XS-600 Pics

Andy · 04 August 2004, 20:52

I spent the day on the Solent with Barnet Marine playing with their XS-600. All in all a very solid and well performing boat. Good feel to it, and the build quality looks great, just like a Tornado.

My pics are at: http://www.badviz.com/Galleries/XS600/index.htm

Here are a few:

swginn · 05 August 2004, 00:14

Great pics Andy. What camera have you got? Must have a seriously good lens. Glad to hear you're impressed with the XS-600. A friend who's got a Tornado 585 was also equally as impressed especially with the build quality and stability of the boat.

Strapped a video camera to the A-frame on a recent trip to the Fastnet Lighthouse, makes for great viewing and surprisingly it didn't come lose once despite some BIG jumps

. Also have some footage of us jumping the waves outside Baltimore Harbour, in process of putting them on DVD (its an old video camera, not digital!) and must then convert them to mpeg. Will post a link on here when I'm done though.

Andy · 05 August 2004, 07:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by swginn

What camera have you got?

It's a Canon 10D, with a bunch of different lenses. I took lots of video also but I have not yet edited that. Will do it later today.

Bilge Rat · 05 August 2004, 07:35

Not supprised you thought it to be like a Tornado as the hull is a Tornado !!!

Looked at one of these myslef earlier this year when i thought my current boat had bit the bullit for good, they seem like a really good deal, the only thing that bothered me was that no one currently owned one and barnet marine didn't A, have one i could demo and B, didn't have a boat i could view, of course this was begining of this year and things have obviously moved on a great deal since then.

Great to hear about them though and let know how you all get on with them.

swginn · 06 August 2004, 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilge Rat

Not supprised you thought it to be like a Tornado as the hull is a Tornado !!!

Where did you hear this? I know the hull is based on the Tornado 3-rail design but Barnet Marine did say that the hull was not built by Tornado.

Couldn't be happier with mine anyway: stable, fast, grips exceptionally through tight turns (I've nearly lost a few passengers!!

). Overall a very solid, well built and well thought out RIB.

Bilge Rat · 06 August 2004, 14:50

Swginn...i think it was actually laurence at barnet Marine who told me, i've heard a few others tell this too, to my mind its not a bad thing either as Tornado's were and are a good solid hull design, so if they van prodcue a quality boat at a lowerprice with a recognised hull design then it has to be a winner.

Naked Dave · 06 August 2004, 14:52

Great pics Andy!!!!! Looks loke you had a blinding day, you lucky &^^%$!!!

Glad to hear they perform as well as they look!

And all at a competative price too! Been keeping my eye on these myself......gotta get my hands on one for a day!

Dave

Naked Dave · 06 August 2004, 15:06

Andy, you should sell these to XS. They are far better an advert than any they have on their own website......but don't tell them I said that!!!

Dave

Andy · 06 August 2004, 15:47

I shot the pics at Barnet Marines request for Barnet Marine. They are on their Web site now.

I was test driving the boat for our dive club, and did the photoshoot at the same time.

I was impressed with this boat, it felt very capable. The market really needs an affordable cheaper offering than what's out there now to allow many more people get into this fast growing sport. Many RIBs are totally overpriced, some verging on the mad! This boat is more affordable and does not feel in away way cheap. It is still a high worth item, just more affordable than others on the market. I do not work for Barnet, my opinions are not influenced by them, I have owned a number of RIBs, bigger and smaller, from a number of mainstream manufacturers and this one felt good to me. I hope they take market share ... they deserve it for making the move!!

swginn · 06 August 2004, 17:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilge Rat

Swginn...i think it was actually laurence at barnet Marine who told me, i've heard a few others tell this too, to my mind its not a bad thing either as Tornado's were and are a good solid hull design, so if they van prodcue a quality boat at a lowerprice with a recognised hull design then it has to be a winner.

Strange that, I asked Laurence when i picked up my boat who built the hull (for insurance purposes) and he said I would have to put down XS-Ribs on the insurance form until the manufacturer reveals themselves in due course sometime in 2005. At the boat show he said the reason they have become sole agents for XS is that Tornado can only produce so many hulls each year and so sometimes they have to turn away customers, now with XS they won't have this problem as I was told they are built by "a major UK manufacturer" who can build the hulls faster than Barnet can kit them out!!

Don't get me wrong if this turns out to be untrue and the hulls are built by Tornado I'll be a very happy man!!

swginn · 06 August 2004, 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy

I hope they take market share ... they deserve it for making the move!!

Couldn't agree more!!