Fans of Cessna’s 180/185 Skywagon might be surprised to learn that some of the most outstanding refurbished versions of their favorite aircraft are emerging from an unlikely place, a factory in Maine better known for producing seaplane floats.
PK Floats has developed a sideline of refurbishing low-time 185s into a highly upgraded aircraft the company calls the Super Skywagon.
According to PK Floats President Patrick McGowan, the first two Super Skywagons to emerge from the factory workshop at Lincoln Regional Airport (KLRG) were for a pilot in Texas and another in Maine.
“Our first aircraft, for Gary Halverson of Spicewood, Texas, was a complete redo of a 185,” McGowan said. “We also carried out an extensive redo of a low-time Skywagon for aviation businessman John Hartz of Biddeford, Maine.”
The leaders of McGowan’s team creating the Super Skywagon line are production manager and 180/185 expert Keith Strange and company engineer Levi Guimond.
Strange, a longtime airframe and powerplant mechanic with inspection authorization, also has his own repair shop at KLRG and does annual inspections on nearly two dozen Skywagons.
Strange, who has been working on and tweaking the performance of Skywagons for more than four decades, takes the lead in searching for low-time 185s with no damage history that might qualify to be upgraded by the 15-member PK Floats team.
“Then we sit down with a prospective owner of a Super Skywagon and come up with a plan for working on the aircraft,” he said.
“When we find a plane, first there has to be a thorough airframe structural inspection. Even though the planes are fairly low time they are still 40 or 50 years old. Once the plane is taken apart for inspection, it is not uncommon for it to come to us unassembled. All the control surfaces have to be off. The wings, if not already STOL modified, are equipped with a Horton STOL or Sportsman STOL kit. If we’re going to put in a new avionics panel, which we did for Gary, we usually trailer the aircraft to the shop.”
“Gary decided on a 550 engine while John wanted to keep the O-520 that was on the plane,” Strange said. “For John we did a top overhaul on the engine. Painting and interior work came near the last for both. Gary had a new interior done. And John had PK redo the interior and the seats.”
Both planes received PK3050 amphibious floats.
A Super Skywagon project can take from eight months to two years, according to McGowan.
“At the end, including original purchase price, the owner will have about $350,000 on the low end to $550,000 on the high end in the plane,” he said.
The Personal Touch
All projects are highly personalized, Strange added.
“We find out exactly what the client wants, then find the aircraft or present a choice of aircraft we already have for a Super Skywagon project,” McGowan said. “We try for the best of the best aircraft to start with. After that some individuals just say here’s what I want and let me know how it turns out. Others lean into the project and are quite involved throughout the process.”
Halverson, a longtime pilot and semi-retired oil industry executive, flies N185GH, a 1981 glass-paneled Skywagon with practically everything new or refurbished, spinner to tailfeathers.
“We found the perfect airplane with about 1,800 hours on the airframe,” Halverson said. “We upgraded the 520 Continental to an IO-550 with a Power Flow exhaust. The plane had a Robertson STOL kit on it and it helped with the performance. It has the McCauley Blackmac prop.”
The interior was redone to include a complete Garmin glass panel with the GFC500 autopilot and two G5s, Halverson said.
“We eliminated the vacuum system. I got serial number 1 for the Power Flow tuned exhaust on the plane. The aircraft is a real performer. It gets us off the water quickly and cruises at 120 knots with the floats on, which is above the 112 for the stock aircraft.”
According to Halverson, build time was about one year. He reported he now has about $600,000 in the aircraft and believes the current actual value is substantially above that.
“Patrick McGowan went to Canada and brought my plane back on a trailer,” said Hartz, who owns the other Super Skywagon. “It had 2,300 hours on the airframe. Keith Strange tore the entire plane apart, stripped it to its airframe, and rebuilt it to the U.S. standard. After that we needed a U.S. airworthiness certificate.”
Hartz said he stuck with the standard six-pack panel with very little change in avionics.
“The PK team did install a Sportsman STOL kit,” he added.
“The first time I got into this aircraft, I said I’m in love with this plane,” he recalled.
“The prop is a McCauley D3A34C401 86 inch and it gets off the ground not much longer than the Super Cub I was flying,” he continued. “I can cruise at 140 knots, but I can also get in and out of a 500-foot strip in it. Right now in the winter my plane has 29-inch Airhawks on 10-inch wheels from Air Frames Alaska.”
“On wheels this Super Skywagon has more power than I will ever need,” Hartz added. “And on PK Floats it just gets off the water fast.”
Hartz took delivery of his airplane after a work time of just over a year.
“The contract with PK was $275,000 and $110,000 of that is what new floats would cost,” he said.
Hartz uses the aircraft in his aviation business, Sky Cowboy Supply Company. He markets aviation helmets of his own design, plus a number of other aviation products.
According to Hartz, his 1979 Skywagon currently is registered as N815PK, but that will eventually change to N409PK. He and his wife Scout came up with the new N number to honor their daughter Pippa. Her birthday is April 9.
“That’s 4 dash 09 Pippa,” he said.
While the Super Skywagon is a fun new venture for PK Floats, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024, the company’s main business remains the production of floats, according to McGowan.
“Our company has produced over 1,500 sets of aircraft floats over the past 70 years,” he said. “Our product is handmade by Maine craftsmen and continues to be the toughest, lightest, and fastest aircraft float on the market.”
PK Floats was started in International Falls, Minnesota, in 1954 by Peter Kellner, who received an FAA TSO for his first float in 1955. Some of the floats manufactured back in the 1950s are still in service today, company officials noted.
Over the years ownership of the company changed, with it being owned by AVIC Joy Holdings HK for awhile. In 2018, McGowan and a small investment group bought the company, returning it to U.S. ownership.
Since July 2018 the company has introduced several new products for the general aviation flying community. Most recently company engineer Levi Guimond and production manager Keith Strange designed an amphibious aircraft float for the experimental market.
Guimond, who brought the initiative to the company, noted, “The experimental aircraft market is the fastest growing segment in general aviation.”
About 80% of PK’s production is now amphibious floats, according to McGowan.
He added that the firm also has operated PK Floats Aircraft Brokerage since 2019 and has sold more than 55 aircraft throughout the United States and Europe.
PK Floats employs 15 full- and part-time employees today. It also partners with several other small Maine companies providing parts production and support. The company also has recently been accepted into the Maine Apprenticeship Program.
For more information: PKFloats.com