Me too Boatshed, since about 6 or 7 and I'm now 67!
Keep on model boat building! Cheers, Doug 😎

I would willingly let other model boaters use it if I was lucky enough to get my dream fulfilled. I have been into model boats now since I was 9, 59 years and still enjoy it.

Keep us informed on the Lottery progress Boatshed, ... we'll be round like bees round the proverbial honeypot! 😊
I'll even bring my shovel. Cheers, Doug 😎

I do know there is a large pond in Norwich in Eaton Park and you can run any type of boat on that pond. if I ever win the lottery big time then I will buy somewhere in Norfolk with a couple of acres of land and have an enormous lake built so I can play boats when ever I want. Also have a small boat moored so when it runs out of fuel or for any other reason cuts out then I could recover it easily.

Yes, a great pity. I'm in Devon now so a bit too far away but I'm still hopeful someone may have some photos.😊

When ever I went to watch the competitions straight running,it never seemed noisy to me ,and the pond was not particularly near to housing,and the large properties around there seem to have large gardens and you can bet a few of them will be merrily motor mowing ,strimming or leaf blowing on a Sunday afternoon.Sadly now the pond is a shadow of what it was a the edges all over grown and it seems to have shrunk in size the last time I looked at it .

W"e've had all this before. Have any of you actually tested the so-called rules? have you told the little Hitlers to prove it? Use rivers, especially navigable ones. Look into the edicts that allowed the use of a pond for model boats in the first place, when electric didn't even exist. many ponds were built not only FOR model boats but BY model boaters.
Accept nothing the little Hitlers say without absolute written proof, historically backed up. Do NOT pay a fine to someone who isn't a copper. I'm sure that cannot be right. Take the matter to the local press and TV stations. FIGHT the Bastards! Especiually when they're stupid enough to say it's the noise. Get or hire a decibel mater and measure what the mowers and strimmers knock out then measure your IC boats. Use the evidence to hang them by their own petards.

Martin

It would be nice to see a list of both ponds and lakes across the country where all IC model boats are allowed to be run. I live just outside of Dartford and have about a 35 t0 40 mile run either side of where I live to be able to use my IC boats. I'm now retired and cannot afford to change all my boats to brushless motors. Sadly I'm not into slow running tugs and the like. I'm into MTB's and RAF Crash Tenders mainly or fast running speed boats.

All very frustrating, has anyone compiled an exhaustive list of ponds where boats can be used?

I do have several model boats with both petrol and nitro engines in them. One I have is a 48" PPT109 with a 26cc petrol engine and the exhaust has the water cooling going out via that way. it runs at a pleasant hum rather than the normal engine sound. it is a lot quieter than someone using a petrol lawn mower or a petrol strimmer. it is even quieter than most brushless model boats. Yet I am not allowed to use it on a pond on Blackheath just because of it's fuel system. I'm told that it's due to sound rather than fuel. The local council have a ranger that comes round and give you an £80 fine if you are caught using one. I find this totally stupid when they use petrol lawn mowers and strimmer's to keep the whole of Blackheath's lawns cut. I have a Proboat Miss Geico tunnel hull model boat and the motor screams when it's running but I'm allowed to run that on the pond.

That did not seem very clear, Wimbledon Common has, or did have, a Committee of Commoners made up of local residents and Common Rangers. As I recall the local residents objected to the noise. KM Club was always very respectful of this but we had many visitors coming to the pond, some of whom really were quite loud. I grew up within 50 yards of the pond so was well aware of the problem.

What do you mean by the Commons Committee banning the use of Nitro and Petrol boats. is this the Government Commons Committee banning them and does this mean in general across the country. I haven't heard anything about this. Surely there are too many people using them to ban them.

Hello, The Kingsmere Model Boat Club ended, I believe, due to the Commons Committee banning the use of Nitro and Petrol boats. G|reat pity as the pond was regularly used and kept in very good order. it really is quite a sad sight now.

Sorry no photos ,but I remember back in the late 60's early 70's spending some enjoyable Sunday afternoons sitting by the pond with my wife and children watching the straight running events against the Victoria club I believe,so
that and seeing a guy with radio control air sea rescue launch got me started building model boats something which I had last done as a nipper.Does the King's mere club still exist,last time I went by the pond a few years back it had shrunk in size and was very overgrown around the edges.