Aluminum Skis on float brackets

[pault]

I was tired of Dubro skis cracking in cold weather,and the ice and snow around here was rough on the floats.  So I made some aluminum skis to
to be used with the float  gear.  as soon as it gets above 0 I will conduct the test<a href="s970.photobucket.com/user/pault47/media/photo1_zpsce9cab8e.jpg.html  Tell me your ideas to improve the skis.  They measure 18.5"x 2" and are 40g lighter than the float set.
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[pault]

Dec 13, 2013 0:39:35 GMT 1 pault said:

I was tired of Dubro skis cracking in cold weather,and the ice and snow around here was rough on the floats.  So I made some aluminum skis to
to be used with the float  gear.  as soon as it gets above 0 I will conduct the test<a href="s970.photobucket.com/user/pault47/media/photo1_zpsce9cab8e.jpg.html  Tell me your ideas to improve the skis.  They measure 18.5"x 2" and are 40g lighter than the float set.
<img style="max-width:100%;" alt="" src="">

I have now test flown the skis, all went well.  Ground steering took a lot more rudder input, but as long as I went into the wind on take-off and landing there were no issues.  I hid the float wires by adding some "pants" made out of 3/16"

foam board glued on to the wire.   If I were to do it again, I would make the skis maybe 2" shorter.  The skis made the plane more stable (like the floats do) and I had to adjust the trim as the turned up front of the skis added more lift.  I have added ailerons to the plane and upgraded to a brushless motor, it makes a world of difference when adding different accessories/weight.

[coupe1942]

I don't know about skis in particular, but with floats you can wax the floats on the bottom and the do a bit better on grass landings. I can't prove it, but they seem to break the surface tension on water a tad better, too. I would think that you may try that and see if it helps any on the landings and use of any rudder control necessary. I can't really see if your skis have any sort of flex to them at the mounting points. If they are rigid there, perhaps that can be a minor problem with lift and all. Don't believe me as knowing of what I speak in the matter, as I have never played with skis on my SC at all, but just an idea or two to ponder and shoot down. The extra length may be the real problem at hand, as could the actual placement of the skis on the plane. I can't see clearly if you sanded the rear edges and tips or not, but if not, that could be something to look at, as any rough area could produce problems. I believe you did though. When I have worked with aluminum stock, it always required a certain amount of sanding on any edges, even if it was broken off or cut in some manner. Bet your having fun with the mod. Enjoy. Trial and error can produce some interesting results, huh? :-)

One last thing though, how did adding the overly large skis effect the CoG of the SC? Just curious on that...

[pault]

the skis did make the plane tail heavy, That's why I would shorten them next time. I added weight to the front and it now flies great.
I positioned the front of the skis the same as where the front of the floats come. The skis are quite flexible and the flexing of the
wire upon landing really cushions the touchdown