So… Am thinking about buying a remote controlled boat for my BF for Christmas. He is the man who has everything, so a ‘fun’ christmas present is the only thing I can think of.

I have no idea what to look for or what to avoid. He hasn’t had one before, but the local park has a boating pond and he seems pretty intrigued by them. It would need to be simple, sturdy, portable (am hoping we can play with it on lochs on ponds too). Price around £50 – £60 mark, but I will go higher if it is needed.

Quite liked THIS ONE, but suspect he might prefer a speed boat…

Any advice welcome 🙂

Get a sailing boat. Model boats get quite dull once you have been around the pond a few times. A sailing one requires more skills and there is a certain challenge to using it.

Good point.

I assume you mean a sail boat with a remote controlled rudder, so that you can turn it?

That sounds ideal – cheers

Yes – this sort of thing

The bigger ones get very expensive.

I used to have model boats, and ran Billings and Caldercraft tug boats.

I really enjoyed building the model, making it as realistic as possible and then running them in events such as steering competitions etc.

Whilst I really enjoyed it, I don’t think that side of the hobby lends itself to to quick and easy fun on the water.

The kits could take quite a lot of time and effort and due to the boats being true to scale etc; they weren’t fast and exciting to pilot and only really made sense if you enjoyed the building phase and entered into competitions and / or joined a club.

Running my Billings or Caldercraft tug around an empty pond would be like watching paint dry.

If you want quick and easy fun, get him a speed boat model.

I’ve never bought from them, but the Cornwall Model Boats website has a good choice for you to have a look at.

dx.com for good value for money

@ amplebrew – I was / am thinking ready built. I guess if it does spark an interest them building his own would be the next step, but for this I am looking for quick and easy.

I am thinking that speed boats would be fun when you are with other people, while a yacht might keep him interested for longer. As he has also expressed an interest in learning to sail (full sized dinghies) I am leaning towards the sail boat at present.

Good call on deal extreme – I will have a look.

That’s cool 8)

It might be worth contacting a local model shop or even model boat club. I always found that people were really keen to offer help and advice.

Get a spare battery/batteries.
Depends how powerful the motor is,but they can run down quite quick.