A "fancy" designed plane may be somewhat harder to build but not
necessarily any harder to fly. I have seen cases where leaning to fly
a super stable forgiving high wing plane seemed to scare pilots from
moving onto the plane they truly wanted to fly. The word "scare" may
be harsh since learning to fly a plane that virtually flies itself
doesn't do a good job of teaching one to fly.
Also the "Over Confident Cessna Pilot" syndrome isn't uncommon. Why
not just learn to fly the plane you want to fly right away rather than
wasting time?

I feel virtually anyone can design and build an airplane if they are
willing to put in the necessary time. Hasn't virtually all the
engineering work been done in the 20s on light planes? As long as one
doesn't stride too far from what has worked in the past I'm confident
that with enough tinkering anyone should be able to design and build
their own airplane. I think I could test fly and learn to fly it at
the same time but this would be an unnecessary risk.

I have thought about a wire braced biplane design but disliked the
slow cruise speed. My dream machine would be an amphibious seaplane, a
tail dragger design for good STOL performance. I'd make a mid engine
design and put the prop. high on the tail using a stabilator for the
necessary powerful elevator. For good cruise (125mph on 50HP) the
plane would be sailplane like, I may use retractable wing tip floats.
With the use of slats and powerful flaps I would try a stepless or a
contoured step.

The main reason I want to design my own plane is that I haven't seen a
design exactly like this. With the high lift wing and good power to
weight getting off the water should be no problem, at least looking at
what has worked in the past.

I have already spent a lot of time on the project and I would need to
spend much more to actually build it. Anyway I like to think of it as
"planning" rather than "dreaming".

Brock