Assuming you have an Arduino in the boat and one in the transmitter you can use the EasyTransfer library to synchronize values read from your transmitter's switches/pots with the Arduino on your boat. XBee, APC 220, Bluetooth, wires... doesn't matter what wireless (or even wired, for testing) transmission you use so long as it has the range you need and it uses a serial TX/RX interface or I2C
Thank you so much, I think I am going in the right direction with 2 APC220's, two Arduino Uno boards, with two IO Expansion Shield V5 Xbee Sensor Shield RS485. I have ordered, lets see what happens from there. 
Keith