Super Cecil you are right there. Tail wheel flying is not that hard, watch where you are going is the big thing I recon.
Like you say a 206/182 will take off shorter than a 185. So will a light 172 for that matter.
We use the big wheels because we do allot of off airport flying in our modified Pacer, other than that they just slow you down!! If you are going on airstrips or airports they are a waste of time. Horses for course I suppose.
As for water skiing we only use the water to land and sometimes take off, not keen on the high speed water stuff, bit pointless and dangerous I recon.