Bearhawk Wannabe

[Waterdog]

Waterdog here, Also known by my alias Ken Miller.

Waterdog because I flew seaplanes for about 18 yrs. and my Lake for 15. Time to make a change so sellin the Lake and 150, with the idea of the LSA, which I just ordered Plans for.
I have been surfing the sight a bit and it looks as if someone is doing float fittings on the LSA, is the true? Has anyone floated one yet? Any thoughts along that line or any other are most welcome.
Also any input on props for the LSA?, I have an O-200 to build up as well as a 4869ck climb prop off a 150, which I will sell with the 150 if inappropiate for the LSA.

Thanks In advance,
Ken

[jaredyates]

Welcome to the group! I haven't met anyone who has been seriously working on floats for the LSA yet. That doesn't mean that it isn't happening of course!

[JakeP]

Hi Waterdog! We are planning on building our Bearhawk LSA for floats. I *just* started a thread mentioning this at the very bottom of the first post here: http://bearhawkforums.com/forum/bear...ge-build-notes

As far as I know there are only two flying Bearhawk LSA's and neither appear to be outfit for floats. We are unaware of any other information on this and are "going full experimental" here as far as we know.

In regards to the prop and the engine. We bought an annualled Cessna 150 with an O-200 on it for use on the Bearhawk LSA and have no idea what a good prop would be, but the plan is to use the prop that's on the engine to start with and probably ask Bob if he has a better idea which direction to take later.

[Waterdog]

Thank you for the welcome Jared and to you also JakeP.

JakeP, I know I will benefit from your efforts to resolve all of these persnickty little problems! I as well had the thought that the 150 prop might be a starting point and known quantitiy. I am also right here were Craig Catto's new shop is and will certainly speak to him about props for the plane.

Will you have an electrical system on your plane?

What fabric are you planning to cover with?

I have all the bits for a pumped up O-200 sitting on the shelf, so I don't see myself going any powerplant direction other than that. I might build a custom intake plenum and runners to mount a Rotec fuel servo on it. But other than that pretty standard stuff.

By the way were are you located?

Waterdog

[JakeP]

Build location is in Safford, AZ during the winter months. Dad "snow birds" up to Montana for the summer half of the year, and I normally live in NM.

No electrical. Might possibly put a starter on it some day.

For fabric, I think it is going to be Ceconite. I don't know enough about it to say more than that. My dad is an A&P with experience rebuilding Super Cubs (among other aircraft). He has mentioned we'll probably just use what's on his Super Cub, which he rebuilt in the late eighties, which I think was Ceconite. BTW, he got a blue ribbon at Oshkosh for that plane, when it was on floats. He does nice work! We don't currently have plans to bump up the engine, but he is spoiled with a 180 horse engine in the cub, so we'll see how long it takes before he starts fiddling with the O-200. The hope is that the Bearhawk LSA can more or less match the performance of his cub, minus weight capacity. Might be wishful thinking, but we'll see. The sometimes pricey anual cost of maintenance, plus the annoyance of certified compliance of the Super Cub is another one of the appeals of the Bearhawk LSA. He had been considering a Carbon Cub, but I bought the plans for the Bearhawk LSA instead, and here we are.