What happened
The aircraft had previously landed and was refueled and preflighted for another mission. Maintenance personnel indicated that the floats were drained every morning before the first flight of the day, following manufacturer recommendations. During the takeoff roll from the seaplane base, the front right door window opened. The pilot leaned to the right to check if the door was closed and locked, then continued the takeoff.
Upon becoming airborne, the pilot observed that the aircraft was not accelerating or climbing properly. An abnormal amount of right aileron input was required to keep the wings level. With high tension wires ahead, the pilot elected to abort the flight. The aircraft was banked to the left and landed hard while in a left wing low, forward slip. The floats separated, and the aircraft came to rest in approximately 4 feet of salt water.
The investigation
Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of a preimpact failure, except for three popped rivets on the left float and a quantity of water inside it.