.. and it can do
THIS
You mean this?
A maximum take-off weight of 2550lbs will give us an excellent 690lbs of useful load. This means that we can realistically offer 3 seats plus 2 hours flying.
Just as well it's not Alaska, because two hours wouldn't get you anywhere...unlike some places where you can cross the entire country in two hours.
Why travel thousands of miles to Alaska, Canada, or the Mickey Mouse queues in flat, humid Florida ? Instead - before your transatlantic flight would have crossed over Ireland - you (and your loved one .. or flying buddy) could already be splashing down in some of Europe's most stunning and beautiful landscapes.
Why travel overseas to fly...because it's whole lot less expensive.
Years ago my first student came from Germany, to the US, to do his private. He flew over, we did the private pilot in 30 days, then he flew his girlfriend over and toured around the US in a rental airplane, for the cost of what it would have been to do his private at home, and that included the price of airfare back home. Or you could just blow it all on a few hours in a performance limited airplane in Scotland, I guess. Your choice.
Floats sap the performance of any airplane by a wide margin. The 172 especially; particularly if the added weight of amphib floats are used.
The Hawk XP/T-41/Reims certainly makes an improvement, though some of it's lost in the weight of the prop, too.