Washington Market Park's big red boat might be set to depart.

Dissatisfaction and safety concerns among some parents over the park's signature piece of play equipment, installed only last year in the $1.5 million expansion and renovation of the play area, has led the city's Parks Department to consider removing the boat's bow-its smokestack and wheel going with it.

		In its place would be sand, which some parents say would make the space more appropriate for toddlers, the intended users of that area. The custom-designed boat, along with climbing and sliding equipment attached to it, cost $90,000 and occupies one of three play areas on the park's eastern side. If the bow is removed, the rest of the structure to which it is attached would remain, though possibly with some changes. "I want the play equipment in the sand area to be modified to meet the concerns of the community," said Fraya Berg, the president of the park's board of directors, an elected group of volunteers. Berg said that some parents have complained that the structure doesn't hold their children's interest. Others, she said, are bothered that they cannot see their
children when they are beneath the boat. (Soon after the boat was installed, a hole was cut in the bow to provide some visibility.) And she said that the bow was found in an inspection to be too close to the limbs of dogwood trees, and its distance from a wall only barely meets minimum standards. "Sometimes the appearance of danger is as bad as the danger itself," said Amy Freitag, the Parks Department's deputy commissioner for capital projects, who said the distance to the wall "flirts with exceeding the limits." Freitag said she observed that the boat was "wildly popular with the kids," but added, "If there is a marginal safety concern, we want to address it." As for the trees, she said, "We'll do anything we can to protect them." Last month the Parks Department removed what Freitag called the biggest threat, wooden planks attached to a tower that invited children to climb to a dangerous height. Freitag said the Parks Department would have to make "some investment" in making changes to the play area, but it was unclear whether the manufacturer, Olympia Cascade, who she called "responsive," would share in the expense. In interviews with parents in the park, the boat got mixed reviews. Cynthia Furseth, a Brooklyn resident visiting the park for the first time with her daughter, was incredulous when told that the boat may be removed. "That's what makes the playground look nice," she said. "It's like the main attraction." "My immediate reaction is to get rid of it," said Amy McGrath, the mother of a 19-month-old playing in the sand. "You keep finding yourself saying, 'Where's my kid? Where's my kid?' It's very uninviting for a parent. For a kid it's fabulous." Jed Weisberg, whose son Chet, 3, was playing on the boat, said he opposed removing the structure. "Everything is a little dangerous," he said. "It's like, how safe are you going to make the world?"