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Radio Controlled Boats: Nitro vs Gas Compare and Contrast
Radio Controlled Boats that are driven by Nitro and Gas are very different. It makes sense that you have good idea of the differences before you lay down your hard earned cash. Let me break it down for you.
Fuel is the obvious and most significant difference. Nitro radio controlled boats use a blend of nitromethane/methanol/oil that has been designed for this job. It's simply called Nitro for short. Nitro is mixed in different proportions for racing, particularly drag racing, rockets and remote control vehicles. Indeed hobbyists will vary the mix to see how a boat's performance is affected. Nitro will not work properly on a gas boat and could even cause damage and will definitely void the manufacturers warranty so don't try it. In contrast in a gas powered radio controlled boat the fuel is a mix of gasoline and oil. The engine is not dissimilar to the engines of edgers, blowers and trimmers. Nitro delivers about 3x the power of gas so it means you can reduce the size of boat because the engine size can be minimized.
Nitro fuel is more expensive than the regular gasoline / oil mixture. You can buy it ready mixed at hobby shops for around $15-$25 a gallon depending on where you buy it and of course gas is around $2-4 a gallon. The oil adds maybe $1 per gallon. Clearly though gas is cheaper.
Gas boats are BIG. Nitro engines are smaller than gas engines and this allows a nitro boat to be smaller overall. A gas boat can be 6 feet in length and a nitro will often be up to 3ft. It all depends on what your tastes are. As with all boast they take some time to learn how to handle them so most people gradually go up in size.
Typically nitro radio controlled boats run faster than gas boats related to the power weight ratio that the engine puts out. As with anything there are exceptions especially if a hobbyist has 'tuned' a boat.
What do they cost to run? The running time per tank tends to be shorter as the nitro engine burns nitro faster than a gas/oil mixture engine (plus nitro boats tend to be smaller). As a result of this combination of shorter run times and more expensive fuel, nitro boats are more expensive to operate in over the long term.
Engine Maintenance. The engines used in such gas radio controlled boats are really pretty simple and nearly always have a simple pull-start mechanism. This avoids all the accessories that a nitro radio controlled boat needs such as a glow plug igniter and charger. Nitro needs a lot more tuning than gas. You'll need to play with carburetors, fuel filters, air filters, cooling heads etc. All these must work properly in order for your engine to run and remember that weather conditions and temperature will also impact tuning. Larger gas engines revs lower than a nitro engine so parts tend to last longer, and if something does break then very often you can get a part from a general motor spares/garden equipment shop instead of a specialist hobby store or the manufacturer = more time and money)
Price. Nitro radio controlled boats are cheaper to buy than gas radio controlled boats. Most nitro boats start at around $300 and go up to about $1,000. Gas models will generally be around $1,000.
Noise. Nitro boats are very loud and some places ban them. I also find that the nitro boat has a higher pitched sound that seems to be more irritating. Gas boats are noisy too but down a level. Either way check with your local authority before being deluged by complaints and paying for an expensive boat you can't run anywhere.
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