That is a weird boat

From the era of "what kind of recreational drugs was the LEGO team on?" Thus, we get some really weak builds.

Despite this, I like the futuristic look of the cutter. LEGO, however, really got their rear in gear with Coast Guard sets under City.

This is one of my grail sets. Wanted one as a kid, never got it. When I had the money, I put it back in favor of another set.

https://brickset.com/sets/7738-1/Coast-Guard-Helicopter-Life-Raft

FLIPPER AND JAWS, IN A BATTLE TO THE DEATH...Death...death...

Also, a palm tree, and some other stuff.

Sets need to be considered in the context of their price, that is, value for money. Adjusting for US CPI, this RSotD is just over $100 at 2020 prices. How does that compare with today’s $100 City sets such as 60246? Fairly well, I reckon: lots of play value, good selection of vehicles and minifigures, and two animals.

Does the big boat float in real life?

Not their best, but I always have had an affinity for Lego Coast Guard or coastal rescue sets.

For a better version, check out 6388, Hurricane Harbour. Hard to believe how much they slid in FOUR years.

I see some useful parts and stuff but as a set it doesn't work for me.

Not bad, but still stuck in the ‘First Wave of Juniorisation’ (we’re currently in the second).

Anything Coast Guard is a win in my book!

I believe this was the only set to have the blue 4x1x6 three-paned window in blue for LEGO Island MOCs, and the matching bay window was pretty cool too. I also loved those old floating hull pieces - for play and for MOCs - and RHIs are always great too. This set had so much play value - and a dolphin!

This set was present in Lego Racers 2.
I remember pushing the vehicles and props from the beach into the water, just for the fun of it.
Good times.

Maybe one of the better (= less aweful) sets of that time. Might look decent if you reconstrcuct the vehicles.

I still remember getting the LEGO brochure, being all excited for possible new sets for my town and then winding up with the Juniorization stuff, constantly browsing the brochure making sure I didn't miss "my" LEGO. It is what instantly killed my LEGO fascination only for it to return about 10 years later once I had enough money to buy the sets I'd always wanted before Juniorization started. I have no idea why anyone at LEGO thought this was a great idea.

I wonder if the boat floats as seems to be a single piece? For the time seems to be a reasonable looking set although a bit pricey for 221 pieces. The coastguard boats only became realistic in 2013 and 2017 with 60167 a fantastic set and 800 pieces for £85 more reasonable.

This boat did actually float.
At the time I did emote,
And pontificate as Lego had wrote,
That this was preceded by a set of better note.

oh boy, what a waste of money this was in my youth... It was a time lego was thinking: "lets make everything with 2 bricks so kids could play more, building is not important. Oh, and perhaps we could launch non-lego stuff such as clothes and watches?"
The time lego went to the dark side :) Nevertheless, they are back on track... so no, not a fan of this set, i'm sorry...

PS: yes, the boat could float

From visual looks , it doesn't look that bad.

From a parts perspective, it's still Town Junior so pretty limited in terms of actual building.

I think from the 1998 6479 was a stronger set.

From 3 years before that, 1995, 6338 was still more Classic Town.

2004's 7047 was in between Town and City , but relied on the baseplate and still some large pieces.

2011 4644 wasn't bad in terms of lifeguard/rescue either

Overall 60167 comes closest in a modern example to this set, and clearly by 2017, the style of City had evolved quite a bit.

@magni_nominis_umbra said:
"For those asking - YES! This boat hull most definitely floats. I'd also argue this is one of, if not THE best floating hull produced. The internal area closely approximates that of real boats with a large, 2 brick deep building area. It was available in three different colours in this set, 4610 and 6433. It was quite stable, rarely requiring boat weights."

It's interesting how each of those sets all use airplane tails on the rear.

Now thát is a nice set chosen by Huwbot! More of these!

@jkb said: "Maybe one of the better (= less awful) sets of that time."

Yeah. Exactly. Everything's relative. This set's not exactly great, but it's hardly the worst thing Town Junior gave us.

I'd like to see a non-juniorized version of this set.

@ambr:
The boat is not a single piece. It’s a hull and a deck, or if you prefer, a tub and a lid. It is designed to float, but it appears you could also use it as a container. Bricklink also notes that the stickers were pre-applied, which I suspect may have been done because they expected them to get wet and wanted to make sure they didn’t just slough off because the edges weren’t pressed down, or they were applied to a wet hull. You know, because kids.

@PurpleDave said:
[Bricklink also notes that the stickers were pre-applied, which I suspect may have been done because they expected them to get wet and wanted to make sure they didn’t just slough off because the edges weren’t pressed down, or they were applied to a wet hull. You know, because kids.]]
So I guess Lego was lying when they claimed this year's disastrous disappointment of Mario sets was the first time they pre-applied stickers.

@peterlmorris said:
"This is the stuff I remember seeing in TRU before my eyes fell upon the glory of the X-Wing.

Yet I clearly remember thinking about these awful juniorized sets, “What has happened to LEGO? Where are the doors on vehicles? Where are the little details? Where’s the creativity?”

It was a sad time. "

heh that's nothing compared to now

How about a Lego jaws theme

@Norikins:
Or they just forgot about it. Or they were "Obi-Wanning" the question, and what they told you was the truth...from a certain point of view. Like maybe they meant that this is the first time they've done this across an entire theme instead of just as a random one-off.

Oh, actually, I can think of two more sets that had a pre-applied sticker. There are two Christmas magnet sets (852742 and 853353) which come with a red 1x8 tile that has a "Happy Holidays" sticker pre-applied. You also get a sheet that contains twelve different stickers with "Merry Christmas" written in different international langages (all European, I believe, though many nations throughout the world use English, Spanish, or French as their primary language).

@Dalek:
You're gonna need a bigger brick.

This was the first wave to be called 'City' in my country. This appeared to be one of the flagship sets.