Members.... I am embarking on a float mounting project. I have purchased a pair for 1220 Lotus Floats and just ordered the mounting kit from Full Lotus. I have found a bunch of good opinions and even instructions on mounting the floats.

I am planning on using my existing tail wheel main gear as the front struts for the floats.

Questions:

1. Should the GW CG of the airplane be re-determined with tires, hubes, and all brakes assembly removed? Lots of "easy" instructions simply say to mount the float step 6" behind the GW CG but obviously that is going to change when all of the above is removed.

2. I am no mathematician :-): Trying to understand how I go about determining the angle to mount the floats. Full Lotus recommends 6 degrees from chord line (CL) of wing. Common installations use the fuselage as a reference point which will be 2-3 degrees from the CL of the wing. So naturally I would then mount the floats at -3 degrees from the fuselage. All that being said could someone give me a sense of how to do figure all this out in my shop, meaning... how do I go about staging the aircraft and floats to determine all of these measurements before I start getting aluminum cut, etc.

Even better if you happen to have or know of someone who has already mounted some 1220s or 1260s (Kitfox installation) then I'd love to get pics of their installation plus measurements of the rear struts, etc.

Your help will be greatly appreciated!