Transmitters and Receivers
You're going to need a remote to control your boat. There are many types out there and they use various frequencies. I spent a fair amount of time researching to come up with what I thought would be the best device for me.
The very cheapest transmitters are made for RC cars (toy cars) and only have two channels. Each channel controls either a motor or another device such as a servo. For a car, one channel controls the forward and reverse for the motor that drives the car and the other channel controls the steering. For a bait boat you'll need a minimum of three channels as you need to control the following:
1. Forward and Reverse
2. Steering
3. Bait drop mechanism
You may want extra channels also for things like lights (if you want to switch them on and off remotely) or if you want two hoppers that are controlled separately.
I went of a system that operates at the 2.4Ghz frequency. This is the more modern of all RC frequencies used today and it benefits from excellent range (+400m) and is less prone to interference than older technologies. The unit I bought (above) has four channels so plenty for my purposes. Retail cost of this is around £35 all in but no doubt you can find cheaper ones on ebay if you take your time (like I did). Note: Don't buy a 2.4Ghz transmitter without a receiver included as you may find you cannot pair the two items if bought separately.
Other things to be aware of...
If you look at the picture above, you'll notice that the left control stick (gimbal) is in the down position. The reason for this is that this style of remote is designed for flying planes and helicopters. In order to fly these craft, one of the control sticks needs to stay where it's put (up/down) rather than being sprung to that is always returns to the center. This is a potential problem for bait boats especially if you want to run with two motors controlled with the left and right sticks. There are solutions however...more here