I have never gotten up the nerve to hand / flip start it...that 18x6W APC is a fairly heavy, and sharp (meat cleaver) prop...and while I am not afraid of it, I give it great respect!
We use a Sullivan Dynatron starter, witha lawn tractor battery in the flight box...(that box, with a full gallon of fuel is pretty heavy too)
Getting it wet and then flip starting is not something that I would want to try, but then again, maybe I'm spoiled, and always use a starter when starting 4 strokes...
blw...my buddy will be 85 in May...the Lord willing....and has never under powered anything in the 40+ years that I've known him...
The Phaeton was built by a mutual friend of ours, who went to that big flying field in the sky several years ago...our friend was known for building "robust" airplanes, so the Phaeton is no lightweight by any means...(it still has very nice characteristics, with all that wing area, and good airfoil design...gentle stall, good slow flight, and very short take-off roll!
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