I have a Dynaflite Super Cub 104 " span in the frame stage of building and Sig 46" long
floats. The landing gear with the plane won't work on the floats, the gear for the floats won't
fit on the plane^%%$##@$%^!!!!!!ok so I have to fabricate something, get to learn how
to weld aluminum. Question is, I understand the step on the floats should be at or a little behind
the cg, but do the floats line up with the wings? or should the leading edge be a little higher
to add a little lift? That's where I'm stuck, once I figure out where the floats sit under the
plane and the angle the plane sits over the floats I can try to figure a way to attach the two.
any help would be appreciated, I figured I should stop building the fuse at this point in case
I have to add something. Might as well do it now before it's covered. thanks , Craig

Here is the correct way to design and set up floats. Maybe this will help, they work for me.
waterloged

thank you very much for the fast reply, from what I saw on the drawing it appears the wing (flat bottom) is
parallel with the top (also flat) of the floats. Does that seem correct ? thanks, Craig

No, you want to have +2° wing incidence with the top of the float level

MinnFlyer, +2* sounds like the leading edge should be up a little but the drawing has it down a little, I don't have an incidence
meter, I'll be doing this with a ruler,( I think!) the chord on the wing is 16" so if I measure down to the floats from the leading
edge, and then from the trailing edge.........the leading edge should be down about ..what 1/8-1/4 inch lower than the trailing edge?
Does this all sound correct? thanks, Craig

Keep in mind that incidence starts at the center of the LE to the center of the TE

The picture is not drawn to scale, and you SHOULD use an incidence meter - see if a club member has one you can borrow

I just looked at the picture/diagram again and realized the red line is where the 2* is meaning the wing should be there,
therefore the leading edge is higher in relation to the training edge.......is that correct? if so about how much higher in 16"
do you think ? thnk you , Craig

Nope. In your case, the center of the leading edge should be about 1/2 inch higher than the center of the trailing edge. Both measurements are from the top of the float.
Picture this. As the plane is flying level, the floats should appear to hang nose down very slightly. Hope this helps.
Paul

If you look closely at the diagram, the red line goes through the incidence of the wing. That is, it goes through the forward-most point of the LE and through the center of the TE. This is why it's a good idea to use a meter. It's hard to see by eye

If you set the top of the floats parallel with the flat part of the bottom of the wing, you should be OK. That will give you a couple of degrees of actual incidence.

The photo gallery at Brown's Seaplane base gives you a lot of cool scale details for Cubs on Floats.

Craig, I built a set of old Balsa USA floats that are 45" long and I used the hardware from Hanger 9 to mount them. They are mounted on my Hanger 9 104" Super Cub. You will have to modify your floats to accept the struts and spreaders but the nice thing about this hardware is that you can adjust the the float angle to get the wing incidence correct. Once the floats are mounted to the plane there is a stud on the strut side braces that is adjustable with two 4-40 nylock nuts. Moving these bolts on the stud changes the the angle of the floats. I have a build thread in this forum that explains how to build the boxes for the floats. I mounted my steps 5/8" behind the CG.

OK thank you guys very much, I think I fully understand it now. I also think what my problem is with another plane I've
had for years. A 20 size Great Planes cub with an os26 fs flew great for years off land and a couple years ago took it
to Canada for a fishing trip with the floats. No problem flying, it was a blast. Last year still have the floats on took to
a local lake and couldn't get it off the water. Just couldn't get the speed to lift off so I brought it home put it on a shelf
and there it sits. After all this discussion about floats I looked at the little cub and it looked wrong. I just took it down and
put the wing on and the floats are pointing up! Took a measurement and in an 8" chord the trailing edge is 3/8" higher off
the floats than the leading edge! No wonder it just ran around plowing the water !! I don't know how that happened, but
now I think I know why it wouldn't lift up. Craig

>>I think I fully understand it now. <<

And this is why we do this.

Have fun, Craig.