Lately I have been working diligently to finish some .60 size floats for my J3 Piper Cub. During the curing of the fiberglass, I decided that skis would probably be more appropriate due to the ensuing inclement weather. Therefore, I have decided to post some pictures of my finished skis to help anyone else who is experiencing a high level of angst from reduced flying due to winter.

I used 1/8” aluminum stock for my skis. The front skis are 2 1/5” wide by 14” long. The tips are 3” long from the beginning of the bend to the tip, and exhibit about a 5 degree angle. The tops are brushed using 120 grit sandpaper on a rotary sander to give a brushed effect, while the bottoms are polished to a mirror finish. In order to get the skis to slide, I polished the bottoms with eight coats of carnuba wax.

Skis

Some tips: My first time out, I made a novice mistake by being too greedy and not assessing the weather conditions (6” deep wet snow), which made for horrible flying conditions. To make a long story short, the result was a premature-forced take-off that was unrecoverable, and ended up in a crash. After repairing the cub and reinforcing any weakend areas with fiberglass, I can say that these skis aree perfect for hard-packed conditions or iced-over pond takeoffs.

For deep powder nothings better than a set of floats. Hey, you have a pair! Put them on and have some fun!

Unfortunately, I have not painted the floats yet. But after my crash, I realized that floats were needed. Thanks for the advice and I will be sure to post some pics of thee floats when they are completed.