Escapade Kid on amphibious floats?

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Rick Moss
New Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:44 pm

Escapade Kid on amphibious floats?

Post by Rick Moss »

Hi all,

I'm really not sure if this is the right place for my questions, but you're knowledgeable folk on many subjects so may be able to help!

I have a couple of aircraft; a Europa and an Escapade Kid, the latter of which I am not certain exists outside of Europe. It is a scaled-down Escapade powered by an Aixro rotary Wankel engine of 40hp. It has the same wing section and area as the 2 seat Escapade, but a much smaller single seat fuselage. In the U.K., it is operated under SSDR regs, similar to your experimental class. It's max takeoff weight is 275kg

I would like to fit amphibious floats, but there is virtually zero knowledge in Britain on this subject; there are maybe 5-10 floatplanes in the country, and they're mainly Husky types.

Escapade Kid specs:

Cruise: 60kts
Stall: 22kts
Payload: 145kg
Fuel burn: 6lph (1.5gph)
Empty weight: 130kg
Wing area: 10.5sqm

If anyone could suggest suitable off-the-shelf amphibious floats, or info to design and make my own, that would be much appreciated. Also a guide on rigging would be handy!
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FlyerChief
Veteran Member
Posts: 290
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:53 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Escapade Kid on amphibious floats?

Post by FlyerChief »

Hello Rick,
I'm not an expert on floats by any means, but I do know a couple of fellows flying similar sized aircraft on straight floats. Take a look at Muktuk float kits and plans, from British Columbia in Canada. They can be built fairly easily from wood and work very well on ultralight aircraft. I doubt that you could build amphibious floats that would still fly under the weight rules you mentioned, because of the added weight of the wheels. It may be possible, but it would be a real challenge! Muktuk has been working on it, but I believe you have to get into the 340kg range to get amphibs. There is a bit of information on the internet from guys that installed Muktuks on Belite Aircraft and on MiniMax and HiMax Aircraft too. If you really want more details on building Muktuk floats, I could put you in touch with a friend who built straight Muktuk floats several years ago and still uses them. He may have some info on rigging them on an ultralight too.
I believe they may be working on the website, so here is a link to the old one that still works well... http://www.ultralightfloats.com/Float_plans.htm

Another option would be Full Lotus floats, but the smallest ones are in the 400kg+ range and the wheels are an add-on for the smaller floats. Check them out at http://www.full-lotus.com/

Either way... flying on amphibs is great! I hope something works out for you!
Regards,
Dan
Highlander 241
Zenair 1450# Amphibs.
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. ~Henry Ford
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