First, I had a Diamond Dust delta. Flew great. I decided to do a twin.

Second, came the Dusty Deuce, a twin Diamond Dust made by widening the center by 12 inches and using 2 OS .25FXs with Jett tuned mufflers. I did change to a single fin with a workable rudder. You need one of those on twins. Dusty was fast and nice to fly, but I finally grew tired of it.

Idea: I was taking the engines out in preparation for giving it away or trashing it, when I had this idea. Why not put it on floats!

Third, is the Sea Deuce, the Dusty Deuce, twin engine delta on floats. I had some fiberglass floats that someone had given me and they looked to be the right size. Flying buddy and builder, Flaps Laffert, took the plane and added internal bracing and installed the floats.

I was also leery of flying my OS .25s and Jett pipes over water in a delta. I had available 2 OS .46LAs that I had originally bought for water flying. Plain bearings-no ball bearings to rust out. I checked and the LA .46s were not much heavier than the .25FXs with the Jett mufflers. In went the plain bearing LAs.

Test Time: We arrived at the lake a little after 8AM. There was a little wind and mostly blue skies. I cranked both engines one at a time to set them, then cranked both for the test. The first attempt ended with one engine out due to water in the carb.

I re-cranked and this time, I nailed the throttle, held back stick. She jumped off and started climbing, really steeply climbing. Need down trim. I throttled back to half and ran in down trim until I ran out. It was still climbing a little at half throttle, but I could feel it out at that power. It still flies good with no bad vices.

I thrlttled back to land and it sank a little more than without floats. I used all the up I had just at touchdown. I checked the CG again and it hands a little nose low with a third tank of fuel, so I guess I need some tail weight and to use high rate for landing.

I have some pictures from before takeoff (always take them before in case there isn't an after). A friend with a long lens Nikon took some in flight, but it'll be Monday or Tuesday before I get them.