kargo

Hello all,

Is there anything special I should do when covering my sig senior with ultracoat if I'm going to put it on floats? I thought about using a little sig "stickit," or a similar product, where the edges of the covering would rap around the bottom, to make sure that the covering wouldn't pull lose and allow water inside the fuse.

Any other "water-proofing" tips?

Thanks gang.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

The only way to keep water out is to never fly from water.

Just be sure that your iron is hot enough to get a good seal on the edges. At the right temp, both Ultracote and MonoKote will turn the color noticeably darker as you iron it - it will return to its natural color when it cools.

42etus

My Feedback: (2)

Minn's right. Just make sure the edges and seams are ironed down well, then go fly. It's not something to loose a lot of sleep over. Some guys go to great lengths to keep water out and it still gets in. Just make sure you allow things to dry out well after a day on the lake. Nobody likes a moldy plane.
Paul

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Start from the bottom rear and work toward the top front, and all your seams will be shingled appropriately.

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

...and don't drag the floats across the sand, rocks or whatever at the beach..... lift and carry the plane.... The bottoms of your floats will last a lot longer!

pollemix

Hola a todos. Last weekend I baptized my OS .7 4 strokes Kadet Senior with the .40 size Great Planes Floats.

This modified seaplane is the first on my list so I wouldn´t say it is the best seaplane ever BUT given the flight characteristics of the Kadet Senior itself I must say that floats on it fits like a glove.

Now, the floats on that model is covered with monokote but with sea water it use to pill off. Scotch wide transparent Film tape has done the job so far but I don´t know on the long run...

stang

My Feedback: (1)

That plastic film is going to take a beating really fast. Have you thought about applying fibreglass instead?

Augie11

I've got 4 floatplanes and they get a lot of use. Minnflyer was right, make sure your iron is hot enough. But what I also do on floatplanes is cover the bottom last, the opposite to land planes. This puts that lower seam in the right orientation to the water flow.

Good luck! The plastic film will hold up ok if you don't taxi over rocks or the beach

Mike Ferretti

My Feedback: (1)

To all: in general I agree with Auggiee, and Pollmix the most. I have been flying a set of the first version Hangar9 36" arf floats for several years now. The covering seams on the bottoms blasted open essentially right away. I have taped them, and the clear packing tape does seem to be holding for me also. I bought my second set of these, the new, all silver, version two, Hangar9 36" wood floats, and I agree with auggie. The covering overlaps for the sides is on the bottom facing the middle of the floats.... I think these overlaps will also blast open immediately. They say water is 100 times denser than air, so I think that means that the water is 100 times more powerful at blasting open the covering than the air. I am going to seal the overlaps on the floats with KlassKote #80 Aluminum colored paint, and, or recover them with the overlaps up on the sides. this may not end up looking as pretty as original overlap scheme, but should end up looking much better than blasted open covering, I.E. Wood floats getting wet. Also original Hangar9 covering only overlapped 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch. If I recover, overlaps of at least 1/4 inches.
M.F.