Congratulations Spencer on your successful first outing and it sounds as though you got the float installation right.

Yes there really is something magical about a seaplane making a low slow pass, wet floats dripping that a wheeled ship just can,t emulate.

Floats by the way are never just dead weight and do contribute to lift in a good installation and of course drag. Certain manuvers can be improved by floats. In an airplane that is just not quite capable of knife edge for instance with floats suddenly can become capable. Also the floats lower the vertical center of gravity well below the center of lift (wing) and this will improve roll stability. Maybe not what you want for high roll rates but definately gives the airplane an entirely differant and pleasant character.

John