Happy SIB users?

[bingosucks]

Seriously though.. sibs come in big bags ,engines are big lumps to ..fair play to those that can fit anything over a 3 m into the boot space as i struggle in a megane estate .i prefer a box trailer as its small and i keep my boot space. Its a whole new ball game wheeling over sand or cobbles defo a two man operation

[Black]

Been there with an ally floored 3.8 Quicksilver, seriously impressed you can get all that the boot of an Astra with the other things you describe - you must have a degree in packing.

We gave up after one go of trying to get it all in a BMW 5 Series estate.

How do the the 380 Aerotec owners find it?

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by Black

Been there with an ally floored 3.8 Quicksilver, seriously impressed you can get all that the boot of an Astra with the other things you describe - you must have a degree in packing.

We gave up after one go of trying to get it all in a BMW 5 Series estate.

How do the the 380 Aerotec owners find it?

Just open the boot and there it is!

[Black]

Thinking of entering the fray - just need to find a good un

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by Black

Thinking of entering the fray - just need to find a good un

They are a lot of fun and really easy to set up and back up, I run mine with a 15hp 2st Yam great combo had mine 6 years now
Bought it off a chap who bought it new just 10 months earlier but didn't need it anymore as he got a morning and only wanted this as it was so convenient to pack away, his loss as I paid less than 50% of what he paid

[Black]

I've spotted one but it is 7 years old, how do they age?

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by Black

I've spotted one but it is 7 years old, how do they age?

Mines 7 years old this summer & scrubs up like new, but it all depends on the life it has led. Leave it out on white strand for a couple of seasons & it will soon be knackered

[Hooks]

Originally Posted by Max...

How do you get a 45kg boat and 51kg engine up and down a shingle beach (trolley or no trolley) singlehanded?! And all the gear up and down too, all that out of the boot down the beach, blown up, floor in, engine on in 15 mins!

Impressive stuff!

lol, it's not impressive, it's a challenge, I have a 12 year old son who gets bored really quickly so I get the stopwatch out and we try and get a new "best time" for fun...boat can be inflated in 9 mins with the bravo, he puts the trolleys together, I get the seats in/ oars on while boat inflating, rolling down a pier/ shingle beach is pretty much "walking 40 yards"...

[Max...]

Chapeau me ol' shipmate, if you really can 'park car to prop turning' that rig in 15 mins that is an achievement indeed.

[Hooks]

Originally Posted by Max...

Chapeau me ol' shipmate, if you really can 'park car to prop turning' that rig in 15 mins that is an achievement indeed.

lol, it's more than that, it's hard *$£** work, doing it at a leisurely pace takes a min. of 25 mins, you were right to be sceptic

[Locozodiac]

Phoenixpete,

You have not stated how many family members or boating mates will be going outing with you so to have in mind which size sib would be ideal for your boating requirements.

When I began sibbing years back, there was no Internet, no nice boating forums to ask for best advise. As I feel confy boating with just 2 to have the most available deck space ended buying 2, a wooden floor and an air deck 330 sibs. Inflating/deflating each was fun at the very beginning specially when people watched and stood perplexed how that nice monster grew so big comming from such small carrying bag.

Soon realized it was getting very boaring and time demanding specially disassembling and storing sib inside car trunk when being really tired of boating all day long. So made 2 wooden 12 cm wide supports that engaged on my car's roof rails, placed sib on top with defleted keel and 360º straps well strapped to car. That way, riding as it would ride inside a wind tunnel could achieve constant 100 K/h on the highway with no sweat for a compact size car.

I would go for a 340/350 alum, wooden or air deck sib with a 2 strokes Tohatsu 9.8 if wanting engine portability. At home you could leave sib inflated resting sideways against a wall, top it on your car roof, strap it and out you go. Don't go for a wider or larger sib than your car. Leaving a inflated sib is faster to clean than a packed one, just rinse with garden hose, dry it and store it.

Although 380 are more fun, are much bigger & heavier too than smaller ones, will need larger and much heavier engines to perform as expected, the best purchase is to buy an inflatable and engine you will be confortable with while manipulating, you decide size and HP engine...

Happy Boating

[HughN]

Originally Posted by phoenixpete

Nice beach too, where is that?

My money would be on it being between Normans' Bay and Cooden Beach.

[Max...]

Ohh, sorry forgot that - yes, Cooden beach.

[Sunstreaker]

I manage a Quicksilver 3.4 airdeck, Mariner 15HP, 25ltr fuel tank, transom wheels, pump, oars and safety kit all in my Rover 25 with back seats down. It's a squeeze, and wife's getting fed up of being on the roof.

[bingosucks]

Originally Posted by Sunstreaker

I manage a Quicksilver 3.4 airdeck, Mariner 15HP, 25ltr fuel tank, transom wheels, pump, oars and safety kit all in my Rover 25 with back seats down. It's a squeeze, and wife's getting fed up of being on the roof.

I just spat my tea out lol.... I think its important to state the bigger sibs do not fit in boots unless its a large estate, i find its a lot of weight on the rear suspension esp with 2 kids in teh back

[phoenixpete]

Originally Posted by Locozodiac

Phoenixpete,

You have not stated how many family members or boating mates will be going outing with you so to have in mind which size sib would be ideal for your boating requirements.

When I began sibbing years back, there was no Internet, no nice boating forums to ask for best advise. As I feel confy boating with just 2 to have the most available deck space ended buying 2, a wooden floor and an air deck 330 sibs. Inflating/deflating each was fun at the very beginning specially when people watched and stood perplexed how that nice monster grew so big comming from such small carrying bag.

Soon realized it was getting very boaring and time demanding specially disassembling and storing sib inside car trunk when being really tired of boating all day long. So made 2 wooden 12 cm wide supports that engaged on my car's roof rails, placed sib on top with defleted keel and 360º straps well strapped to car. That way, riding as it would ride inside a wind tunnel could achieve constant 100 K/h on the highway with no sweat for a compact size car.

I would go for a 340/350 alum, wooden or air deck sib with a 2 strokes Tohatsu 9.8 if wanting engine portability. At home you could leave sib inflated resting sideways against a wall, top it on your car roof, strap it and out you go. Don't go for a wider or larger sib than your car. Leaving a inflated sib is faster to clean than a packed one, just rinse with garden hose, dry it and store it.

Although 380 are more fun, are much bigger & heavier too than smaller ones, will need larger and much heavier engines to perform as expected, the best purchase is to buy an inflatable and engine you will be confortable with while manipulating, you decide size and HP engine...

Happy Boating

About 75% of the time it will just be me, as I am retired and my wife isn't
I intend to mostly do fishing trips keeping within safe distance from shore with the odd trip out with my wife just zooming along again not too far out.
I don't really want to use the roof of my Toyota 4x4 as it is so high up. Again I would most of the time have to load everything myself.
Not worried how much space it all takes up in the boot as there are only the 2 of us,I can fold the rear seats if need be.
So I would like something I can manage on my own, not too much hassle to get up and ready/put down. Is ok for fishing from, as big as is practical that will be a good strong safe boat, ie still safe if it is a bit choppy.
I have a vhf and have completed the radio course, intend to do Powerboat 2 shortly, have had a bit of experience crewing on a couple of ribs for friends, so not totally green.

Thanks for all the help.
Just joined Poole bay small boat angling club. Going to the annual BBQ tonight so hope to get more help from any friendly members I can collar.

[manonthemoon]

I usually go out on my own. Tried putting it on the roof inflated which saves a lot of time at either end but this is a 2 person job. Managed to scratch the paint work on the car trying it myself. The sib is 30 odd kg but its the bulk of the thing and sliding it up over the hatch at the back of the car is not something I'll be doing again.

Also, there is no way its going in the boot of the car which is a vectra. The only solution is to have at least part of the back seat folded down and this works just fine. So with launch wheels it's a fairly easy one man job to transport it deflated with a 6hp engine launch wheels, fuel tank etc. and launch pretty much wherever you want.

I would not want to try anything bigger, sib size wise or engine wise or we'd be moviing into hernia territory. (It's a sunsport 3.2 airfloor)

Cheers
MOTM

[lightning]

I can get my 2.85m Zodiac (solid floor, air keel) out of the back of my small van and into the water in about twenty minutes.
Initially it took half an hour but l am faster now! I have a Bravo air pump which inflates the boat in about five minutes, five minutes to get the floor in, five minutes to get everything out of the van etc and then a further five minutes to sort out the engine and other bits and pieces.
Getting it out of the water and back in the van takes a bit longer due to drying it off etc maybe 25 minutes.

I have a Tohatsu 9.8 two stroke engine as it is light and fairly powerful (the boat will exceed 20mph with two adults on board)