Gee Bee Floats?

[Graham]

Has anyone else out there had trouble with these floats. This is the second aircraft and similar problems. I line up the step with the C of G.

Is that incorrect?

Would appreciate input on personal experiences with this manufacturers floats. Mine are the larger of the two sizes, labelled 36" but measure about 32 1/2.

Graham

[nony]

The are not very popular with experienced float flyers. I've seen them out there, but they are very rare. Mostly people gravitate to floats that work better...

[Jollidude]

Apparently if you glue 1/4" triangle stock to the edges of the front half of the floats creating spray chines, the performance of these floats improves noticeably. The consensus is that the "V" is too sharp, forcing water sideways and making it difficult to get on step. By adding the chines, it keeps the water under the floats and improves performance and stability.

Cheers!

Jollidude

[Graham]

Thanks Jollidude, that makes sense, as that is exactly what is happening.

Maybe I shoud try that.

Graham

[MikeSac]

Hey,

I had a set of those. Did not like them very much. I put the set on two different planes. I found mounting the floats on piano wire to be a pain because the attachments were so thin that the floats wobbled from side to side as soon as the wheel collars became only a little bit loose. Also I did not like how the floats tended to bellow and bend without internal reinforcement.

I did the triangle stock thing to and it did make them a little more stable in the water, but I would recommend making you own foam or built up floats. They would look better, and perform better.

Good Luck:)

[Donkey Doctor]

Hello; My experience with gee bee floats was on a schneider cup racer, it didn't want to pick itself off the water and fly. I thought it was because on the tapered step. I had lots of power on that plane so I had no problems getting it up. I have seen a fellow come out to our lake and taxi around for awhile with ge be floats, he finally got airborn by jumping off a wave. The problem wasn't spray in the prop, it was the tapered step. As soon as you put in up elevator, it would rotate the tapered step into the water and slow everything down. My floats mount with strap aluminum, that works pretty good.

[Graham]

Your answers confirm my experience, they are about to be replaced. We have tried a set of these, www.foamcorefloats.com and they worked great.

Thanks to all that came back with some info.

Graham