Best RC Boats for Beginners

Sailboats and scale boats can be for beginners if your tastes run more toward sailing or building/owning authentic scale models. But for the first time RC powerboat owner, a ready-to-run electric sport boat with a deep-vee hull design is a good choice. They are generally less expensive, easier to maintain, and easier to control. These RC boats are a good way to get out on the water with an RC for the first time.

Start with an Electric RC Boat

Electrics are usually less expensive to buy, require a little less maintenance than a nitro or gas boat, and can be easier to control -- an important consideration for the novice boater.

Get a Monohull RC Boat for Stability

The most stable hull design is the deep-vee, so cruisers and speed boats with a deep-vee hull make excellent entry-level RC boats. They can also handle rougher waters than the more shallow hull designs.

Get an Entry-Level Racer

If you want a racing boat, look for an electric speed boat with a shallow-vee hull design. It can be a good entry-level racing boat because you still have the stability of the monohull design but with a little less drag (and thus more speed) than the deep-vee hulls and the ease of maintenance of the electric. Upgrade to a brushless motor for more power or start with a nitro engine if you already have experience with nitro engine care and maintenance.

Hydroplane hull designs, while cool and fast, require more skill to master. Because their hull design has them skimming the surface of the water they can go very fast but at the expense of maneuverability. They also require much smoother water surfaces for best performance. If you feel you are ready, begin with an electric catamaran or tunnel hull design.

AquaCraft Pro Fisherman Bass Boat combines scale authenticity with electric RC entertainment in a ready-to-run outboard RC boat with trailer. The AquaCraft Hammer (Buy Direct) is an electric, ready-to-run, deep-vee hull racer that also comes in a nitro model. The Pro Boat Classic Runabout (Buy Direct) is a 29-inch ready-to-run electric with a shallow-vee hull design that also features many authentic scale details. Traxxas Blast (Buy Direct) is an affordable, ready-to-run electric deep-vee design.

^{The RC boat models named and linked to from this article are intended as examples of the different RC boat options, not as endorsements for any specific model or RC boat manufacturer.}