If you park a Cub on a ramp, you’ll soon draw a crowd. If the Cub is on floats, you’ll need crowd control and that, in a nutshell, describes what may be American Legends best marketing ploy.

At the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida, last winter, Legend introduced the amphibious float version of its popular LSA Legend Cub.

By dint of sheer size, it drew a constant stream of attention-the airplane towers over the typical diminutive LSA and its one of only a small number of LSAs being sold as purpose-built amphibians. (We covered two others, the Searey and the Seamax in the August 2009 issue, both flying boats.)

While we initially thought the Legend amphib was a conversion kit available for any existing Legend, it turns out not to be. Thats not to say a Legend couldnt be fitted with floats, but the airplane we flew is a purpose-made amphib and owner Dick Parsons told us he doesnt have land gear for the airplane. (Thats an option.)

The challenge for LSAs on floats is weight. The LSA max gross for float-equipped airplanes is stretched from 1320 pounds for land planes to 1430 pounds for aircraft intended for water operation. Thats only a 110-pound delta, so obviously the float system has to be light. And so does the airplane itself.

When floats are fitted, there’s an exchange weight between removing the land wheels and installing the floats, but the 1430-pound limit doesnt leave much headroom. The reality is that LSA floatplanes are likely to be flown a bit overweight, which is common practice for most light floatplanes.

For Parsons amphib, the empty weight is around 840 pounds with land gear. Remove that and add the 235-pound float rig and the total empty weight is just under the 1000-pound empty weight limit, at 998 pounds. That leaves 432 pounds of useful load and capacity for two not-too-heavy people and enough gas for a short flight. Or one person and enough fishing and camping gear for a couple of weeks.

Baumann Floats