what the world needs is a cheap rugged flying boat(Super Osprey?)

http://www.ospreyaircraft.com/osprey.htm

My specs:

1)carry 8 people total

2) ampib landing gear and fold-able or fairly easily dis-mountable main wing for....
a)limited taxi on roads to and from storage to boat ramp using propeller power

b)moderate towing(up to 45mph?) behind tow vehicle on aircraft's own wheels on good roads.

c)unlimited towing on boat type trailer using standard heavy duty pickup/SUV.

3)"real flying" ability, not one of those "wing in ground" surface huggers.

4)Home Build-able. I think with CAD/CAM getting cheaper and better almost as fast as computers themselves semi-large and semi-complex home builds have a bright future.



If the wings need to fold, that makes keeping the engines out of the wings important, which is why I'm calling it a "Super Osprey" or maybe a "New Walrus".

Just lose the top wing, increase engine power, and generally re-make the whole thing using modern methods.

Maybe have two engines in tandem in the pod for push/pull. I always liked that arrangement because if one engine dies it doesn't effect balance AND it raised the possibility of two different types of engine.

Walrus was 37ft long and 7,200lbs max takeoff, so with folding wing it could be trailed behind standard heavyduty pickup truck/suv.

 

then there is the "Explorer's Air Yacht" but....

I think a Walrus based is more straight forward.


Although the high mounted main wing arrangement might allow the whole wing to be pivoted as one piece for storage/towing.



Description: Also known as "The Explorer's Air Yacht," the S-38 was the Sikorsky Aircraft Company's first flying boat to see wide production. Introduced in May of 1928, Sikorsky produced somewhere between 90 and 100 of these planes, and they saw service with Pan American Airways and the US Army. Numerous private individuals bought and flew the S-38 as well, including: Charles Lindbergh, who surveyed part of South American and the Pacific for Pan Am; filmmakers Martin and Osa Johnson, who used a the zebra-striped S-38 called Osa's Ark, and a giraffe-patterned S-39 named Spirit of Africa to explore Africa from the air, and famous aviator Howard Hughes, who intended to fly his S-38 around the world.
The S-38 has a boat-like fuselage with two sets of wings. One pair of wings are attached to the hull, the second wing is a single unit mounted above the fuselage and supported by an arraignment of angled struts and spars. Two engines are mounted under the upper wing, each in line with the paired booms supporting the tail. The arraignment is almost identical to that of the Consolidated Model 16-1 Commodore seen in the HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook, page 47. However, unlike the Commodore the S-38 has wheels and can land on either land or water.
A Sikorsky S-38-A has a 40' hull, a 71' foot wingspan, and is just under 14' in height. It weighs 6,000 lbs (2,727 kg) empty, and has a maximum takeoff weight of 10,480 lbs (4,764 kg). It's top speed is 120 mph, can reach an altitude of 16,000 feet, and has a range of 750 miles on a single load of fuel. The plane has a crew of two and can carry 10 passengers.

 

Why not just buy a Beriev 12 and be done with it? They're still in production in China, and Russia has a bunch of the surplus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beriev_Be-12

When the BE12s were retired they were replaced by the A40 which is a larger jet powered flying boat design.

The BV 138 is another good design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blohm_&_Voss_BV_138

Also look at the Lake series of amphibians which come very close to meeting your specs as far as size.

 

that Lake Seawolf looks pretty good, but part of being cheap

to me means easy storage, hopefully at your home in your longish driveway.

I'm also wanting something more boat than plane.

 

there's nothing cheap about anything with wings, more so than if it floats

 

If a BOAT is Break Out Another Thousand - a plane is called the bank for a credit line increase. Imagine a seaplane... Now if you won the lotto, a big lotto, then you can do it.

 

I've been waiting a while for a thread to post these.

This is the Bohlm and Voss BV-141, a German reconnaissance bomber of World War 2. Despite it's incredibly unconventional, asymmetric design, they flew beautifully and had better handling characteristics than many mainstream designs.

The next time someone tells you an idea is too off the wall to work, remember this.

 

Hard to believe this flew. It looks like an April fool Joke. I wonder what Hitler said when he first saw this. "You bring me to see a half finish plane"

 

I like the Walrus a lot. Shorter wingspan w lower wing loading and higher CD puts less demand on the horizontal stabilizer and makes the high thrust line pusher more efficient. I agree ...the push/pull twin has lots of merit but the upper wing will straighten out the prop wash (somewhat) reducing the advantage of the counter rotating prop wash in-feed of the fwd engine.
An alternative would be two pods w 2 engines each fairly close to the CL (a bit like the tri-motor Ford) The smaller props would fit nicely between the wings getting much better air and still maintain the same disc area (or more) and when one engine quit you'd have three still running ...prolly could maintain of even climb a bit.