I have several hundred hours on both amphib beavers and amphib 185.
the beaver will haul a much bigger load than the 185. BUT that beaver load is way over legal gross.
Trust me an amphib beaver and an amphib 185 if the W&B are accurate carry darn near the same legal usefull load. And that is with the 5600 upgross.
The Beaver has the much bigger cabin and can carry an extra passenger. It will also handle slightly bigger waves.
If you look at a Beaver on Wipline 6000 amphibs and the 5600 upgross you will find, if it has been weighed accurately, that it has a legal usefull load of somewhere around 1100lbs.
A 185 on Wipline or Aerocets and with the upgross to 3500lbs will have about the same 1000-1100lb useful load.
The beaver will burn twice as much fuel so on the long runs the 185 actually hauls more.
Where the Beaver gets its great rep as heavy lifter is from running over gross weight. If you're comfy flying overloaded then yes the Beaver will out haul the 185. If you aren't and want to play by the rules then they both haul the same load and on long runs the 185 can haul more as it needs half the fuel of the DHC-2
Last edited by kevinsky18; 6th Nov 2012 at 11:55.