Just got a project to do on this... not done any cryptography before and it looks seemingly difficult... looking like I could be a bit overwhelmed with upcoming deadlines maybe.

anyone any good with Java RMI / Cryptography that at a later date i may be able to pick your brain?

Start now if you think you're going to be overwhelmed later...

Crypto and RMI are both very easy to screw up, but there are good libraries out there that do it for you.