Advise for a freshman please

[RichardP]

If anyone out there has something to say about the boat I'm about to drop some decent cash on - I'd be happy to hear from you... I'm new to boating in a way that I've never owned a boat myself - I did spend many days diving off the friend's and commercial boats as well as general cruising; now is time for my own toy; I hope to use it for cruising with family and (with approval from higher authority ;-)) few buddies as well as some scuba diving.
And now down to specs: Zodiac 500 SRMN with Yamaha 100 OB. Boat has been built in 2001 and OB in 2000 - story from sellers is (and I believe in it) that it has been used only one season (100 hrs on meter) and put together last year. Prior to that boat itself was rented at times to Filming (?Movie) Company and used as a prop. Current owner works for Zodiac and manufactures custom aluminum accessories (seats, consoles etc) - check out pics: he made all alu components himself. There is very little wear on the boat that I can notice and most electronics are new and pretty high end.
The asking price is 26K CAN but I think I can get better than that.
Hope to hear from you - now back to another sleepless night...

[badbaws]

That is expensive for a 5 year old boat that is under 6 metres!! Find a different one.. or offer them about £15,000
Alex

[badbaws]

A new 150 yamaha HPDI is only £10,000 and then the hull itself.. go find a nice 6 metre hull for about £7000 and a good trailer for £1500 and you get a brand new warrantied engine and it will have more grunt than the 4 stroke on that boat..
If you want a zodiac go on boatsand outboards...use this link..

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F88766/

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/GML082/

Or an Avon...

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/BHG146/

So yes there are better priced boats out there...
Go to a dealer of your choice and spec a boat up how you want it.. Then you can compare to secondhand values

[BogMonster]

Erm

C$26000 is £12298 according to www.xe.com so an offer of £15000 would be well received

Does seem a lot though, my 2000 Humber was £7000 when I bought it though of course the expense doesn't stop there....

[badbaws]

Ok then I might read the CAN currency next time.. Is still over priced go in at about £11000 or less
Also an outboard with very few hours can sometimes be in worse shape if it has been neglected so be very careful..

[Alan]

Actually I think that's a reasonable price in Canada given the scarcity of supply of ribs, new or used. It would be expensive in the UK but thats not relevant to the OP.

[codprawn]

Totally agree - looking at what our Yank cousins are paying for older RIBs this does seem like a good buy - look on Ebay in the US/Canada and there are very few around - what there is tends to be smaller tenders.

[RichardP]

Thanks for your support Alan ;-)
You are right - there are not many RIBs to choose from out here. Main inflatable dealer in Vancouver area has few in this size range but after careful comparison I figured it would cost me same or more for basic " civilian" version Explorer 500 with smaller OB and no "goodies" on it; and those accessories add up big time... What I like about the boat is that it has extension on the back (again aluminum) for outboard which gives impression of more space inside the boat - rear bench sits right against the transom. I am limited with size because I figure 5 meter is all I can tow with my car - and here is another question for all you guys in Europe (I'm from there too): what are you towing your RIBs with? I don't remember seeing as many trucks in your part of the world as there is in North America... I have VW Passat with 1.8T and figure the whole package should not weigh more than 1600-1800 lbs (that is around 820kg) - any ideas?
By the way - I was able to negotiate the price down to 23k - which adds up to around 11k pound sterling (where are those darn symbols..?). I'll take it for a spin on the water tomorrow - wish me luck.

[Alan]

Richard,

In Europe we tow RIB's and other boats with normal cars or small to midsize SUV's. It's a particularly North American thing to require a 5.4 Litre V8 pickup truck to tow a medium sized boat! So for example I used to tow a 6.5m RIB with a Ford Mondeo (aka Contour in Canada). That was about the limit for that sized car. When I had a 7.5m boat and trailer (around 2250kg all up) I used an Isuzu Trooper SUV.

Your Passat should be more than man enough for that RIB imho. Only problem will be on slips that are slippery/beach launches etc. Thats when 4x4 comes into its own. Do a search, there have been numerous threads on towing and towcars on rib.net

Cheers,
Alan

[le_forban29]

100hrs and the paint on the prop is wearing out already big time, where was it used?Apart from this, the civilian version (Bombard Explorer DB500) tubes may be made of PVC, not Hypalon (that's the case in France). Oh and the GRP is not as thick on the civilian version either. The hull shape is similar since 2006 and I like it a lot, manages pretty well for its size in a chop.