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I looked into this a lot several years ago. Here is what I learned:
To get to the bottom line first, it is cost prohibitive. I mean REALLY prohibitive.
You can do it, by finding and installing all of the Cessa parts that are on a deice equipped aircraft. This means early models are out, because deice boots were not available for 337s until the late sixties.
Finding all the parts would be a real challenge. And the often touted "plumbed for boots" is not would you (or at least I) would imagine it to be. If the aircraft has the "plumbed for deice" option, you still have 90% of the parts to find. And 90% of the labor left to do.
Ah, labor. This is the real problem. People have quoted me $20K to try and do this. *Plus* parts (which would be another $20K). Maybe this quote was ridiculous. For another opinion, talk to Mary Ann Kingsley of Skyrocket LLC. At Oshkosh 2002, she told our group that she had an airplane in the shop right then, trying to do this modification. It was taking forever, was not done, and she said, emphatically, that she would never do it again.
I could find no aftermarket STCs for deice on 337s, including TKS. TKS said they had "thought about" doing it, but that is was fairly far down their list.
Then, if you went ahead and did all this, you now have an option that increases the retail value of the airplane $4000, according to the latest Vref.
I decided to find and pay a little more for an airplane that already had the boots.
My experience, offered as a starting point for your own decision...
Kevin
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