the model at low rpm's. I am new to the forum and appreciate any help you can give.

Thank you
Matt

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

The liquid foam idea is good, but it will add weight. Try this first:

Remove the float, and hold it upside down in the bathtub. Bubbles will be coming from wherever the leak is. If it can be done easily, just patch the leak.

If that doesn't work, then I'd try the liquid foam. (Spray foam insulation would work well)

If all else fails, get a better set.

evan-RCU

Sounds like you have GeeBee floats, the hobby shop should have installed a sheet metal srew in each hole in the top of the floats before they gave it to you. They come with the floats and work well to seal the stock opening. Now that you have unlarged the hole you have to figure a good way to seal it. I would try Goop and see how it works. With the hole sealed you should never have to worry about water getting in unless you run around on land and wear out the bottom of the step(I've done it).

I would not try filling the floats with foam, it'll make them heavy and the water will still get in and then be harder to get out. The GeeBee floats are good, try to fix the problem before you go replacing them.

As far as pulling to the left. The water rudder you have shouldn't be doing it unless they istalled it in a way that causes a whole lot of drag. An easy cure would be to take it of and see if it pulls with out it. Unless it's windy you can fly, actually taxi, without the water rudder. More likely the floats are not parallel to each other both looking down from the top of the plane and from the side. A good and easy way to check the parallelism from the top is to set the plane on a tile floor and use the lines in the floor against the centerline of the fuse and the center of each float. The tip of each float should also protrude the same distance from the front of the plane.

After you check these items out let us know how it works.

74cj5

Thank you for the information.

The Plane is at the lake cottage and it will be 2 weeks before I can get there to get it. I will give it a try.


Thanks again
Matt Shifferly

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

I agree with Evan that you probably have GeeBee floats.
GeeBees seem to provoke love or hate. Nobody seems to have mild feelings about them. I am not an admirer. Even if they were plywood/Balsa floats: Hollow floats are a great place to store water.

You will be WAAAY ahead if you will install a set of styrofoam floats. It may be a little work, because they don't come finished. But foam floats are (1) much more efficient in getting the plane airborne (2) incapable of absorbing much water (3) pretty darned sturdy(4) Very lightweight. I have an 8-year old set of styrofoam floats on their 5th airplane. They look ratty, but they still work.

FoamFloats.com. RnZ models, Climate models, PlaneFun Floats are some of the vendors offering foam floats. "Seaplane" here on this forum is PlaneFun floats, and he makes brilliantly engineered floats at astonishingly low prices. I'll cut you a set of float cores and send you detailed instructions for about what he charge to do all the work.

Evan also rightly suggests that you check alignment. The floats could be crooked, or your water rudder may be out of adjustment. The WR should not touch the water while your plane is going fast, anyway. It should not stick down from the transom any more than the height of the step of the float. It's for taxiing, only. The rubber-band retractable version sounds as if it is either an ERNST or Williams Brothers rudder. Either is OK, Ernst is more scale-like.

Jerry Sigur

Geebee floats are terrible in that the flex too much.
They will flex under load and allow the aircraft to veer one
way or another. Also they tend to leak as you have found out.
I've had a set of Goldberg wooden floats on a cub for about 12
yrs with no problems, only time they leak is if the cub is crashed.
But nothing wrong with a set of foamcore floats.
Jerry

74cj5

I got the plane home. It does have the gee bee floats. The floats appear to be even with each other. The water rudder hangs down way to low if it is not suposed to be below the step of the float. I have a picture of the float even with my counter top. I am thinking of just triming the float at the marker line because the mount cannot be moved up without fabricating a bracket and adding weight. Is this ok. Let me know. I am also sealing everything with silicone on the floats. Take a look at the brackets. When sitting on a flat surface the floats will tip side to side if you push on the plane. This is not a huge movement but enough to affect it on a take off run. Thanks again for the help.

Matt

74cj5

I am trying to send the pictures again.

Matt

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

You have an ERNST water rudder. It SHOULD kick up when it meets any resistance. But the mounting tab provided on the GeeBee floats is not the way the Ernst floats are designed to mount. They are transom-mount.

You don't want the rudder in the water after you start your takeoff run. It just adds drag, and full-power prop blast over the air rudder is plenty effective.

Also, the flex-cable linkage for the water rudder is popular, but not very accurate. Clearance between the inner cable and the sheath lets it have play, and friction keeps it from centering well. But a water rudder is only for low taxiing anyway, and it can be sloppy and still suffice.

74cj5

Thank you for the information. I will see if I can trim this rudder a little bit to cut down on some drag.


Matt