For a while I have been playing with adding a small float-plane to act as the tender to my 20m Classic Motor Yacht, currently based in Florida, which I've just finished restoring. (The benefits of stopping flying winged death for the govnmt to found my own company)....

My intent would be to use the deck crane to lift the Kitfox onto and off the boat, so my first question is:

Does the forum hive mind think it would be possible to weld lifting rings onto the aircraft frame (covered with zips/press stud flaps of aircraft covering material) to attach a lifting harness directly to the aircraft when it needs lifting, or will this bend the airframe? I'm thinking 3 rings ahead of the c of g and 2 rings aft, attached to keep the aircraft in balance when it's lifted.

Further, I guess you could weld a plate between a number of stringers and attach the lifting ring to the plate to spread the load?

The alternate is to use a sling under the fuselage, which would take an awful lot longer and be a lot more hazardous.

2) Whilst due to the size of the aircraft there will be float limitations, are any particular Kitfox models known as better Floatplanes/Amphibs than others? As this is an experiment my preference would be to buy an older and cheaper model to test the concept, then look at building an aircraft once I know whether it will work or not and what tweaks for the application need to be made. Ideally I'd like to keep empty weight below 400KG, though am happy with keeping it on the experimental register, as opposed to the LSA register.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Badmash