Where Can Play RC Boat Now?

[DWJL511]

Hi fellow boaters,

Can someone pls tell/update me on where it's legal to play rc boat now? (Am confused by the different threads, some places can last time, now cannot.)

Reservoirs:
1.
2.
...

NPB Parks (all parks banned?):
1.
2.
...

Neutral/Natural Spots (any?):
1.
2.
...

Appreciate the latest update. Tks!

[Adrianli]

Lower Seletar Reservoir, near the dam.

Electrics only.

[DWJL511]

Tks Adrian, you mean now there's only one official place in the whole of Singapore? That's so sad man!

[Adrianli]

Tks Adrian, you mean now there's only one official place in the whole of Singapore? That's so sad man!

NO.

I only play at Lower Seletar so I can confirm this place is r/c electric boat frenly. I have not been to other sites for a long long long time already so I cannot confirm.



Last last time, have :

Electrics : Sengkang park, lower seletar reservoir, marina reservoir, bedok reservoir n pandan reservoir

Nitro/Gas : Sengkang park n Tampines Quarry(unofficial)

Sail boat : All above + Punggol Park

U need to ask ard or go there to see to confirm if the above places are still valid.

[DWJL511]

ok tks Adrian. Looks like Lower Seletar is nearest for me.

Hoping they will allow at Bishan Park which is v near my place.

[Adrianli]

ok tks Adrian. Looks like Lower Seletar is nearest for me.

Hoping they will allow at Bishan Park which is v near my place.

U can write in to Nparks to check if they allow boating at Bishan Park. I have not been there since it is renovated.

[DWJL511]

Yes, I've just emailed them abt RC boating in Bishan Park. Keeping my fingers crossed.

They have totally revamped the place with the man-made "river". It's a nice place. A lot more crowded now though. I posted some pictures on another thread.

[Adrianli]

Yes, I've just emailed them abt RC boating in Bishan Park. Keeping my fingers crossed.

They have totally revamped the place with the man-made "river". It's a nice place. A lot more crowded now though. I posted some pictures on another thread.

Do keep us informed of the email. May drop by one day there to look see look see and run my boat.

[DWJL511]

Sure, will do, Adrian.

[DWJL511]

Do keep us informed of the email. May drop by one day there to look see look see and run my boat.

Well, I just got a reply from NPB and as I had expected, the answer is NO.

The main reason I gather from their email is water purity (or pollution). Bishan Park has a Cleansing Biotope pond where selected plants are used to filter out pollutants while absorbing nutrients from the water (see picture).



This is how they keep the water in the lake clean and fresh. So you can just imagine how important water purity is to them, and how RC boating (leaking petrol/nitro) can mess it all up.

The other concern is noise pollution. As Bishan Park is surrounded by residents, loud motors and engines are a no-no. Actually, the flats are quite far away and I don't see how noise from RC boats will be an issue. I think kids running and screaming are more of a problem.

I've not given up and have written back to propose a limited form of RC boating.

Briefly:
1. Limit only to electric-powered RC motors (that was already in my first email), that is, NO petrol/gas- or nitro-powered boats as these can pollute the water/air and are loud.
2. Limit to scale boats (slower, beautiful to look at) and sail boats (slower, generally no motors, beautiful to look at, enhances park's scenery). So no high-speed boats as these tend to be louder and safety is an issue if boaters lose control.
3. Limit size of the boat to 40 inches and the bigger the boat, the louder the motors.
4. Limit boating time to 8am to 7pm if residents are still concerned about noise.
5. Issue permits with a fee. With permits NPB can control who's allowed to play and boaters with permits that they have to pay for are more likely to obey the rules and be responsible. The fees collected can also be channeled back to the upkeep of the park.

Well, you may not agree with or like some of the 'limits' proposed here but considering the fact that RC boating is currently banned totally at all NPB parks, I'd be most happy if they will even allow just sail boating!

[DWJL511]

I forgot to add that I also gave them some nice pictures of RC sail boating in parks in other countries, plus YouTube links to some nice scale boats (lobster boats, tugboats, etc), to show them how 'non-threatening-to-the-environment', peaceful and gentle such RC boats are.

[foxkilo]

Don't they know that the water is only clean and fresh until someone decides to jump in there to end it all??

Worse than RC boating... especially if the body is not immediately fished out!

[Adrianli]

I have yet to see the size/type of the pond so not sure if it is suitable for rc boats.

Previously, there were three ponds there. The two smaller ones are good for scale and the bigger pond was good for race boats up to 25".

I would suggest do a meetup with the Npark authorities to demo to them "live". I am more than willing to help in ur cause. I have a scale tugboat. Slow n steady, no noise. Definately wont bring any bigger boats for such meetup.

http://www.daddyhobby.com/forum/showthread.php?53969-Vac-U-Tow&highlight=

[DWJL511]

Let's see what they say to my last email first.

Meanwhile, here's a map of their 3-in-1 pond from their website:




Here are 3 pixs that I took of the right-most pond (next to the water playground) on the map:

[preferscale]

Hi, if we are just talking about scale boating, one possible venue is the roof top wading pool in vivocity. The water depth is around 12 inches which is more than sufficient for most models. For RC models converted from plastic kits, the place is excellent. Launching and retrieval are easy. Only problem is keeping excited kids away from capsizing the models. My friend and I toyed with this idea long time ago but we don't have time now to resume our hobby. Probably will need to seek permission from the management too.