Radio controlled boats

When you get into radio controlled boats, you'll find that there is a whole vocabulary that you might not have expected. While you can fake your way along and look up a word when you don't know what it means, it's more fun and more in the spirit of the hobby to get up to speed on the terminology that operators use in the boat world.

When it comes to radio controlled boats, every one should know what the rudder is, or at least they think they do. The rudder is what is used to steer the boat via the force of water against it pushing the tail of the boat in one direction and thus orienting the nose of the boat in the opposite direction. Thus, when the rudder goes left, the tail is pushed right, causing the nose to go left also. But that's incorrect terminology- on a boat the "nose" is actually referred to as the Bow.

The keel on radio controlled boats is kind of like the ridge of your spine, running down the center of the hull. In order to propel the boat you'll find the prop, which creates thrust through a spinning motion or a propelling motion. The prop and the rudder brackets are usually affixed to the transom, the flat piece that forms the rear of the boat.

Now that you know some basic terminology for radio controlled boats, you can impress your more knowledgeable friends and convince them you won't stay a landlubber much longer.