So we live about 150 miles, 2+ hour drive from our lakehouse. Our house is about 2 miles from the county airport. I have a desire to have an amphib that can do the trip and taxi up to our boatdock instead of making the drive through city traffic on fridays. As this would be a toy, the budget isnt huge.

Upon looking around, I found this Searay for sale. What is owning one of these like. What are the real world specs? Anyone here have any direct experiences? Thanks

SEAREY CLASSIC • $54,500 • FOR SALE BY OWNER • PRICE REDUCED! ANNUAL JUST COMPLETED. Meticulously cared for, professionally serviced, beautiful amphibian with unique build history, Florida EAA-OYAC, completed October 2012. Incredible, one-of-a-kind, colorful 3M wrap making aircraft modern and vibrant. Front fuselage custom/seamless/fiberglass build. Equipment and upgrades: ROTAX 912ULS engine with 3 blade WARP DRIVE propeller; electric retractable landing gear including main bulkhead upgrade kit; MODE-C transponder; uAvionix skyBeacon ADS-B OUT; center console throttle co-located with the MATCO brake cylinder. Hobbs and TT are 410 hours. •

I have a friend who is selling his. Your proposed use is perfect. The devil is in the details. You will not be able to carry much with you. Baggage on seat at generous for its class, but still plan on small duffel bag. There will be days when a Cadillac would pass the progressive aerodyne. You will not be able
To land in heavy winds.

If done right, it would be a great option. I think of you look at it as a occasional
Good option, it would be fun. I would also worry if one of those lone star tornadoes or derechos rolls through.

Your situation sounds great for this mission.

I have never owned a Searay. I am not aware of any surprises. It is literally 95 percent of an Icon at a fraction of the price.

I earned my SES rating last summer in a Searey. I’m refurbishing a classic model with the Rotax 914 turbo. I only have 6 hours in one, all in fair weather. Never had that much fun flying. Low and slow is the name of the game. Cruise is around 100mph. It sounds like your mission is right on track. Great aircraft, parts support through the factory is readily available. History and reliability with the Rotax is a big plus.

DO IT!

I owned an LSX Searey and flew it about 500 hours. They are ridiculously fun. The Classic flies like a truck (ailerons) but the LSX actually flies pretty nice. Parts dirt chip and it's a very reliable machine. For the price of this one, you can't go wrong but I would prefer an LSX wing with Fries ailerons over a Classic. Any time you could file a Cub or a Champ or a 172 you can fly a Searey. I didn't read what hull was on this one but I'd recommend the C Hull.

Reliable and cheap to operate is exactly what I’m looking for. Maybe I’ll dig into the research more. Everyone who has flown these day that they are really fun. Does anyone know are the wings fabric or all metal?

The wings are aluminum structure and covered in fabric same with the tail the hull is either fiberglass or carbon fiber. The 912 is fine but the 914 is much better. They are not good docking machines you need to have a nice sandy beach to pull it up on

Wings are aluminum tube and fabric. Tail feathers are the same. Fuselage/Hull is all fiberglass (or carbon fiber).

Crazy fun to fly. Check on fuel required. Will probably want to use high octane non-ethanol which can be hard to find. If you use 100LL will have to change oil very often. I don't know if this varies with type of engine.

Much of this has already been said… but:

We have a Searey LSX with the a 914. The LSX is the experimental of the factory built LSA. The classic went through a design review to get to LSA and some components got redesigned to meet LSA standards (made more robust, etc). Some upgrades were functional improvements (like the frise ailerons). Many of both can be upgraded on the classic.

3 gens of hulls - a, b, c. C hull is the most forgiving and easiest/safest handling on the water. I find it easier to land on the water than on land. Landing on land is a little trickier than my previous super decathlon experience… but that is partially due to the light plane weight, geometry/angle, etc. It is not rocket science, but I found the decathlon easier, especially in a crosswind.

Wings and tail are fabric covered. Hull is fiberglass or carbon fiber. Most are Rotax 912 or 914. As mentioned, the 914 will spoil you fast. We haul high octane ethanol free, which is preferred. While the Rotax will tolerate 100LL, if you run it all the time you have to change the oil more frequently and it will build up in the oil tank and gear box (yuck!). You don’t have to have ethanol free, but it is preferred.

It is a fun plane to fly! It is a drag machine. 90kts cruise. We fly out of a class c airport and I don’t leave cruise until on short final because otherwise we are going so slow.

Jim at https://seareyspecialist.com/ is an excellent resource for a pre-buy or condition inspection. There is also a very active owners only forum (STS) at http://searey.us/sts/ .

Agreed that you can’t realistically dock and you need to beach or come out on a ramp. Like the icon and other seaplanes, large waves and boat wakes are to be avoided due to the jarring.

Great info. Thanks