Welcome to my Cessna 172 Amphibious Float Plane project web site. 

For those who might be interested in putting a Cessna 172 (or similar plane) on floats, I documented the entire process here on this web site. I purchased a 1971 Cessna 172 L model in October 2002. It already had the required Penn Yann 180hp SuperHawk conversion and a factory float kit installed. The Superhawk conversion gives the L model a gross weight increase to 2500 lbs., a must have when adding the weight of floats to the aircraft.  It had previously been on Edo 2000 straight floats.  After purchasing the aircraft in Pennsylvania and flying it back it to my home field (Fleming Field - SGS) in So.St.Paul, Minnesota, I ordered a set of Wipline 2350 amphibious floats.  Fortunately for me, Wipaire, Inc. is headquartered at Fleming Field, so I was able to take pictures of the entire manufacturing process, including painting, of my floats.  I'd like to thank all the folks at Wipaire for being so accommodating and allowing me to ask so many questions and take all the pictures.  They also provided the hydraulic kit ahead of time, so I could start installing the pumps, advisory system, electrical, etc. in my plane while they worked on building the floats.  Part of the standard float package is painting the floats to match my airplane.  I just provided them the color codes from the aircraft log book.  First flight with floats was March 29, 2003.

A special thanks to Jim Hancock, who helped me through this entire project.  From flying to Pennsylvania with me, inspecting the aircraft, helping fly it home, inspecting all my work, lending help, tools and advice, to working with me on my SES rating, I couldn't have done it without him.

Just click on a thumbnail picture in the left pane to see an enlarged picture and description of the photo. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail or see the Wipaire web page.