1320's vs 1400's on BC12D-85

[Dick Smith]

Tribe, any of you floatplane guys have any comments on the relative merits/advantages/disadvantages between using EDO 1320's or EDO 1400's on your Taylorcrafts??? Dick Smith N5207M TF#159
P.S. Just landed on skis on the lake ice out in front of the house...about a foot of good ice...was -27 degrees F. at the coolest the other night. Now the fun begins! Some more!

[Lubeck]

Dick, When my name came up for Lake Hood several years ago after 17 years on the wait list I started to look for floats for my Tcraft. I remember talking with Herman Ruess and he told me that the 1320's were a better performing float due to the design of the bottom of the float. The 1320's have a concaved bottom and the 1400's are straight.

[Homsie]

1320's vs 1400's on BC12D-85

Generally:

The smaller displacement float will perfom better under average conditions..ie not always at max weight.

If you are operating at max weight fairly often go with the biggest floats you can get. You need the additional displacement to keep the float in the optimum performance attitude.

The 1400's I have seen have 2 water rudder's which makes for better control on the water. ( I suppose you could always fabricate a second for the 1320's)

Rob

[Jim Hartley]

Hi Dick!

I have a set of 1320's and a couple of times I thought to my self ..." I wish I had a little more bouyancy or flotation."
Both times were at gross weight with about 30 pounds of water in each float do to a lot of taxiing.

I have a single water rudder and some times it can be annoying to have to plow to turn into the wind. On the other hand, it keeps me more wind wary, as I don't like the wind lifting a wing. So... if it will not turn at a low power setting I need to reassess the situation. A second water rudder would help turn in stronger winds but woud mean more hardware and more weight and maybe a wind gust lifting a wing??? I avoid plow turns as much as I can and have not noticed any prop erosion in a couple of years.

I have an early set of Edo's and are lighter than some I am told.
I guess in my situation I will opt for perhap a slightly underfloated machine as to a slightly overfloated machine in favor of performance.

[Buck]

FWIW, I wish I could remember where, but I know I read/heard somewhere that the 1400's weren't "officially" approved for use on Taylorcraft, only the 1320's. It may not be an issue tho.........Buck

[Dick Smith]

92-1400 EDO called out on A-696

Buck, in referencing the following: http://www.taylorcraft.org/A-696.pdf it appears the EDO 1400 is mentioned towards the bottom of the data sheet...page 10 item 205(b). Dick

P.S. Does anyone know what that black dot on the envelope to the left of my spot on the list refers to??

[Pete West]

1320's

Here is my 2 cents worth. I have flown 200 hrs. on my J-3 with a C-65 and 1320 floats. I have never had a problem getting off the water in Minnesota with 2 adults on a summer day with the C-65 and 1320 floats. Granted, I am very conservitive as to the size of take off room I allow, but have never had more than a 25 second t/o run and have never had to abort a t/o except for stupid boaters in the t/o path. I HEAR the flat bottom 1400's do not climb onto the step nearly as well as the 1320's with the fluted bottoms. I am restoring a BC-12 D with an 85 on it and would probably put it on Baumann 1500 or Aqua 1500's because of the higher gross weight. (1300#) on the cub, (1500#) on the T-crate.
Aqua 1500 has the flat bottoms as opposed to fluted on the Baumanns. Also, the Aquas are considerably heavier than the Baumanns or the EDO 1320's. As to the single rudder queation, I found that the single rudder kept me out of TROUBLE! 200 hrs. and not a single ding. I f the wind was blowing too hard to turn downwind, then the prudent thing with my experience was to shut the engine off and sail the bird downwind. Better practice anyway! As this is the sum total of my float experience, I humbly submit it for your review. If I can be of any other help, drop me a line. By the way , the previously mentioned floats and cub are for "SAIL". Regards, Pete West

[Dick Smith]

prop?

Pete, beautiful picture...that water looks "sticky"!! What prop are you wearing in the picture? Dick

[Forrest Barber]

Thank you all for the great input ; I am float rated and current but have very little experience; I got the rating in a BC12D w short mounted 85 & 1320's they seemed to do the job quite well. I do ask a question ; how are your floats mounted; factory weld on, factroy bolted. After market float fittings? whose & how do they work? many members ask about float fittings & floats. You have the answers , perhaps a part of the Taylorcraft Forumn at SNF & OSH should be about floats & skis .

[Pete West]

Sticky Water

Pretty calm water alright. Believe it or not, it still came off the water that night in 15 seconds or so. On one float at a time! Have a 74/43 on the cub. A 74/ 39 would be even better. You're not going anywhere fast in the cub anyway. Yep ol Taylor did right on this bird too! Regards, Pete

[Pete West]

Float fittings

Forest, I have the factory drawing for the welded cluster float fitting. If I install the bushings and tabs during restoration, do you think the FAA will accept the factory drawings as adequate tech info? I have bolt on fittings on my cub and have no rust problems under them, but would like the look of the welded fittings better.

[Forrest Barber]

WE have a drawing here at the Foundation for the weld in I have copied it for some, then was sent another one. What is your drawing number? I think that should be "approved data" if the drawings are complete. Anybody done welded in recently??

[Grant S. Bailey]

Here is a picture of some weld-on fittings that I purchased sitting on my upside down fuselage before blasting and epoxy prime. There is no STC for these fittings but my airplane will be in the owner maintenance category in Canada so I am okay. I will post another reply showing the fittings after being welded on with the fuselage blasted and epoxy primed. I still haven't decided what floats I will put on the airplane. I hear the same things, that the 1320's perform better but the 1400's have the larger displacement.

[Grant S. Bailey]

Here they are welded in place.

[Forrest Barber]

those last weld on ones pictured are the other ones that I have seen sketched out.
The factory ones that I have the drawings for have a tube through the cluster and a fitting shoves up through the cluster like a side-car attachemnt for my Honda.. will come up with them soon.