advantages/Disadvantages of a SIB or A RIB

[TROGGLES]

a total newbie, can i ask whats the pros and cons of a SIB over a RIB, apart from cost

[m chappelow]

End of the day you can roll it all up and it will go in your car ,,

with a rib the floor/hull doesent flex as much as with a sib so increases a bit more comfort and a bit more speed perhaps ,
and you can bump into rocks or run up onto a slip without scratching the hull gellcoat

[astra]

A sib will fold up and go in your car but as they get bigger with larger outboards they become so god dam heavy that you have to put it on a trailer and get a towbar fitted on a toyota yaris to even use the thing

[Channel Ribs]

We have been customising Quicksilver heavy duty inflatables (SIBs) for years and we have done some pretty extensive things with them, to such an extent that people have mistaken them for RIBs and as the range goes all the way up to 5.3m they do look the part.

A SIB is...

+ Cheaper,
+ Forgiving of being bumped and beached,
+ Easy to modify and then change back again,
+ Light, therefor faster or more economical,
+ Can be folded up after a holiday or end of the season*
+ Hold their value fairly well, because of that modular design.

- A shallow V hull (avoid anything with a flat bottom) so do not ride so well,
- Do not take engines bigger than about a 50, so will never be record breaking fast,
- Small gaps in the floor allow things to go missing,

A RIB is...

+ Robust, the GRP and Hypalon combination is mighty,
+ The GRP hulls come in many depths of V to suit all uses,
+ Easy to set up neatly, with cables below the deck and tidy permanent fixings,
+ One of the best boat designs ever.

- The good ones are often pricey, except old Seariders,

* With practice and some nifty tricks it is possible to assemble a SIB faster than launching and parking a trailer, so can be assembled per use if you feel the need.

There are more, but I am distracted.

[tinker]

SIB = easy to beach and recover, especially with the transom wheels fitted
RIB = More sea worthy in a chop.

I find the SIB suits my needs more than a RIB, most of my time is spent using my SIB from the beach, which is alot easier with the SIB than it was with the RIB.

Ask yourself what you will use your SIB/ RIB for? Distance cruising between harbours and ports with good shore access? (A RIB) Or pottering about around beaches, rivers...... ? (A SIB)

[TROGGLES]

thanks for that.

i think i might be heading more towards a SIB

reason being say if i was out with dog and i needed to go ashore on beach, the gelcoat on rib would be more prone to getting scratched, but how does a SIb comapre to a heavy dogs claws. dealer sell with RIB it wouldnt be a problem

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by TROGGLES

how does a SIb comapre to a heavy dogs claws

We sold a SIB to a guy who has a Newfoundland, a heavier dog you will not find.

The boat is holding up nicely.

[TROGGLES]

thats nice to know, he not as heavy a a newfoundland but 60kg

[Polwart]

I don't own a dog... ...but would have thought an aluminium or wooden floor might be more suitable than an air floor.

I don't think there is a clear cut winner in the RIB / SIB argument. There seems to be a transition around the 4m mark. Below 3.5-4m RIBs are relatively rare (although not unheard of) presumably at this size the benefits of a RIB are less important (people tend not to go to far off shore in crappy weather in 3m boats) but the advantages of a SIB are more important. Likewise around the 4.5-5m point where the advantages of a SIB are less apparent - e.g. it no longer fits in the boot of your car, needs a bloody great engine that you can't lift etc. Although SIBs do go bigger, but are rarer / more specialised.

But there may be a third way. And I'll fall foul of the "promoting your own type of boat" trap. A polythelene moulded Rigid Boat may offer you some of the advantages of both. So you can beach it without worrying about gel coat, but no dog will tear your hypalon either. It will be more rigid/comfortable than a SIB and easier to get a centre console etc. Also a bit cheaper than a RIB. Of course you also have some of the downsides of both - so it will need a trailer and a bigger one will not be possible to move on transom wheels.

[Sonar]

There both great fun the question is what you would like to use it for.

If you have no or little storage space then a sib. As you can fold the whole thing up .

If you are able to either afford storage or have somewhere to store it either a club or home then a rhib.

A larger sib would need a trailer to transport it around the same as any size of rhib.