I cannot add much to the topic, but I can support JDK in stating that for a main float that step looks too far back. If you draw a line through the center of gravity and the step it should be between 10 and 20 degrees from vertical (or at least that’s what I teach people here 😀 ). Now it may of course be a very early type float on which some of the principles that we now know were not used yet.
Mmm. If the float does indeed come from an aircraft, we should be careful here and not assume that it comes from a traditional two-float design. If the float comes from a three-float design (third smaller float under the rear fuselage), then the step may well be in the correct position. Shorts added fairings to the back ends of the floats of several of their early seaplanes which resulted in floats with a step roughly in the position of the one under discussion. These were, however, slab-sided floats. Refining the design by adding a keel would not have been rocket science.
Whatever the float arrangement, this float must have come from a substantial aircraft. In the early 1920, Shorts considered producing a hydroplane. Did anything come of this?
Best wishes
Steve P
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