I worked at Miramar the last 3 years I was in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club. I made many detachments to El Centro, Yuma, and China Lake. I moved to El Centro when I got out, and used to work up to Rancho Bernardo and even had Lawrence Welk Villiage as a customer. I loved it there in the desert. The best weather on the planet, with the exception of the "smut clouds" from the cattle yards.

Anyway, I heard that pontoons were the way to go, and I have found some sets here. There are now ski's starting to show up, and a fair difference in price, also. I got my taildragger trainer conversion cracked up while I was training my son in law on it. My fault, my mistake. I let him get away with it without taking it over when I had my doubts about where he was going with it. That leaves the trainer with the trike gear to convert either to floats or ski's. I live just a little south of Toronto, (we get their leftover snow and wind). So, normally we get a fair deal of snow, and like Gus described, once it warms a little, it will crust up or get a pack going. My thoughts were that the pontoons would be able to go over "holes" like deer prints and people prints more easily than ski's.