wrote:

I'm looking into a light bush plane type, kind like a PA-11. I'm
interested in one that can take two people and take off and clear 50'
in around 700', possible to be put on a float. I've looked at Kitfox,
Rans, CH701, Capella, Bushcaddy, and of course the J3 / PA-11.

The other bench mark airplane is a Cessna 150/152 which I have quite a
bit of time in. I really like the flight quality and overal quality. I
also flown a few hours on a J3. Kind of drafty and strange. It could
be that I just need to get used to it. Now the C150 will need almost
1400' at gross. But it has a somewhat higher gross. One question is
that could the C150 be made to take off in less than 1000'. In terms
of cost, you can get one nice Cessna 150/152 at almost half of the
cost of the homebuilts that I mentioned.

Here's a 160hp C152 Texas Taildragger:
http://www.asadeancomputing.com/tdc/.../337forms.html

1200 FPM Climb
155 MPH WOT @ 3K'
74" prop

Conversion was done by:
A C T AERIAL SERVICES DIVISION
6245 AERODRMOME WAY, COUNTY HANGER
AIRCRAFT CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES, INC
GEORGETOWN, CA 95634

They have/had conversions to I0-360 (180hp)
http://www.asadeancomputing.com/tdc/...20Forms/26.jpg
What the new gross weight is, will require additional research...

This link references the ability to use floats:
http://www.asadeancomputing.com/tdc/...20Forms/23.jpg

Here's a link to other mods:
http://www.aeroprice.com/aerolibrary/cessnase_mods.htm