Transmitter/ Receiver advice
 

A couple of months ago I purchased, with no experience, my first rc boat - a complete home built wooden 60" mono hull fitted with a clutched 26cc "chinese zenoah" qj water cooled engine, stinger drive, Hitec servos and a Spektrum DX5e tx and Ar600 rx.
I was practicing with the remote controls and tweaking the remote control linkages when I noticed that my AR600 receiver was intermittently disconnecting from the transmitter. A subsequent google search revealed that there is a common problem associated with the Power switch for the Spektrum Dx5e that has no great solution. In any event I wouldn't be confident using the transmitter now and I therefore need to purchase a new transmitter/receiver.
With the vast array of bewildering choices I have seen on the internet I was wondering what type of unit I should be looking for ?
As the boat is to be used for pleasure only I was thinking a simple budget 3 channel surface combo like the Sektrum STX3 and SRX 300 might be OK.
Any suggestions ?
Thanks

A big thank you to all forum members who did not reply with suggestions. I did a lot of research and will not be going with the budget Spektrum after I eventually found the transmitter/receiver combo with the most features, the best performance and the lowest price that suits my particular application. It is a ........................

And that is the spirit that forsters the spirit of the hobby. I am sure others will be in a hurry to help you next time!

Much as I could have given advice - I have not purchased a radio in over a decade - and not sure a 3PK is valuable advice.

I myself still like the FM radios. I had a 2.4 ghz one and didn't like it as I lost signal intermittently when on the water. I found out it was the transmitter.I went back to my FMs and haven't had trouble since.You can buy them used or new cheap.

That wouldn't have been a Spectrum, would it? I know they came out with a marine set years ago that didn't work due to the water reflecting the signal before it got to the receiver. They had to rework the receivers to get them to work properly. They didn't have the same issue with aircraft systems due to the different operating environment. I run the Futaba 2.4GHz 4PLS in my boat and have never had an issue with losing the signal. That said, some recommend that, if you use Futaba, that you only use the receivers that have "Diversity" on them

It was a Spectrum.I was told it was the transmitter and sent it back for a refund.If I would have known it was the receiver I would have kept it.

Spectrum added a second antenna to their marine receivers, seemed to fix the issue but not enough to get me to buy one.
I watched a brand new scale 1980 Budweiser go straight into a bank due to a Spectrum radio system. They had range checked it both before and after hitting the bank and the radio worked fine. It was once they got it on the water that they had an issue. They took the radio system out of the damaged boat and took it out on the water, even with the inside of the front straight buoy row and tested it again. With someone calling out the inputs to the transmitter, the person in the chase boat called back the responses, finding many times that there was no corresponding servo reaction.

The Spektrum RX's have really thin circuit boards subject to cracking easily, just by plugging in servos. I got 2 of them in a big buy-out from a friend but never used or trusted them.
Get a Futaba, even a low-priced 3-channel is a good buy.
Sorry, this place isn't Facebook where you can get answers quickly, as sites like this are going the way of the dinosaur.