I had no control with the 172 or the Icon: And yes, the water rudder was down and visually moving.
You were using clear skies or live weather? Maybe if there is a little of wind (even with A LITTLE) it becomes uncontrolable
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It was high-level clouds, so no winds I guess. Gonna try it with some wind and the icon, I’ll let you know.
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I had to shut everything down a couple of times due to thunderstorms in the area but did try the 172 amphib and it seemed fine for me. Rudder was effective, water rudders effective, etc. Not doubting your experience. Just saying it’s not a universal issue.
Maybe you have duplicate control assignments somehow that are causing problems? It’s a Hail Mary pass, but I recently had an issue with the rudder axis on a Thrustmaster T-Flite HOTAS where slop in that axis caused the rudder pot to go intermittent. When the wiper would lose contact with the resistive strip, the rudder axis would get super noisy and I could cause extreme deflections with just moving my hand around but not touching the stick. If you know what a Theremin is, that is how I could actuate my rudder thanks to electronics and science. But that’s a long shot on it being your issue too.
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So I did some more tests, including 20 kts winds. The wind effect is strong, the plane obviously wants to turn into the wind, but I could turn the plane into the direction I wanted using rudders and the engine. I agree the Icon seems very sensitive to wind, but it only becomes a problem for me at wind speeds that are totally inappropriate to the use of an Icon, because of the brutal waves the wind generates.
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I will try to reset everything to default. I’m using a Thrustmaster Flightstick X
I had the problem with only 6-7 knots, the surface of the lake was calm. Using a lot of power I can steer a little, but as soon as I cut off the power I can’t turn at all 
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I have done several tests and my conclusion is that if the efective wind (that is, the wind that the aircraft is feeling, NOT THE WIND IN THE WEATHER WINDOW) is more than 5 knots (less than 9 km/h wind) the aircraft becomes INCREDIBLY HARD TO TURN ON WATER.
5 knots is a light breeze that moves leaves around, not even a flag
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As I mentioned in other topics about water planes: the water rudders are only cosmetic with no actual effect on the maneuverabilty whatsoever.
You can test that fact easily. Take the Icon for example and put it on the water with a slight wind (5+ knots will do, as mentioned above) and give it a little bit of throttle to maintain forward movement. Now fully deflect the rudder pedal to one direction with the water rudder raised. You will see that the aircraft will turn up to a certain point when the power of the wind stops it from turning any further.
Now keep your rudder fully deflected but lower the water rudder. As soon as the water rudder is lowered it should “bite” and make the aircraft turn further. But what actually happens is nothing. You still can’t turn any further. Lowering the water rudder has zero effect on the control of the aircraft.
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Same here. I can not control water planes when landed on water, even with the water rudder down
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Voted and confirming the water rudder is not working.
It’s not user settings or bad install. Don’t waste your time hunting for a solution. Vote to draw attention to the issue…
Following up on this topic: Sept.13,21
Water rudder is working better now, still needs work but better.
Oct:
its on the list to be corrected for October update.
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Heh, all that marketing buzz about ‘landing anywhere’, the new floats and water effects yet they did nothing with the actual water physics or handling at all. Pretty sad. As it’s always been like this with the Icon and third party float planes it’s not so much a bug as a missing feature, there’s no real water physics in the sim at present. Wonder if/when they will get around to adding it.
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I agree. It is pretty basic stuff…to be able to taxi on water. WATER!
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The water rudder switch in the Icon does not work thus rendering steering on water difficult.
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Voted. Same issue here. It was windy out there, but it should turn with and without wind. I refuse to turn off live weather just to be able to control my plane on water. For now those floaters are garbage.
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Same for me, only controlable ehen there’s les then 6 or 7 kts winds. Also water rudder up or down makes no difference at all.
Wasn’t this allready a feature in fs2002?! C’mon Asobo.. These are still the very basics…
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Same problem here.
Community folder empty or not.
No wind
Water rudder down
The plane keep going straight at low or high speed
Thanks. 
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Yea, Water Rudders got a problem… but my problem is with the XCub not steering properly on land. Does anyone know of a solution? And No, it is not the Community folder. All other Aircraft steer just fine on land.
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I have noticed the same, I can’t steer any aircraft on the water, no matter which type it is. This makes not only water landings but take offs a chore, too, because upon increasing throttle they just turn wherever they want, and it’s almost impossible to align them into the proper direction, let alone keeping them straight.
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This is unexcusable from MSFS. …! WATER The water rudders are no use at all. They should not blow their trumpet about !WATER until the blooming water rudders work!
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I am also having trouble with water rudder.
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