MORROMAXX

My Feedback: (1)

Hi everyone, I am new on planes and with floats. What would be a good engine for the hobbico avistar with floats???
Thanks

Morromaxx

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Hobbico advertises the Avistar with an OS.40LA. The LA is (in my experience) a smooth-running and reliable engine, but not very powerful. I have had a .46LA for years, and it has served me well.

I'd put on an OS.40FX or the Thunder-Tiger equivalent ball-bearing motor. Go to a .45 if you want, but if it flies with an LA, you'll have adequate power with the ball-bearing .40.

Just get the floats right, and it will fly fine. If the floats are selected poorly or rigged wrong, you can have problems with ANY plane.

MORROMAXX

My Feedback: (1)

Thank YOU very much for your advice.
Morromaxx

crookeder

I have an avistar on 33'' Gee Bee floats. I have a ST. 51 on it. It flies great and has power to spare. If I did not have the 51 handy I would have gone with an OS 46FX. I had the same floats on a PT40 with an OS 46LA with poor results. I would also recomend a water rudder, it made 100% difference.

PeterC

As has been mentioned before on other threads, the Gee Bee floats leave a lot to be desired when it comes to getting off the water cleanly. Given enough power they will work.
I had them on a Robin Hood 63 with an HP 49 4S and it would NOT get off the water if there were no ripples. I had to stir up the water by circling around a few times to make some ripples so the floats would break loose. Just like some full scale AC.
Peter

tiger5

crookeder,
I just got a Avistar and want to put the GeeBee 33" floats on it and was wondering if you had to beef up the belly of the plane to attach the float supports and did you install a rudder? New at this.
You can email me at [email protected].
Thanks,
Charles--tiger5

2manyplanes

I have a avistar I just finished I converted it to a tail drager and used a os 60 fp .I added a 1/4 ply plate in front and back for float mounts. it flys great and has plenty of power to fly off water I also use it for glider towing.

PeterC

Tiger
Attaching floats to a land plane is quite easy. In essence you have two landing gears to attach, therefore you have to provide attachment points for them. I prefer to cut a piece of 1/8" ply (not lite ply) to go between the fuselage sides on the inside, so that the screws or bolts have a solid (hard point) to attach to. If you are using pre built floats the attach points are determined for you so you have to make the attach points on the fuselage so the struts can attach so that the step is under the CG. Be sure the plane is 2 or 3 degrees positive compared to the top of the floats to ensure easy takeoff.
A water rudder is nice, especially on a light trainer. The wind makes them want to weather cock at low speeds so it can be difficult to steer without one. Don't make it too big or it will create problems on takeoff.
Once you try float flying you'll never want to go back to wheels.
Have fun,
Peter

WeLaserCut

A good rule of thumb is: if the plane will take off a grass runway at 75% power, it should be ok on floats at 100%
Also try going down in pitch 1 number. If you fly a .40 sized plane with a 10/6 prop, try an 11/5 for float flying.
You will loose a bit of top end speed, but a narrower pitch prop will get you off the water faster and give a better climb.

Peter

tiger5

Thanks for all of the info and help. Anything will help, just keep on posting.

Charles--tiger5