Paul,

I just looked back through this thread and saw that you also asked about the wire gear that I made... I am sorry that I was not paying attention and failed to address your questions and supply pictures. If you are still interested, I can get some pictures taken this afternoon (and some measurements as well, if those would also prove helpful).

I have not flown the Beaver since January (I also have a set of self-made skis). I have been busy with other projects. I actually stripped the beaver of all servos recently in order to get another plane ready for maiden. I have all replacement servos in hand, but I just need to devote a few hours to getting the beaver back together again.

Anyway, I re-read my post and it looks as though I indicated (in both the text and the diagram) that the last strut (#4) should be 246 mm from hole to hole. Now, in all honesty we're talking about the difference of 1 mm (if you go with 247 mm strut in position 4), so it's likely that all will work just fine. Just be sure that when you finish that the wing incidence is close to 2-3 degrees positive relative to the top of the floats. Don't worry too much. Just get it close and the plane will fly just fine!

Regarding the attachment, I also used stainless screws. However, be sure to drill some appropriately-sized pilot holes in the fiberglass. You know the pilot hole is correct when the screw requires some force to get it to enter the material, but not so much that you start stripping the heads. If the pilot holes are too small, and aside from stripping the heads, you run the risk of cracking the fiberglass by driving in an over-sized screw. If the screws go in (tightly) then there's no reason to fear for water leakage. It'll be a very tight seal that prevents water entry into the floats. Try to also make sure that there is some wood below to bite into. The CA sounds like a good idea, especially if your screwing into wood. Just make sure that you let it dry completely or you'll never get those screws back out!

Don't worry about your float fly... the beaver will be great!

Let us know how is goes!

best regards,

Noah