Ahoy There!

Nellyb15 · 20 July 2016, 12:21

Hello all

I am a new member in Edinburgh Scotland.
I know very little about ribs but have a house on the west coast where I would love to have a boat and I feel a rib would meet our needs. Looking for any and all advice possible...Nice to meet you all

Neil

jambo · 20 July 2016, 13:00

Neil a big welcome to Ribnet. For the guys to respond appropriately you'll will have to give a little more info in terms what use how many how far are you going to dive or use leisure. All theses sort of things plus where exactly are you planning to use her.
Whatever you finish with I hope you have many safe hours on the water.
J

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Brian · 20 July 2016, 13:58

..........and where exactly is your house on the coast.

jeffstevens763@g · 20 July 2016, 17:42

Hi mate loads of info on here been a few guys recently asking the same ,jambo is right you need to think what you want to do how many people your carrying do you want to get from A to B like a bat out of hell or a more steady approach site seeing, how to store it afloat, on a trailer or roll up ( small ribs ) budget,running costs etc.

Cheers

Nellyb15 · 21 July 2016, 10:30

Hi there all and thanks for getting back to me.
I am based in Edinburgh but our house is on Isle of Harris in the Hebrides. I have a few friends up there who have day boats Orkney class etc and I considered one of those. As I am not yet retired and still living in Edinburgh for the next few years and as these guys put their boats in the water from May to Sept I cant really do that so was looking at a rib as being A lighter and easier to launch/retrieve after a week or two holiday and B I could move it around the Island launching in different places.

Most of the time it will be my wife and I. They are installing pontoons where we live so will be able to berth there. I was interested in an Avon SR4 as I also have a garage I can keep it in over winter but am a bit worried it may be too small. Can anyone tell me if 4 people would fit on one of these ribs? Not sure on budget yet but certainly not new one.
As for speed maybe a 50HP engine? Not a speed freak by any means but if sea gets up a bit need to be able to get back safely. I am going to do the RYA motor cruise course and will equip boat with all safety devices.

Thanks

Chris · 21 July 2016, 11:16

If you want to be able to take 4 people comfortably in a bit of chop I would say you want a minimum of 5 meters and 70HP... Ideally you want to have jockey seats for all four people and I think a 4 meter RIB will be too small to accommodate this.

Nellyb15 · 21 July 2016, 12:56

Thanks Chris
I think you may be right and 5-5.4m may be best. Not sure I would get that in Garage need to measure.

Have any of you guys good advice for a first time type of Rib?? I was looking at Avon but will take any advice I can on this. I also wanted to ask if its possible to keep a small back up engine (4-5hp) on these craft and how would you attach this in emergency? Most I have looked at the transom is taken up with the large engines? Is there a way of doing this?

jeffstevens763@g · 21 July 2016, 17:55

If only two of you most of the time an sr4 would be ideal we had a flatcraft force 4 with a 40 mariner on and did all we asked with 4 on board and the sr4 is a better boat if you have a standard garage and the size they build them now you will struggle to get a 5-5.5 in with the draw bar length and width of door mind you can deflate the tubes.
One big thing is will the wife want to go out in the rough ?

Poly · 21 July 2016, 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nellyb15

I was interested in an Avon SR4 as I also have a garage I can keep it in over winter but am a bit worried it may be too small. Can anyone tell me if 4 people would fit on one of these ribs?

yes you can move 4 ppl around on a 4m rib. Whether you will find weather conditions in the Hebrides that synchronise with 4 ppl being willing to go is another question as 4 bodies on a SR4 means people sitting on tubes. That is not ideal (although 20 yrs ago was considered quite normal) but it works find in moderate conditions over small distances.

Quote:

As for speed maybe a 50HP engine? Not a speed freak by any means but if sea gets up a bit need to be able to get back safely.

I often here people say they want more HP just in case the conditions are bad. In reality when conditions are bad you tend to back off a bit and even with 4 ppl on board a SR4 with a 40HP would get you home. [The SR experts do believe that a 50 is the perfect combo though]

Quote:

I am going to do the RYA motor cruise course and will equip boat with all safety devices.

probably better to do the Powerboat 2 course than motor cruiser course. Can I suggest that you and your wife do the course and spend some time on smallish RIB in the sort of weather you expect - not everyone likes it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nellyb15

I was looking at Avon but will take any advice I can on this.

Beware not all Avon's are the same. The make some excellent "commercially" styled good sea keeping boats. Whilst the sea keeping is good they aren't necessarily a dry ride or in anyway luxurious. And they make some more leisure styled stuff that will IMHO not be ideal for the Hebrides. Other brands do a better job of mixing leisure use and good boat design.

Quote:

I also wanted to ask if its possible to keep a small back up engine (4-5hp) on these craft and how would you attach this in emergency? Most I have looked at the transom is taken up with the large engines? Is there a way of doing this?

yes there is on most boats but how big and how attached depends on the boat. keep it in mind, but i wouldn't focus on that until you've narrowed your selection.

Nellyb15 · 22 July 2016, 09:35

Thanks all who replied
I will take the powerboatII course and my wife will as well. In the Hebrides summer days can be quite spectacular with beautiful boating conditions and I can assure you all we will be fair weather sailors!

I have been out fishing on various Orkney style boats which are great but as I will only be using the boat while up there on holiday the 4m rib seemed to fit the bill in terms of ease of launch recovery etc. Do you all think its possible to walk a rib like this into the water on the trailer without the car? If for instance launching from a beach?

Can anyone tell me if an Avon DL400 is a good boat? Seems to have 4-5 seats built in...

Thanks again
nellyb

JA1000 · 22 July 2016, 09:59

Walking it down maybe possible - usually good to get a bit of speed up before it sinks in the sand - for shallow retrieval I always use a long rope on trailer to tow out of water first