SSMBC-FL.ORG (About)

About the SSMBC

     The Suncoast Scale Model Boat Club (SSMBC) was originally formed in 1976, making it the first club of it kind in the Tampa Bay Area. The founders, Harold "Mike" Sriver and Lew Zerfas started meets at the model boat pond at Lake Seminole Park. They also had business meets at a hobby shop on Seminole Blvd (long since gone). Membership grew to about ten members. See the WFLA TV-8 video now.

     After a while, the meets were held in a small pond at Mike's home in Largo. When Mike moved to a new home in Safety Harbor (which had to have a lake for the boats) the club meets were held there.

     By late 1978 Lew had to leave the club as his family grew. Mike moved back to Chicago and the remaining members moved the boating site back to the pond at Lake Seminole Park. By 1982 the last members of the club went their own ways and the club dissolved on its own.

     In March 2014 there was a need to bring the original club back to life. Lew and his son Mike wanted a club for scale R/C boats only. No local clubs had that restriction, so the SSMBC was resurrected. Our web site is: ssmbc-fl.org (Suncoast Scale Model Boat Club - FLorida.ORG)

Purpose

     The SSMBC was originally created for R/C (operational) scale model boats. The same goes for the rebirth of the club in March 2014. The purpose is to have a place
     to meet and operate with those that have a common interest in building and operating these boats. Communication between members is encouraged to exchange
     tips and hints. New members are welcome and anyone who has an interest in getting started in operational scale model boats - existing members can share ideas
     with them their expertise on how, where, what, and why's of operational scale model boating.

Poster & Logo printing

     To download an SSMBC Poster or Logo file click the picture to the right. You can print the Poster or Logo in various sizes. You can save it to a USB drive or memory card and have it printed.

Membership

A The free SSMBC is open to all. Just need name, phone number, email, and address so we can contact one another.

B The only boat restrictions are that the boats are to be scale and not pleasure and racing sailboats, and not powerboats.

C Speed limits for boats are that the should be no faster than what is realistic. 20 Miles per hour (real time) equates to about 30 feet per second which should suffice as
     more than enough top speed for any scale model boat. Feet per second is easy to measure. Pick a point on the water (usually a marker buoy) and time a known
     distance to find out the approximate speed. The reasoning for limiting top speed is mainly that high speed boats can and do cause damage as the are hard to control
     in a small pond with other boats. It is not thrilling to see one speed boat slam into a well detailled model!

Why only scale?

     People operating the pleasure and competition (non-scale) sailboats tend to operate differently and often don't want anything to do with the scale boaters, which
     defeats the purpose of the club. The "sailboats (that often get in the way) yell they have right of way" doesn't apply to us.

     Power boats ("hydro's") are a different animal (so to speak). They can be very devastating to scale boats should a collision occur. The smaller, somewhat slower
     cheap ones are worse although they don't cause as much damage but are hard to control and the operators tend to have little to no experience.

     There are many other locations locally with many open dates for those that want to operate non-scale and very high speed model boats other than scale boats.

No Formalities

     The club has no dues, bylaws, nor officers. We are informal and have no specific organized meetings. We just get-together for our common interest to have fun and
     exchange information. Each member should have contact information for other members so to verify meets. We have this web site and membership cards.

Classifieds

SSMBC Members' Wanted, Trade, For sale, Free - Classifieds Page

All scale - No Sail (unless true scale) - No hydro's/high speed racing boats