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Sun Lake Aircraft Sea Fury
 If your family drives a Jeep—not one of those sissy Grand Cherokees, but a real Cherokee Classic or better yet, a Wrangler, then maybe this is the airplane for you. In fact, we’re sure that if MacGyver had an airplane, this would be it.
The Sea Fury, also manufactured as the Renegade, is the only single-engine, boat-hulled amphibian currently in production. And it’s the only airplane we’ve ever seen perform a circular water take-off, and then land in snow, without landing to swap equipment.
This unusual and flexible family aircraft has been in production in various models since 1948. Current models include a 250-HP normally-aspirated airplane that can cruise at 132 Kts or a 270-HP turbo model that can cruise at 155 Kts.
It has a respectable useful load of 1,165 pounds (1,065 for the turbo model), which makes it a capable cross-country family machine.  The all-leather interior resists stains and spills, and the panel comes loaded with a Garmin 530/430 combo, HIS, JPI 800, an autopilot, and four Bose headsets, the best in the industry.
The company will also provide up to 25 hours of sea-plane training in your new aircraft. Purchase price for normally-aspirate model is $737,000 fully-loaded, or $805,000 for the turbo model.
What makes this airplane special is the boat-hull design, which means that it travels across the water much more like a speed boat than a conventional seaplane.  The low center of gravity and wave-crushing hull give the pilot excellent handling capabilities on the water, and a skilled pilot can actually circle the craft to its lift-off speed of around 60 Kts, greatly reducing the amount of surface area required for a water take-off.
This solid hull transfers into excellent handling capabilities on snow as well, making it possible to land and take-off in unimproved areas with sufficient snow coverage and giving new meaning to the term “off-airport landing.”
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Lake Aircraft has changed ownership several times since the first Skimmer was built in 1948, and until recently, production had dwindled to just one airplane per year. But a new owner (and a new name, Sun Lake Aircraft) promise to boost production and sales to make this a much more common airplane.
For more info, visit www.amphib.com, or call 407.847.9000.
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