A question or two for you gas hydro experts!..... I have run nitro hydro'several years now(just for fun,no competition) and have gained pretty much knowledge for tuning and setting up,etc. However I am about to run my first gas hydro I bought off ebay sometime back, do not know what name brand hull it is but seems to be decent? running a freshened up G23 Zen by Mid West Engines with some internal mods??? Engine starts good,excellent compression!with a pipe. FM radio with 1/4 scale severo for steering(But no fail safe devise of any kind) I have run the engine pretty much on the stand with a water line running to the head to keep everthing cool and it seems to be okay??/ My question is ??? what should I expect on my first outting orLaunch and should I set the carb needles to a very sloopy RICH mixture,same as with a nitro engine?????I want to be successful with hopefully no flame outs! due to improper carb ajustments,etc. Any tips as to what I will encounter will be most appreciated!prop is stainless,polished and sharpe as a razor! (but I do not know what brand it is or pitch!) I was told it would come right on the \"step\" as it is????What prop is recommended for the said set up??? I am not into all out speed as I just run for sport and fun,but want a prop or two extra that will give it up on the step with no cavitation!(perfer 2 blade props,berillium?easy to work!)I want to be able to toss it lightly,throttle up and get it up right on plane from the \"get go\"............from all the gas riggers I seen at some races,it seems to be less hassels than nitro! I think I could come to like a gas hydro, those guys just throttled up a bit, a light toss and it was gone!I am assuming with all the torque of a gasoline engine,doesn't take too much to get it on the step???????????sorta neverous about my first launch!LOL!

With all your Unknowns ... Can only see your situation like riding a bike without training wheels for the first time

launch it as is, then adjust as required.

Skyray - I know how you feel - I switched to gas from niro last year. I wasn't sure of what to do - this site has been awesome for the help and articles. One small bit of advice I can give you is to have someone else lauch your boat for you, at least the first few times. These things are larger and heavier than nitro boats, and if you have to toss it to avoid obstacles and not from in the water or close to it, it will make it that much more difficult to control what the boat is doing. I have an easier time launching the nitro boats with radio in hand, but usually ask someone to toss the gas boats. Soemthing else to be aware of - you are way right about how quickly they get onstep, and you'll find out the minute the prop bites, up will come the tail. Point being is it is a little hard to pay attention to your boat when you have spray in your eyes! Even my Seaducer mono will spray the dock down, and I try to take it easy on the person lauching the boat. I would also suggest a failsafe. These things can go a fairly long time and if it gets away, there's no telling what could happen. $20 vs the alternative is a fair deal. Other than that; I agree with Scott - it starts easy, idles fine from what you're telling us, try it. Adjust from there. Have fun with it! You have any pics you can post of it? Maybe someone will recognize it, and be able to help you get an idea of what if anything needs to be done.

Yes you experienced exactly the same thing I am about to encounter! appreciate your suggestions too......I am pretty sure the hull was a scratch built hull,no name brand I don't think? the hull is pretty long and has been fiberglased (Tub only) so I know it is probably too heavy for serious competition,but okay for a beginner I suppose?the owner lived out in Iowa and said he won practially all local club races .....Engine is a Super Comp. Zen from Mid West Engines,seems to be in good shape far as i can tell? compression is tremendous!.....I will try to post some pix soon,thanks fellows! great site!.................

Sounds good - I bought a rigger on ebay last year - I wasn't disappointed. The shake was visible the first time out! My knees knocked so hard they hurt! I probably went a bit overboard, and stepped in above my head - but I swam - so will you. I have a sport hydro to try this year... We'll see how that one goes. My buddies are just now getting the gas bug after watching me run lap after lap while they try to tune their nitro boats. One's about to try gas; let's see how many nitro boats he has left after he gets the gas boat set up and running good! I don't run any 23s, but I have a feeling that the weight of the boat will not be so much that it is slow. Most boats I read about are 14 - 18 lbs without fuel. I noticed you have what looks like a Topspeed in your avatar; did you get that to run? Was it a stock motor? I could never get a good stable setup with a pipe - so I switched hulls - much better.

Yep,sounds about like me....nervous as a cat in a mouse trap factory!only problem I see right now is starting,jerking it all over the stand! as it has so much compression!and your arm can tire easily!not to mention flooding easily.....I think nitro is easier to start for me as a .40 is the biggestI have at present.........so you are saying gas is more relaible and consistant????(once running)........
I have not run the Top Speed II yet either....it is set up exactly per instructions and I am using a stock K&B with a Prather 215 prop and ajustable mount.....the boat was actually set up originally with the OS Max OB in mind,but they are pretty pricy at $300 in stock configuration! so I don't know ? I use to run LeeCraft tunnels with K&B's with great success!The Top Speed sold at a good price and look pretty decent?when mine arrived ,workmanship was flawless, I was impressed.....

Gas boats are definitely more reliable and consistant. I agree that starting is a chore sometimes, but there is a post on here that will help you. A 67 nitro can be a tough start if you are using 12 volts and have a lot of compression. The only salvation is to loosen the glow plug - I dont hear of many people loosening the spark plug on a gasser! You're going to want to run at least 4 oz of weight in the topspeed, maybe more. Could be six. You'll find it hops through the corners terribly at times. get enough weight, proper balance, prop height, and thrust angle, and you'll like the boat, although to me it seemed slow. I put the pipe on it, and it was like a bull. I contacted Jerry Dunlap, he made some suggestions (try an m440 from Octura, BTW), and it didnt seem to help. I just transferred everythng over to an Aeromarine 21 predator. Its more stable, and I can wind the RPMs up. I'm sure Grim is tweaking on the Topspeed III right now.