It's definitely an awesome thing. If you're interested you can look up Aggressor hydroplane here. There are a few videos of it running on the Hawksbury River
We used to go to the boat races when i was a young fella, And was always just Grouse to watch Aggresor and Stampede race across the water at high speed.
Used to watch him race on the Detroit River for the Gold Cup when I was a kid unbelievable you could the noise would come off your chest, the experience is not the same no more love the old boats
When I was a kid living in White Center, Wa., a bunch of us were running around and we came across a garage and inside was the Miss Burien. We all had wooden hydroplane models that we would tow behind our bikes in those days. ( 1957)
I grew up in the Seattle area out by Sea-Tac. There was nothing like a 10 boat field running a flying start at full throttle during a hydro race. You could hear them for miles.
I grew up on the gulf coast of Texas and I spent a lot of time on the water! I used to go to boat races all the time.. the older guys with the older boats were always my favs. I seen a few of these in action back in the late 70s early 80s always loud always fast and always fun to watch!!!
@@pagano126 Obviously . Find an aircraft mechanic that has experience with this kind of carb and get him to tune it. These things were able to crank up and be in the air in about a minute back in the 40s.
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum has "Miss Pepsi" from the early 50's. She was powered by two Allison V-12s. What a roar she must have made. Also she had a stepped hull, rather than a three-point that left so much turbulence in the water behind her she was almost impossible to pass.
I was there the day it crashed at Cabarita...made front page news...tore the top deck off... they towed it back to shore upsidedown....they needed 2 4x4s hooked up to flip it over..... seriously injured both drivers....I remember it sat for many years before being restored.......it had so much power it used to bend back propellers.....
The engine looks like it has the carb and supercharger inlet upside down. I don’t think I’ve seen a setup like that before. Lovely to see a real Merlin with all its compressor system on and not a Meteor detuned one.
Hey Mate, I did not know you had a channel. I just showed this to Arabella and said “hey look it is my mate, who doesn’t have a TV but has a lot of cool vehicles. Your family should just be happy that I am not putting this on their lake”. Wifey gave me a dirty look haha. Happy New Years David
@@pagano126 nice to know ya, I’m David’s Mate in the states. David has been a good role model and bad influence on me. My wife and I live in the mountains of Idaho and I do the same thing David does. Nice to know you and cool video. You need to get more footage of his toys. Does David have a channel?
It's not my boat but my cousins! This was the first time I'd seen it start up in person so I apologise that there wasn't details included that you were looking for. I was obviously overwhelmed by the whole experience at the time. I went searching for a picture of the rudder and prop. I was able to find a picture that gave a bit of a glimpse of the prop which is made of bronze or brass and has two blades. The rudder is removed from the boat when it's out of the water so I'm not able to share pictures of it.
@@pagano126, Thank you very much for your reply to my complaint, I guess we could call it. I think that where the power hits the water is pretty darn intriguing is all,.. especially with a boat like this! Thank also for the description of the prop. You certainly don't owe any explanations to anyone for filming this! We appreciate it greatly! Merry Christmas buddy!
Looks like the rudder has been taken off for trailer transport (fragile sticking out piece) and i would guess the prop which is under the boat is also off as its low to the ground
