Hmm, I don think theres 60 different guys going to the last 3 nats. Do you count attendees who only go if nats is in their state? Is so, yes. This hobby is ideal for retired old cranks with disposable funds who want to escape from their wives for a week.
The pool of folks that attend over a 3 hear span is between 20-60 but I got 60 from 'active' battlers.
Jaddty, define active battler. I assume we're talking ircwcc only For the sake of argument maybe "active" should mean attending nats with a working boat at least once every 2 years. I don't think that's 60. But hey, what the meow do I know Randy
That was not a bad gouge nor inaccurate. Are you suggesting that if someone gets on their phone and registers that they are automatically a member? How EXACTLY does the site host get the verification? For the Brouhaha I never got the registered members list to be able to verify the membership of those attending. I emailed and emailed and emailed and emailed and got no response. I posted a request on the main yahoo list that was ignored although the same guy ignoring me had time to post to the yahoo list AFTER my repeated requests.. he saw my posts. he refused to do his job. I didn't see you jump in like you do on every other issue to be sure I got the info I need to run the event properly. So I say YES it is hard to get registered for IRC pond-side as there is no way to verify it. If there are new procedures or SOP Mr. Secretary I suggest you post it for all to see so we don't have your type of responses thrown out there. If you don't like what I am saying then next time a board member is not doing their job.... do something about it. Next time and give me a call if you have an issue. Johnny 'Texas' Adams
Chill out, this is model boats. Your post implied that you could not become an IRC member the same day. That is not an accurate statement, as can be seen here http://ircwcc.com/main/home/membership/ You are complaining about a different issue (how can site host verify list of members), membership list is maintained by Treasurer which I did not have access to when you asked for it a couple days before the event (I saw one email on march 7th, could have been more). Following that, I edited the webpage and added a page where the Treasurer could keep the list up to date. The eboard has taken a note to improve communication about event preparations. Is there anything else you would like me to do?
Kevin your gouge comment didnt exactly fall under .. “chill” But sure agreed. Glad to hear something has been done to improve the situation.
So guys, you are all kinda missing my point. Sanctioned events involving travel hotels and yada yada is always going to limit a lot of people... What I’m talking about is to have available an inexpensive ready to fight boat that uses no Co2. If boats like that were available than just regular joes could buy a pair of them and duke it out on their own backyard pond. Eventually friends will show up and get interested and POOF a club is born. If there were a whole crowd of behind the scenes battlers, some would fancy themselves aces and move up to the bigger ponds and sanctioned events. I’ve played Paintball for many years. I have my own arsenal. I can’t even count how many times I’ve had buddies over and want to play, but could not for lack of Co2. Having boats that require nothing more than a battery charger and some bb’s opens up a world of possibility for newcomers. My biggest concern is.... if I build ready to fight boats, will I need a firearms manufacturer license? What are my liabilities for putting those out there? Should I patent the setup? All questions for people smarter than I.
CO2 isn't really all that hard to come by or stock. A 20# cylinder and fill station take up a small amount of room and make better decor than a giant vase with some dead sticks.
Massive insurance liability. This is why we have sanctioned events and have NAMBA. First time someone gets hurt with anything related to one of your boats, you'll know why we do things this way.
You're asking for legal advice here? From us? That's a horrible idea. Firearms laws are largely state-by-state, what I tell you may or may not be true for you. Again Legal advice from us? Bad idea. Liabilities, ditto. Patent, well I mean if you want to spend the money to get a patent go for it, they arent the cheapest things in the world but they are well within the "affordable" range. Patent infringement lawsuits on the other hand are costly and if you don't enforce it whats the point of having it? (other than having a shiny plaque for your wall) From a purely business perspective the ROI probably isn't there, unless of course you do tap into these thousands and thousands of people that want to go jump in a lake after some schmuck sinks the boat they just paid a few hundred dollars for, in which case more power to you. Please remember we're here doing our thing, please dont try and force us to do your thing, if it really is way better we'll get there on our own pretty quick.
Lol no. I’m merely pointing out that the unanswered questions give me pause on moving forward with anything beyond making hulls for this market or even revealing my gun design for others to build if I decide not to patent and sell it.
Firearm laws are even city by city or county by county. One of the reasons that we have had such difficulty getting sanctioned events locally is that BB guns are considered "Firearms" within the largest cities/counties.
Would the sport consider high pressure water guns as an alternative to BB’s? That would disqualify the legal arguments across the board. I can picture a reasonable mechanism to accomplish that. Compression piston pump that resets to a powerful spring. A burst from that should penetrate balsa pretty well at close range and be harmless 10 ft out.
So I think part of the reason you are getting so much push back from the seasoned vets of the hobby, is because grand ideas like this have come up a thousand times over the years and either never actually materialized or never worked. If you build it and bring it and it works, the hobby will react. But its up to you to prototype it and bring it to an event so the word of its success/failure can spread.
I don't know if I am an old-timer, but I do talk to a lot of people Ships used to go any speed they could, ALL main armaments could have an active gun, Freon was our gas, Spurt guns where legal, No limit on BBs This hobby has had many ideas come and go. The general opinion, as I see it, is if it does NOT give a battler a distinct advantage we can submit it on the next ballot. I do not want to approve a system that requires a great expense to retrofit the fleet "retired old cranks with disposable funds who want to escape from their wives for a week" Some of us do not have a lot of money Wandy
We’d be interested in seeing your concept, but I personally like the aspect of using bb’s, even if it limits our pond choices. It gives a sense of realism in battle, and I enjoy rearming the cannons (Not that our battles are realistic or accurate to begin with, but still...) And as others have said, using co2 isn’t too big of an issue. Hardest part is lifting the big co2 tank onto the refilling post at our pond site. Just ask my back.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the concept of shooting projectiles. I just don’t want to run afoul of the law or open my family up to large liabilities.
