Oooooh! And I have been sticking my hands down there. Have not seen any snakes around this pond (about 100 meters in diameter). A gator about every 3 or years until the park relocates them.

Water moccasins are known to be in the much larger Lake Seminole causing some concerns with water skiers.

Heck, this is Florida so we expect to see some of these critters around. Not as much as we had years ago as Florida is now the third most populated state in the U.S.

Lew

Lew, it’s a good thing there were no snakes under the ramp of the dock. When we visited Naples, Florida, we met some model boat owners at their club sailing site. A man told us about water moccasins residing under their dock, and that they had to stomp on the dock to drive them away before launching any models.

Maybe you’re use to seeing snakes and being around them, but for us, it’s not to our liking.

For the most part visitors (the public) coming over to see our boats at the park are quite friendly and ask a lot of questions. The are usually respectful and don't touch the models. We very often allow people, young and old, to run our boats while we stand by. Most of them will probably not get into this hobby but we are happy to know that they had a good time at the park.

I don't think that running my boats at a private lake to avoid the public is what I would enjoy to do. Seeing and hearing from people comment on our boats is part of the hobby (my opinion). Some have never seen anything like this. Perhaps across the big pond people are different where hobbies like this are more common.

The incident I had was a "one off". She was showing her grandson how to fish off the dock but he might have gained some experience in listening to others as well. (Funny, she could not show him how to get the worm on the hook.)

Lew

This is why I prefer to sail at places that are not open to the general public. I am fortunate to be a member of a model boat club that uses a large lake with no public access.

I have to admit that I have had far more damage inflicted on my models by swans than members of the public, though.

Yup - magnetic attraction - it must be 🤣

Bob.

And the collisions! Amazing with all that open water, these boats act as magnets towards each other.

Lew

Your springers look good Lew, its a shame you didn’t get to complete your video rather than having to recover them both and then go home and make repairs.

As for unhelpful damage - even fellow model boaters can rip chunks off of your boat by “helpfully” lifting it out of the water for your by grabbing what ever lump of boat comes to hand first!

Anything like a ‘flying bridge” can be seen and used as a handle - one that usually gets torn off as it was never intended to be able to lift the weight of a boat from the water !

Bob.

About the skeletons... I was looking for specific height figures so I can follow using 1/16 - 1/18 figures on the four Springers.

As for model boats being fragile, sure, I have damaged most if not all of them at one time or another. Often when just moving them but I damaged a few while building them. This is all to be expected.

Even at model shows we often place those "Do no touch" signs out and they usually work (for those that can read).

For me this was a new experience, someone's hand damaging my boat while it was in the water after being told to not touch it.

Lew

Like Rod said, our local Dollar Stores carry a huge selection of items that are adaptable for our hobby. I too found my LED lights there including outdoor waterproof lights and the clerk found coloured lights for me after I told her the lights were for my model sailboat and the event. She had hoped the event was being held locally in Port Perry. Something we should consider, eh Rod?

Hi lewz
Some people just dont understand how fragile models are hope all back ok.
I managed th break to mast on one of my tug boats put it in the car ( new car) and did realize how high the boot shelf was when i shut the boot down.
Philuk👍