Owning a floatplane but not living on waterfront property

Low&Slow

Low&Slow

Ancora imparo
Okay, I'm planning to build and/or buy a floatplane, but I live out in the country, not on water.
How can I do this?
I'm considering amphibious floats, but they're expensive to purchase and insure. My wife likes the amphibious option because it opens up more places to get fuel and land in case of emergencies, and more places to go visit. Basically she feels they are more convenient.
I can move to a lake or river, but that's expensive and I'll have neighbors then. I don't want neighbors if I can avoid it.
I thought about buying enough land in the country that I can have my own grass strip, and then dig a trench alongside it and flood it to make a water runway. Probably stock it with fish too...why not, right. That's expensive too though.
There aren't any seaplane bases near me. The closest one is probably about 90 minutes away (driving time). That's too far.
Maybe I should open a seaplane base nearby?
If I build my floatplane, it's gonna be a long long time before any of this matters, probably six or seven years. But if I buy one, it could be as early as next year, but probably not for a couple of years to be realistic.
Anyhow, these are a few ideas. I'm open to other ideas and suggestions.
Trying to figure out the cheapest, easiest route.
 
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https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/1185429/1945-grumman-g44-widgeon
 
I cannot in good conscience recommend amphib floats to anyone. But my experience has been sullied by operating them off salt water.
 
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Building a water runway next to a grass strip sounds really neat. Has that been done before? You could probably also host drag boat races to offset costs!
 
I used to live on lakefront and had a 172 on straight floats. It didn't have a great place for it but built myself a makeshift seaplane ramp. It was fun for a while but I figured out I wasn't that much of a lake guy and the plane wasn't very useful for going far. I was always worried it would break down somewhere or something bad would happen to it when I was on a trip. I'm not sure where the OP lives, but I would try to get to know someone with waterfront who would let you park your plane in return for being able to use it (retired airline pilot, ect). For me, that would have been an ideal situation. Not having to deal with ownership issues but still have a plane to use once in a while.
 
A lot of planes in ANC get parked on trailers and when pilots want to fly they just put the plane in the water and pull it it when they are done.
 
DE727UPS said:
I used to live on lakefront and had a 172 on straight floats. It didn't have a great place for it but built myself a makeshift seaplane ramp. It was fun for a while but I figured out I wasn't that much of a lake guy and the plane wasn't very useful for going far. I was always worried it would break down somewhere or something bad would happen to it when I was on a trip. I'm not sure where the OP lives, but I would try to get to know someone with waterfront who would let you park your plane in return for being able to use it (retired airline pilot, etc). For me, that would have been an ideal situation. Not having to deal with ownership issues but still have a plane to use once in a while.
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I live in Michigan, walking distance from Lake Michigan. Not to sound like Forrest Gump, but there's all kinds of water everywhere here. Great Lakes, big lakes, medium lakes, little lakes, long lakes, wide rivers, narrow rivers, deep water, shallow water, fast water, slow water, clean water, muddy water, etc. All kinds.
I thought about something similar to that, but wasn't sure anyone would go for it. I thought maybe I would see if I could park it at someone's dock and take them up every once in a while in exchange. Not sure I would like someone else flying my airplane unsupervised. Some people tend to neglect and/or abuse things that don't belong to them, leave it a mess, and/or not say anything when something breaks or gets damaged. That goes for new private pilots all the way up to Jumbo Space Shuttle Fighter Bomber Attack Instructor pilots and beyond. I don't care what certificates, ratings or how much flight time you have, it's not just about that. The pilots where I work are very experienced and you should see how they give us our aircraft back after they fly them sometimes.
I'm not going to give anyone a key if I don't have a high level of trust in them to do the right thing and not be a dick. It makes for a bad "partnership". It would have to be someone I could really trust if I gave them a key. Really, really trust.
 
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