Kitfox vs RANS, The Building Experience

[StuBob]

1000 hours to build the floats! Ack!!!

[WWhunter]

Stubob,
I have a set of the Murphy 1800 Amphibs, haven't done much on them but looking through the build manual, they look nearly as complex as building an airframe. Lot more to them than I guy thinks. Bulkheads, chines, pump outs, gear, etc. all add up to a lot of work.

[StuBob]

I guess that explains why they cost almost as much as an airplane, too.

I wonder about the Zenith and Full Lotus models.

[Esser]

MY buddy runs Full Lotus floats. If you are flying in rivers where you have rocky, shallow shores I think they are the best bet. They have an amphib flavour too. The new ones are a lot less draggy than the old.

[WWhunter]

I have a set of the Full Lotus amphibs (older style with the exposed type gear). The Full Lotus are definitely not for the guy that is worried about looks. I will be up front and mention that I have not yet mounted these floats on my plane. I bought them due to the price being right and the fact that living up here in the north country, the original owner told me they work great on snow and ice. Actually, he said they were the most fun he had for winter flying since they had better flotaion than skis when landing on the snow and 'really fun' on ice.
Hey, what else can a guy mount in regards to landing gear that will allow landing on nearly anything!

Water..check
land...check
snow...check
ice.....check

The retract gear definitely isn't made for rough field landings but my strip is pretty smooth so I think they will be a great addition for me.

[StuBob]

The Full Lotus straights and the old amphibs are apparently great on snow. But I've read that the new amphibs, with the mains retracting into wells, are more problematic, as snow can get packed into the wells.

Maybe so, maybe not, but it makes sense.....

BUT, Full Lotus are certainly one good way around 1000-hour build times.