Help finding an RC Boat for gift?

[chanceQ1]

Hey y’all

I need some help getting a gift for my brother in law

The adults in our family draw names out of a hat and whoever you get you have to buy them a Christmas gift

So I got my brother in law, and he is a big fan of RC cars. And I don’t believe he has ever gotten an RC Boat

So I’ve decided to get him one

My budget is up to $200 dollars but I might splurge and go up to 250$+

As far as what I'm looking for

A speed boat

Atleast 20’+ preferably 24-30’”

Can be used in salt water

Is self righting

Is their anything else I should look for as far as specs and do any of you have any recommendations on what boat I should get

Thanks y’all

 

[Tunedfrog]

Welcome in @chanceQ1 . That's a great gift for your brother-in-law.
There are several online hobby stores you can check out.
A-Main Hobbies, Horizon Hobbies, RCPlanet, and several more. Just type in RC boat in Google search and a ton of places will come up.
I've built a couple but have never ran them.

 

[Beer_Goggles_RC]

Hey Chance, welcome to the forum!

I only know one thing about boats, and thats that you need 2 of them, one to drive and one to recover when you're dead in the water

Someone should be along here shortly with some actual input. We've got a couple guys that are hardcore into boats.

But from someone with no boat experience, just been into land rc for a couple years, I would probably go with something by Traxxas. They have excellent parts support and longevity. Also, Traxxas tends to release highly reliable RCs if you're not downright trying to destroy them.

This Traxxas Blast is what i would go with if i were wanting to try my hand at boating. It comes in just below your price point. Fully RTR so if your brother in law doesn't have any traxxas batteries that would be no problem. Being a brushed motor it wont be crazy fast, but definitely a good starting point. Not sure if its salt water rated, but the majority of the electronics should be sealed from any water anyway so I wouldn't see a problem there. If the salt eats the prop shaft then its probably a pretty cheap replacement anyway. I think most RC boats are self righting in design, so you should be good there.

 

[mapper]

I found this..

blast vs recoil2 18" vs disruptor 26"- amain hobby video

The disruptor is not really a fair comparison, as its in the next class up, so comparisons should be disruptor, recoil2 24", and sonic wake 24" for that class.

Tower hobbies has a scratch and dent section with discounts as well.

A boat would be a cool gift for your brother in law,

 

[Lucifur10]

Check out the classifieds to see if anyone has something. I've got a ProBoat Impulse 31 that's a blast. Basically a 6s water missile. It's not "self-righting" so I've been swimming a couple times. That "howl" though! Lol