Encouraging youngsters to boat

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

At the park we have come to the sad conclusion that it’s not the children that need to be tempted into the hobby, but the parents.

There have been numerous discussions about the right way to get new boaters on board,  but time and time again it’s the parents pulling the children away from enjoying watching the boats, and not a lack of young interest.

Oh little Johnny let’s go to the swings and slides…oh little Margaret let’s go and get an ice cream ( code for coffee), oh little Yuan…let’s go..etc etc.

The kids love the boats, the parents don’t and just want to get on with what they want to do.

It’s sad

 

Ashley

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Absolutely right Ashley. If the parents have an interest in something , football, tennis , cricket etc, then they are willing to ferry the youngsters here , there and everywhere, but other hobbies get left behind most of the time.

Maybe as they grow older and parents don’t have quite the same hold over them, the youngsters will find the hobby they enjoy.

Jim.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Interesting angle on it Ashley, I think you might be right.  Particularly when the parents realise that they are going to have to help the kids to put this model together and that will cost them time that they would rather spend on their own activities.   As a youngster I learned everything from my Dad before I was up and running on my own.  Nowadays the youngsters are put in front of a screen and left to entertain themselves.  What we need to do then is get the kids away from the parents!

I like a lot of the things Airfix do nowadays.  They dish out Spitfire kits at shows then teach a bunch of kids how to put them together.  Avoiding scalpels and strong solvents I guess!

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

I divide model flyers into 2 groups and I think that I can largely do the same with Boat Modellers.

There are those who build (& regard this as important) and go to the pond to socialise, see their model in the water (occasionaly) and are largely older and then there are those who just want to buy a model & turn up at the pond to sail it. These people are generally younger and you don’t see them many times.

The second group (who I don’t really call modellers) get bored very quickly unless they have something that keeps their attention. Sail boats are the most obvious longer term interest subdividion here but it can be something else. They generally don’t have the skills nor the desire to spend time building and often even fail at the most basic repairs.

Young parents generally fall into the second group so ready to sail models with a greater interest than 4 minutes flashing round the pond terrorising everything must be the way to go but I don’t see an easy way to achieve this.

“Have a go” models seem to be popular but they need a lot of supervision on an open lake.

I know that this is a very harsh analysis and there are exceptions but generally I find it to be true. I wait with interest to applaud any successful outcome to this thread.

 

 

 

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

The bumper boats hit the spot for adult and young entertainment. Bashing into things with gay abandon is mucho fun.

At the day “event” I printed instruction sheets to draw on card, cut out, fold/tape and paint,  to make a small lander or ferry. I am re-dimentioning this to make a slightly larger craft using a cerial box as the card donor. I will offer an lct, lcm and ferry versions.

Ideally we can find some A4 card..folder page dividers, in quantity so a prospective parent can get a sheet AND card..( removing the chore of finding a bit of suitable material). Will follow this with a sheet/drawing with dimensions for a hardboard/ply model for those who still have a grandad-with-shed.

Not sure what else you can do. There are of course plastic drink bottle boats and stuff but at the expense of underestimating the quality of younger parents, these require salvage hunting.

We could offer a “tow-your’own-build” service for an added incentive.?

Ashley

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Ashley

Yes your Bumper Boats are perfect “have a go” models and if you had some for sale, built, and reasonably priced I am sure that you would sell some but we all know that isn’t going to/ can’t  happen.

The lander plans sound like a good idea but starting from scratch there are a lot of parts to find & it doesn’t work out that cheap. Nice Xmas present from a loving Grandad however. Are you thinking your 20in model for the plans?

 

 

[Geoff SleathParticipant @geoffsleath41411]

It’s hardly surprising that fewer people (old or young) are modelling boats. There seems a very limited interest in encouraging them (us, because I’m an old one).

I’m an aging aeromodeller and I’m able to fly any day of the week weather permitting (which it hasn’t lately!).  I was always interested in sailing and used to race dinghies until a cycle accident put paid to it. I built a 1 metre yacht and raced that for 2 or 3 years at Loughborough as well as at open meetings. I decide a 60 mile round trip was daft so I started the aeroplanes.  10 years ago I started to build a Veronica barge. There were problems with the CNC parts, which I managed to overcome and I was given a full refund by Traplet  (Sarik now) and I completed the hull before putting it on one side in favour of the aeroplanes again 🙂

I’ve recently re-started the build but I’m somewhat discouraged by, first, the lack of anywhere to sail and, second, the unresponsive model boating community.  Let’s face it, there are cobwebs on most of this site!  I tried to register with modelboatmayhem by email (why? when every other forum I’ve joined it’s a simple on-line registration) there’s been no response. None of the fairly local model boat clubs have contactable web sites or people (I live about 10 miles north of Derby).  You have to be very, very determined to be a RC boat modeller – it’s a closed (or non-existent?) community.  I’d really like to complete the build of my barge but what’s the point?  I saw somewhere that Derby Model boat Club sail once/week for 2 hours on a Wednesday morning! Not much reward for 100s of building hours. I’ve not been able to contact anyone to confirm that

I raced dinghies at 4 local clubs (and there are 2 others easily accessible) there are several active aeromodelling clubs within reach which welcome (and teach) newcomers.  RC model boating seems to be dying on its feet.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

RC model boating seems to be dying on its feet.

Geoff,

Unfortunately that is to some extent true with the average age of model boaters now well South of 65 or older. A large number of these are not very computer savvy although some of us are not time expired so far, I am 76 for example.

However the hobby is certainly not dead yet. There are still a lot of very active clubs around the UK but they are not as numerous as they used to be. Have you checked out the Model Power Boat Association website which has a national list of clubs?

The MPBA

Model Boat Mayhem is still a very active site. The requirement for email registration simply reflects that they have been consistently targeted by spammers and the software used is rather outdated. Ownership is a one man band and he has health issues but you should have been accepted as a member.

This site has suffered from a change of ownership of Model Boats magazine and the new software experienced initial problems which has lost us a lot of members.

With the contraction of the hobby due to demographic reasons, a lot of sailing waters have been lost to other interests such as angling etc. It is nearly an hour’s drive to my nearest sailing water.

Encouraging new people into model boating is a worthy objective but the truth is that my children’s generation had many other leisure options, particularly computer gaming, and their own kids are even further distanced from physically constructing things like models. So it is a real struggle to change leisure activities from consumers to makers.

I wish things were otherwise but times change and you can’t hold back the tide!

Colin

 

 

[Colin Bishop]

On Colin Bishop Said:

 

………………….This site has suffered from a change of ownership of Model Boats magazine and the new software experienced initial problems which has lost us a lot of members…………………..

 

Colin

 

For some of us it still has problems which stops us from coming back. It is often effectively impossible for me to log in or even see what anyone else has posted in the last week or so. Today is a good day but tomorrow…………?

It isn’t just these two UK sites that have much reduced traffic. The big US RCGroups also has much lower posting rates.

[Chris E]

On Chris E Said:

On Colin Bishop Said:

 

………………….This site has suffered from a change of ownership of Model Boats magazine and the new software experienced initial problems which has lost us a lot of members…………………..

 

Colin

 

For some of us it still has problems which stops us from coming back. It is often effectively impossible for me to log in or even see what anyone else has posted in the last week or so. Today is a good day but tomorrow…………?

It isn’t just these two UK sites that have much reduced traffic. The big US RCGroups also has much lower posting rates.

The same change was experienced by the RCME forum (which is mostly aircraft related) but, oddly, the structure is quite different and the forum is quite lively.  It’s so much easier to post images over there for example.

Certainly angling seems to dominate some waters. One of my clubs at Formark Res (Burton SC) has fishermen in boats. One one occasion they opted to fish near the windward mark of a race and hastily moved when a fleet of Flying Fifteens aimed for them. (they shouldn’t have been there in the first place!).

I’m 84 so I won’t be modelling much longer but I’d like to find somewhere to sail my barge when/if I finish it.

A lot more to do!  I spent most of Tuesday in an unsuccessful attempt at a simulated 1/24 scale leeboard winch.

A lot of our club members don’t build much or even at all but buy almost ready to fly (ARTF) models – often foam.  Some of us do both – I was flying my ARTF Gloster Gladiator on Wednesday for example.  I assume the same option is open to boat modellers?

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

What I find particularly interesting is that many members of craft based hobby forums nowadays seem to be saying the same thing, i.e. they notice a reduction in membership numbers and a dwindling of activity on various forums.

Yet frequently the members who post to bemoan this fact don’t seem to want to bother to post anything else.  They don’t get involved with chat or conversation, they don’t show their own builds and many don’t even post comments or encouragement on other people’s threads who have taken the time to post a build.  Inevitably those who do take the time to post their work become disillusioned that no-one cares and they start to question why they should bother.  So they stop as well.  If you look back at any build thread posted on here you will see the same few people take time to offer words of encouragement or guidance while the majority of the membership simply don’t bother.

To encourage anyone new into such an activity we all have to play a part in encouraging and supporting them.  This might be nothing more than a 30 second post to say that something is looking good.  There isn’t much point in complaining about lack of activity if we can’t even be bothered to do that.

I must admit one sentence that caught my attention from Geoff was :  “I’ve recently re-started the build but I’m somewhat discouraged by, first, the lack of anywhere to sail and, second, the unresponsive model boating community.  Let’s face it, there are cobwebs on most of this site!”

If you are discouraged by these things then your enthusiasm will start to dwindle and you will find you are not enjoying the modelling any more.  But why should those things discourage you?  I live two and a quarter hours away from my club, that’s 80 miles each way.  It doesn’t stop me going for a sail approximately once a month through the Summer.  Too many seem to expect a pond on their doorstep and a crowd cheering their arrival every time they go.  And, no, I’m not advocating everyone else is daft enough to do the same as I do, but you might have to put a little bit of effort into getting to the water and not expect it to be at the end of your street.

What makes me smile as I get older is that we have more and more means of communicating faster and easier than we have ever had before.  Yet the net result of this seems to be making people more insular than we have ever seen before.

Finally, to get back to Ashley’s original comment, he observed the challenges with parents nowadays and asked for our thoughts.  All we seem to have done is complain about the slow decline of the hobby.  If we all put the same amount of effort that Ashley puts into attracting newcomers into the hobby I’m sure it would be in a far healthier state.  A good easy move in that direction would be to simply post a little more on here.  Add a comment to build threads, take a second to encourage and to help.  It only takes a few seconds and it boosts the original posters enthusiasm hugely.

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Geoff said

The same change was experienced by the RCME forum (which is mostly aircraft related) but, oddly, the structure is quite different and the forum is quite lively.  It’s so much easier to post images over there for example.

I think the RCME forum was lucky because it was put on a new platform before the change of ownership.  In my view it is a much better platform although it did have to go through a few tweaks. The RCME forum has always been much more active and seems to have held on to the majority of its members plus gained a few to replace those lost.

Increasingly, model boat topics are being posted on the RCME site and sparking interest.  I confess to being one of the absentees on this Model Boat forum mainly due to the change and work pressures demotivated me to post while so many problems were being ironed out.  The biggest turn-off it seems, because it has been mentioned many times, is the lack of the number of views that each post has had.  It seems odd to me that in this advanced IT world, it is claimed there is no easy fix.  I suppose time and resources?  Hats off to those who have kept things going.

I have the opposite problem to Geoff.  The nearest flying club is an hour away but I do live in a harbour.  I have around 20 un-flown planes so I have switched more to boats.  Boat take me a lot more time to build than aircraft so I am not filling up the house so quickly!

Geoff. I think you know that that I am building a Veronica from plans kindly given to me by Ray Wood.  Fortunately he had marked up the errant frames.  You are slightly more advanced than me and mine is slightly modified to follow a real Barge I was associated with called Kimberley which is now a wreck on the Hamble River.

I hope you finish Veronica and I shall continue to follow your posts.

Tim

[Geoff SleathParticipant @geoffsleath41411]

On the original topic of attracting young newcomers into modelling (boats/aeroplanes or whatever) one of the new drawbacks is child safety and needing a responsible adult in charge.  I was working and living over 100 miles from home when I was barely 17 (in 1957) so I had zero adult supervision despite the fact I was, technically, a child, and I was responsible for my own care.

I had a motorcycle and visited motorcycle events of all types on my own or with similarly aged friends.  My father used to go to business meetings in London to do with our radio/TV shop and several times I went with him when I was still at school. He gave some money and I caught the Tube to S Kensington and spent the day in the Science Museum – a 14/15 year old wouldn’t be allowed to do that now and his parent admonished for permitting it.

It’s a different world now in so many ways – often better but not always.  I don’t think I was taken to any activity of my own; if I wanted to go somewhere I got there under my own steam.  Though I did get taken places that interest my father – fortunately they often interested me, too 🙂

We’ve had youngsters come up to the airfield with parents but there’s a locked gate so they have to get in touch first, probably via our website.  Of course with flying a lot of instruction is needed which makes a difference.

Tim:  Yes I’ll keep updating at RCME.  I built a 1/24 scale dummy leeboard winch but which I was going to post but it wasn’t right so, as usual, I’ll have another go 🙂

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

For many years, I tried to interest folk of all ages in model ships, but have now given up.   The local model ship society that I have been a member of for 30+ years, has now dropped the words “model shipwrights” from its title and just become a model society, consequently, I am losing interest myself.    I am still doing plan drawing, because I enjoy it, but no longer much interest.    I gave up model shipbuilding over a year ago now for health reasons (allergic to glue fumes) but haven’t really missed it!    I may even stop going to the model society soon, as ships are now few and far between – mainly airplanes!     I am becoming more academic these days with technical drawing – Here is a sailing ship donkey boiler –  

[Geoff SleathParticipant @geoffsleath41411]

Model Boat Mayhem is still a very active site. The requirement for email registration simply reflects that they have been consistently targeted by spammers and the software used is rather outdated. Ownership is a one man band and

 

Model Boat Mayhem is still a very active site. The requirement for email registration simply reflects that they have been consistently targeted by spammers and the software used is rather outdated. Ownership is a one man band and he has health issues but you should have been accepted as a member.

This site has suffered from a change of ownership of Model Boats magazine and the new software experienced initial problems which has lost us a lot of members.

I’ve just had an undeliverable message re my attempt to register via email to the lBoatMayhem site so it’s effectively closed to new members.  Is there any other method of getting on to the site?

 

 

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Geoff, I have sent a PM to the owner/moderator of the ModelBoatMayhem Forum and asked him to confirm the e-mail address to use.  When he forwards it to me I will PM you with it here.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi All,

Model making is in the blood I find, lets face it back in the 1950’s and 60’s if you wanted to play boats, aeroplanes or trains you had to make it or wait for a kit as a Christmas present, Also my Dad was in the RAF , built sailing dingies in the lounge and had a shed full of tools and a bench with wood and metal, this is not the case these days, at the tender age of 68 model making takes up most of my thinking time since I retired.

Like most things you only get out of the hobby what your prepared to put in ?

So come on guys write some articles for the magazine 🙂 this excludes all the usual suspects who are doing a grand job ie Richard and Colin 🙂

Regards

Ray

[Geoff SleathParticipant @geoffsleath41411]

Thanks, Richard. Much appreciated.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Ray has it. There’s some Stirling work being done out there which deserves to get in the mag

Lindsey needs copy to publish. Even a few pages worth would be nice. Send in more ‘readers boats,’ (,with nice pictures). I see loads of stuff in the background when there are show reviews published.

we will see how the giveaway card plan boats work out. Perhaps i might do some precut hardboard ferry kits, 7 pieces. About a foot in length, to be sold for two quid ( to ensure they are not just binned) as a parent,/child activity?

Ashley

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Ashley,

Is this the sort of thing you’re thinking of?  She’s 2 feet long.

I’m sure it will make paddle boat fans wince but my kids loved making and sailing it.  You can’t see propellers but you can see paddles.

Some background.  40 years ago.  Engineer in  Abidjan, Africa.  Away from home a lot.  Blue chip company provided mansion of a house for family with massive swimming pool.  Boat provided quality time with children.  Limited supplies!

Flat box hull (1/4 ply) with flat sides (1/8 ply).  Twin bilge keel bottom to keep paddles of the ground when the kids pushed it about on the patio.

Inside a simple rubber band reduction from the motor to the paddles using bits of Meccano, tin lids etc.

Here’s the bow.

And here’s the stern.

Very simple.  Minimum cost.  I’m sure some of the clever lads on this site could do some simple drawings for kids.  What I am sure of is that it needs Dad & Mums input.

Len. 🙂

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Hi Len. I like that a lot.

That’s the sort of thing that would make a good in-mag plan as a simple build for encouraging kids.

The graphics chap can CAD up a sketch if it has all the relevant info on it, something I did not realise until later or I would have submitted more plans. The bumper boat is a case in point. I sent a clear drawing over with dimensions and he did a fantastic job of making it look professional.

Perhaps we another instance here Len, whereby if you took some mag style pictures ( ie boat on plain background. Lit well), and wrote a pages worth of description and info, measurements, materials and construction, it would make a  worthwhile filler in the mag. A dimensioned three view drawing might even make a plan. I had my rubber band boat in the mag 15 years ago!

I am sure other people have similar things at home. Or have seen something that would make a good starter model.

Most of my vessels, despite being off-piste, are quite simple things to build once you have seen the build process.

Ashley

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Ashley,

You’re on because I believe in the cause.  I’ll get something on paper and hopefully you can run with it.  Won’t take too long and I’ll send it to you via a PM.

I’m also trying to get on the water at least once a week.  If more of us sail where and whenever we can I’m sure it will arouse interest.  My outing this week will be the Leeds & Liverpool at Foulridge.

Len.

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Good man, Len.

I am sure others must have made simple things they could write about and have published.

Ashley

[Geoff Sleath]

On Geoff Sleath Said:

Thanks, Richard. Much appreciated.

Geoff, I’ve sent you a PM with the contact e-mail address for ModelBoatMayhem.  Any further problems let me know.

[Geoff SleathParticipant @geoffsleath41411]

Thanks, Richard. I’ve emailed Martin.  Sorry for the delay, I haven’t visited for a couple of days and now it’s the Tour de France (another of my interests!).  Unfortunately the weather has deteriorated so spraying my barge hull has had to pause (it needs a few more coats) and my wife threatens divorce if I do it in my workshop, which is in an extension attached to the lounge 🙂

 

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