Buying a Charter RIB

[Alpina]

Hello all!

I've been working in the RIB Charter business for two years now, this has generated a huge amount of experince of different Charter RIBs, Parker 900's, Ring Powercraft's and others. I'm now looking into buying a RIB for my own business and I've narrowed the selection down to a Ring or the Parker 900RS.

Both are great imo but with slight different behaviour's. In Sweden, the practical limit due to law is 12 passangers and two skippers.

When considering the Parker 900RS I'm looking into dual Suzuki DF300's, should push performance beyond 60 knots with correct rigg and prop's. Could the boat fit Yamaha 350 V8's?

The Ring I have driven was the 9.5M with tripple Suzuki DF250's, something that seem a little to heavy for the boat. Performance, however, was great! 65+ knot's with 12 passengers was possible. But I don't like the behaviour of tripple installations with two props spinning counter clock wize and one clock wize. What performance could you expect with dual DF300's? Yamaha V8's?

There's a catch on using other engines than Suzuki in Sweden because they, Suzuki, provide excellent warrantys on their engines for charter use and henche the majority of all charter rib's in sweden use Suzuki engines. I've also witnessed several Verado 275's break down and that makes me question if they're suitable for charter use, has the new 300 modell improved on reliability? What about the 350 Verado? I love any inline 6 cylinder engine and the supercharger gives exellent tourqe throughout the entire register.

Any thought or comment is welcome!

/Alpina

[martini]

Hi and welcome!

I cant remember the name but theres a charter 11.5m Ring in Sweden with triple Suzuki DF300's which apparantly handles very well. The 9.5m you were driving with triple 250's may have been much easier to control with power assisted steering as fitted to the 11.5m. Or going for dual 250's would probably only lose a couple of knots off your top end speed, but with a full payload you will see where the 3rd engine came into play.


The decision on whether to go for Parker or Ring is probably mostly down to your area of operation. Sheltered inland fjords would be the perfect stomping ground for a Ring but with the seas that can build in the Baltic, the ring may be somewhat less than comfortable for your passengers!

[Alpina]

Hi!

My friend and collegue used to work on the 11.5M Ring you mention, great boat but way to big and expensive imo. The 9.5M had powersteering, but when using an uneven number of engines you tend to get a boat that feels slippery. If i went for a Ring 9.5 I'd probably go for dual 300's.

[joakimhansson]

In Stockholm we have many different brand of charterribs. One of the fastest is http://www.nilkar.se with http://www.allabla.se/ with a very narrow Tornado. I personaly don´t like the tornado so much, weak and quality? http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?...t=fjordrafting

http://www.oceanmanagement.se/ talk to these guys they have same plans as you to next summer. Suz 300 or Yam 350 and one more new rib.

When you have experience of driving boats in this size, you know how much you need to get some extra knots. For me i should go more for handling, why not a revenger 29 with twin? Or a 34...

I talked to a guy who planned a charterrib in germany with twin inboard petrol. 2x425hp... A Revenger..

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Alpina

Hello all!

When considering the Parker 900RS
Could the boat fit Yamaha 350 V8's?

/Alpina

Where is Andre when you need him?

Nasher.

[martini]

There's always the Yamaha 350 but if Suzy are offering the best commercial warranty thats an important factor for a charter boat.

Theres a rib based over here with triple 250's but it's pointless in my opinion, there's pro's and cons' to choosing between single and twin installations but when choosing between twins and triples, the cons are starting to take over

[martini]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Where is Andre when you need him?

Nasher.

Available in any colour as long as it's black

[codprawn]

I wouldn't touch the Yam V8 - it's way too heavy!!! I would go for a Suzuki 300 or an Etec 300 - also look at the Mercury 300XS - it is a very light engine and supposed to be good on fuel as well - and it's a 2 stroke!!!

I would think 3x engines are too much for a 9m boat - fine on an 11m though.

The Verado is a great engine but I am worried about how complex they are with all the electronics. They are releasing a 350 in october.

[250kts]

I am in a simular position as Alpina.
The deciding factor as to whether I go for the Parker or to an alternative, is down to the engines. Parker will not supply a hull with anything other than Mercury or Mercruiser engines, I have asked.
Therefore if you want Suzuki, the Parker is off your options.

Let me know if you get a different answer from Andre

[Andre]

Originally Posted by martini

Available in any colour as long as it's black

Matt, MILITARY GREY not Black