Redbay 850 goes to Easdale Rib Rendezvous

[willk]

This time it was all Tony Hill's fault. He started it. Of course, the boss has to accept some of the blame as he DID say he needed a few Test Monkeys to put some hours up on the new 315hp Redbay 850 Prototype.

And the Test Monkeys - well, they were my fault

I gathered them at Redbay around noon on the Friday and after the Obligatory Lunch in Harry's, we four loaded the 850 (by ladder - big girl) with camping kit, fuel (400L in the main, 50L on deck) and excessive personal kit. There was much tutting by Tom. Scotland he said, not Antarctica....

[willk]

1500 Departed and made the run over to the Mull of Kintyre in poor enough conditions, a F4 Easterly on the beam. This lumpy stuff held up until we made Gigha at around 1700ish, running between 18-22kts. The plan was to nail a badly needed pint but Tide and Time were against us so we pushed on. A little further north, the sea settled a bit and we picked up the pace until we found ourselves at the top of Jura approaching the eastern side of the Corryvreckan. Here we stopped and called Tony to arrange berthing. Then we let the horses out on the flat calm between Scarba and Luing before making Easdale at 1900.

[willk]

Overall the trip was 75Nm in a range of middling to good conditions and the RIB now had four new friends. For those that don't know her, she is a product of the same mould as the mighty 1050. She is fitted with a Yanmar 315hp inboard paired with the new Yanmar ZT350 outdrive. Redbay used a Yamaha throttle to keep folks guessing (no, it's smoother). Other than that she is the result of Spartan design - Patrol console with the bare essentials, four jockey seats and, well, nothing else. She was built to assess the hullform at 8.5m and act as a test bed for the power plant. Her tubes sit proud of the water and the (very) high bow drops to a noticable forefoot with the keel holding a deep V aft without any planing pad.

[willk]

We were hailed at the entrance to Easdale Island harbour and talked in. Tony had pulled all the stops out and we were tied up to the pontoon and ferried in by his guys. Tents got pitched, pubs found and dinners eaten. Good craic with Tony for a while and the yarns were well spun by 0030 when we retired.
0700 Saturday and the village was bustling to the sounds of RIBs arriving and being launched. Tony was like a whirlygig on the water. We passed on the fuss and went for the fried brekkies at the pub. Mmmmm. We pulled out at 1000 and met Jambo and Alystra to begin the run out to Colonsay. The Easterly had stiffened a touch and was blowing a steady F4 on the stern as we made our way over worsening sea. The smaller boats were catching a fair bit of air but our lady was very composed. Colonsay was fun and everyone had a chance to chat, eat and drink. Our return trip began at 1530 and we travelled back in a big dog leg, trying in vain to get some shelter from Jura in what was now a F5, gusting 6 directly on the bow. In the end we ran the Corryvreckan (sporty) and used the calmer channel between the islands to make Easdale in more comfort. During this time, Redbay 10 had responded to a MAYDAY rescuing a couple from a sinking yacht and Islay RNLI made a catch of one of the smaller ribs. Some kayakers nearby got into trouble too and at one point the Helo was on it's way. Still, excitement gives you the thirst for beer so at 1900 we were in Easdale's Puffer Bar for a stunning barbeque, beers, chat, music and a few wee wans. Fun on the wee ferry at closing time.

[martini]

Looks like a good day out. I'd be interested to hear what the final verdict will be on the Yanmar, a very basic engine compared to say a Volvo D4/6, hopefully less to go wrong

[willk]

Sunday brought ideal ribbing weather and at 1100 we made our farewells, got the Queen Mary treatment from the wee ferry/tug and turned south down the inner channel east of Luing. We RV'd in Pigs Bay (The Corryvreckan) with the early RIB team who were worrying scallops and eating sarnies. More farewells and we were away at a good lick. We four had divided our time on the helm and all agreed that once you got used to the scale of her, she was a stunning sea boat. We had the benefit of all sorts of conditions and plenty of time to play in her. I had come from a 6.5m with outboards to this 8.5m diesel boat with a 3.1m beam so this was a lot of RIB for me. I found that a bit of confidence was needed at close quarters but she responded well to a bit of power and a firm hand. I was JUST getting the hang of it by Sunday.

[willk]

But all good things must come to an end and 18Nm down the Jura coast, our luck broke and the outdrive lay down with a currently undiagnosed problem. We made Craighouse under our own reduced steam and cried like wains on our mobiles to Tom. "We wanna go home!" Thirty minutes later the bould Tom's 11m Corryvreckan scattered the chickens as she roared into the bay, deploying all her 550 horsies to good effect. I think he was following us (I would have). Better still, he had RIBnet's very own Andy Gee on board, a man handy enough with engines to be able to tell us that we would be flying home. Now I don't like planes, so Tom hatched a plan involving the extended Team Redbay, a pickup truck, a car ferry, a minibus and the most excellent Nichol and his 11m Redbay Passenger Ferry. Home for us boys after all. Nichol is great craic and we have inducted him to our Tribe. Others may know him as Nichol McKinnon, but to us he will forever be "Dances with Supertankers". When we arrived at Ballycastle, a black BMW X5 was waiting to collect us. Is we like Gangstas or what? 'Spect Gary!

[willk]

The figures for the trip are mostly bloated. Too many burgers, fried brekkies, pints and energy bars. Luckily the Yanmar was fairly lean, returning 1.45 L/Nm over 185Nm in all sorts so not a bad result. Better still, she's getting an upgrade to a ZT370 leg and guess what, someone will have to put even more hours on it!

Test Monkeys Needed, Serious Mariners Need Not Apply!

[willk]

Originally Posted by martini

I'd be interested to hear what the final verdict will be on the Yanmar, a very basic engine compared to say a Volvo D4/6, hopefully less to go wrong

My guess is that the engine will be fine - I'll be more curious about that ZT350 leg

[martini]

Originally Posted by willk

My guess is that the engine will be fine - I'll be more curious about that ZT350 leg

Might be summat to do with putting 315hp thru it when it's rated for 260 max

[willk]

Originally Posted by martini

Might be summat to do with putting 315hp thru it when it's rated for 260 max

Rated for 350hp...

Gotchi hasn't hacked yer account by any chance?

[martini]

Ok I read words that weren't actually there but...

The ZT350 weighs 247 lbs and is intended for use with Yanmars BY engines from 150 to 260 hp

[willk]

I prefer the Technical Spec. pages at Yanmar

The ZT370 will be fitted to her next. It is designed to cope with the new motor, the 370hp V8, so might be better proofed against Test Monkeys

[Siochair]

Thanks for the entertaining write-up. Sounds like a cracking time had by all. What's you opinion on the coastal pro seats?

[willk]

Originally Posted by Siochair

Thanks for the entertaining write-up. Sounds like a cracking time had by all. What's you opinion on the coastal pro seats?

I liked them so much I took a photo of them. Too bad they were on another boat
I thought they might be of interest...

They were on a black tubed XS, and looking at the list of boats, I suspect they were on the boat called "Coastal Pro"

[Siochair]

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

Better still, she's getting an upgrade to a ZT370 leg and guess what, someone will have to put even more hours on it!

You think he's going to let you take it out again after you broke it this time!

and Islay RNLI made a catch of one of the smaller ribs

I'm intrigued... was this part of the trip to Colonsay? What went wrong? I'd have thought there were enough other ribs around to get them back to shore without disturbing those sipping the fine stuff on Islay?

[willk]

Originally Posted by Polwart

You think he's going to let you take it out again after you broke it this time!

I do. Breaking it was part of the brief

Originally Posted by Polwart

I'm intrigued... was this part of the trip to Colonsay? What went wrong? I'd have thought there were enough other ribs around to get them back to shore without disturbing those sipping the fine stuff on Islay?

Nothing went wrong. The event was not a RIBnet steeplechase and boats joined in and left as they pleased. Tony ran a good show at Easdale and Colonsay but had no control as to where boats went once on the water. Some came and went at their pleasure, some went diving, some stayed in the carefully managed sticks that made the passages in groups. The only casualty out of 40+ ribs had engine failure and was attended to by Islay RNLI who were unable to recover the rib as they had to move on to the kayakers. This boat was later recovered to Easdale by our own AllyS and Sula. Scotsdiver on Redbay 10 did sterling work and overall, I think the CG owed the Meet a point. I took special pleasure in hearing Clyde CG on the VHF asking could "one of the big Redbays" go and tow a craft to safety. Hoo-yeah, brand awareness here we come!

[willk]

Just looking back over this thread reminds me that I have way too much fun. It just doesn't seem reasonable

So a big "Thank-you" from the Test Monkeys to everyone at Redbay Boats who made our trip (and recovery) possible. We had a ball!

Thanks Lads!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

Nothing went wrong.

Ah - maybe a bad choice of language from me - wasn't implying that Tony or anyone else had done anything wrong. But this is what I was getting at

engine failure