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And this neat Lakes amphibian would be good for weekends away. Unless you're a Scots Police Officer, investigating strange goings on in a remote village by the sea .........
Flying boats (and seaplanes) are maintenance intensive, corrosion buckets and are accidents waiting to happen during landing, but sometimes it's all well worth it...
Nothing that modern composite construction couldnt solve. By the way this is also a neat design: File:Beriev Be-200 operating in Greece, Aug2007.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
This little single-seat flying-boat was designed during 1917 for carrying aboard U-boats. It could be dismantled in 1 3/4 min. and stowed into space measuring only 20 ft. X 6 ft.; re-assembly took 2 3/4 min. As the type of submarine for which it was intended never went into service, only three examples of the W 20 were built. The first, No. 1551, had no interplane struts; these members were, however, added to the structure of Nos. 1552-1553, which also had the lower wing increased in span. Engine, 80 h.p. Oberursel UO. Span, 5.8 m. (19 ft. 0 3/8 in.), "1551"; 6.8 m. (22 ft. 3 3/4 in.), "1552/3". Length, 5.91 m. (19 ft. 4 5/8 in.), "1551"; 5.925 m. (19 ft. 5 1/8 in.), "1552/3". Area, 14.95 sq.m. (161 sq.ft.), "1551"; 15.82 sq.m. (171 sq.ft.), "1552/3". Weights: Empty, 396 kg. (871 lb.). Loaded, 568 kg. (1,250 lb.). Climb, 1,000 m. (3,280 ft.) in 14.9 min. Duration, 1 1/4 hr. Armament, none.
True to a point - you still have bio-fungal and salt problems that will effect composites although a lot less maintenance intensive than a metal airplane.
Propeller erosion, engine internal corrosion, metal fittings, there are still plenty of increases in maintenance costs.