Various photos of floats and skis

Some ideas on "Alternative Legs" for the M-19

revised May 3, 2000

Here is "Muktuk", Cress Walker's homebuilt, on his homebuilt wood floats. Cress sells plans for his floats, which are built using plywood skin and wood framing. Very simple, light (70 lbs. including fittings), easy to build. I'm thinking of going this route rather than making the floats from fiberglass, and have ordered a set of plans. Click here to visit Cress Walker's "MukTuk Floats" website . When you buy a set of plans from him, Cress scales and dimensions your set for your airplane's gross weight. Notice that in this photo he didn't even have water rudders on the floats.

Here's another shot of Cress' airplane.

Here you can see how simple the mounting brackets and fittings are for Cress' wood floats. The main landing gear is used for the front fittings (brackets for mounting the axles). Cress apparently added water rudders, as you notice. I will have water rudders on my floats.

Here's a detail of the float construction.

Here's an artist's rendition of the M-19 on floats.

Want to see an awesome floatplane? Take a look at Jeff and Debby Sterling's "Sterling" , a highly-modified STOL Piper Pacer. Awesome!

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Sept., 1999

Here's Jeff Scott's KR-2S preparing for the Schneider Cup race for floatplanes ;o) I know Jeff lives in Arizona, and it's supposed to be hot and dry, but what's that wet stuff all around?

Here, Jeff is showing the basic floats, taken off an Avid Flyer that he's rebuilding.

Another view of the basic float. If all goes as planned, Jeff will pull molds from these floats, then lay up some sets of shells. I will get one set, as my return for sharing in the cost of the materials for molds and shells. I'll then install my own bulkheads and framing, accessories, etc.- and fit the floats to the M-19.

These are skis taken from the Avid. Very bad shape, but does give an idea of how to build straight skis, which simply slip onto the stock axles. I won't be using this type, but rather "wheel penetration" skis, made from obsolete snowboards. Slots will be cut in the boards for the wheels, giving "amphibian" capability (land and snow).

Another view of the Avid skis.


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