To set the story straight, it was very close to a dead heat between the two 182's on amphibs. At first blush the Aerocet floated aircraft was called the winner. Only after a close video review did the other 182 edge the Aerocet plane and, as you could guess, only by a whisker. They were both flown by professional pilots. Who had more weight on board, whose engine and prop were working better, one plane had wing tip extensions and the other had a Robertson Stol set-up, etc.
Anyway, it says that one was not clearly any better than the other using this contest for the ground rule.
Interestingly, last year, 2006, the same plane, floats, and professional pilot was used by the competition against a non-professional, owner flown Aerocet amphib 182. The results showed that this year the Aerocets handily beat the competition.
The competition wants to make a point about their tire location being more submerged in the wheel well and that it helps them somehow. The aforementioned performance dispels that theory. We think the tire is well located, and blocks some of the water that wants to ram against the back of the wheel well. It's position performs flawlessly.
It should be noted that there can be a vast difference in airspeed performance between aircraft of the same type. We have flown many Cessnas that are very fast and some that are quite slow. Same engine, prop, and Cessna type. Remember that these planes are hand built and no two are the same. This is easily confirmed by asking around. We have a company Cessna 182 on amphibs and it will do, day in and day out, 118 kts at 24 squared with a couple of people and 1/2 tanks. This is with a stock 0-470. We have seen 185's with 300 hp 520's that are pressed hard to match these speeds with the same power settings. We have also seen some that easily do 125 kts plus with 24 squared settings. Tachs and manifold gauges need also to be calibrated for proper comparisons.
It is very easy to get apples and oranges when trying to compare both on the water and in the air.
Funny thing how the competition makes such a point about their better weight and hydrodynamics, yet basically match our floats last year in the sanctioned take-off contest and lose this year against a private owner who doesn't claim any great pilot skills.
Again, we ask people who are interested in our floats to talk to people who own them to get the straight skinny both on how they perform and how it is to deal with Aerocet as a company.