1978 Avon Searider.. 28 years service !!

[1978SeaRider]

As i am upgrading this year, it is time to retire an old friend... but i wondered if anyone else had an older one... or if anyone else had owned the same RIB for as long as myself ???

I have a 1978 Avon Searider... brought from new... its been used every weekend in the summer for 28 years... its been a dive boat, a rescue boat and a "speed boat" in its time... and has never let me down ! When i first owned it, people used to crowd around it on the beach... unable to comprehend that it was a "blow up boat" with fibre glass floor ! "RIB????" they used to say... i still think it was the first RIB ever on Anglesey, North Wales... and its still out performs a lot of ribs !!

Admitedly... the transome is now supported by 10 years worth of re-built fibre glass... the original seats rotted, although i managed to find some from a 1989 boat that fitted perfectly... and the windscreen has been replaced twice...but apart from that its in tip tip condition... 2 Mercury Enginees have performed beyond expectations.... a little 40hp Blue band was never ready to die !! finally, after strapping the starter motor back on for the 5th time i upgraded the engine in 1995 !

I have also never changed the old seating arrnagements... i was never tempted by the jocky seats.... althought most seariders i see now have been chopped and changed many many times... why don't ribs come with windscreens anymore ?? in the cold or rain... they are a god send !!

I can not say enough good thinks about this boat... its a true pioneer of RIB'ing and has out lived many of my friends "new age RIBS" with tubes that last 10 years !!! If there are anymore Seariders in service of the same age... then maybe a "Searider Appreciation Society" is in order !!!

But i am now faced with a new dilema.... after i pickup my new 7.2... what will i do with my old friend.... surely its worth a place in any boat museum !!!

Any fellow Seariders share the same love for the old classic !?

[qcamel]

Please please post a photo...

[DM]

Originally Posted by 1978SeaRider

Any fellow Seariders share the same love for the old classic !?

There's lots of people on the forum who cut their teeth on Seariders.

The only person I've heard with a bad word to say about them is a nobend who runs a boat storage yard in Southampton.

DM

[codprawn]

Every time I go to check on my boat I drive past the Avon factory - I have also toured it several times and know a few people working there - just wish I could have bought one but there were no "deals" to be done!!!

[ollyit]

Originally Posted by 1978SeaRider

As i am upgrading this year, it is time to retire an old friend... but i wondered if anyone else had an older one... or if anyone else had owned the same RIB for as long as myself ???

I have a 1978 Avon Searider... brought from new... its been used every weekend in the summer for 28 years... its been a dive boat, a rescue boat and a "speed boat" in its time... and has never let me down ! When i first owned it, people used to crowd around it on the beach... unable to comprehend that it was a "blow up boat" with fibre glass floor ! "RIB????" they used to say... i still think it was the first RIB ever on Anglesey, North Wales... and its still out performs a lot of ribs !!

Admitedly... the transome is now supported by 10 years worth of re-built fibre glass... the original seats rotted, although i managed to find some from a 1989 boat that fitted perfectly... and the windscreen has been replaced twice...but apart from that its in tip tip condition... 2 Mercury Enginees have performed beyond expectations.... a little 40hp Blue band was never ready to die !! finally, after strapping the starter motor back on for the 5th time i upgraded the engine in 1995 !

I have also never changed the old seating arrnagements... i was never tempted by the jocky seats.... althought most seariders i see now have been chopped and changed many many times... why don't ribs come with windscreens anymore ?? in the cold or rain... they are a god send !!

I can not say enough good thinks about this boat... its a true pioneer of RIB'ing and has out lived many of my friends "new age RIBS" with tubes that last 10 years !!! If there are anymore Seariders in service of the same age... then maybe a "Searider Appreciation Society" is in order !!!

But i am now faced with a new dilema.... after i pickup my new 7.2... what will i do with my old friend.... surely its worth a place in any boat museum !!!

Any fellow Seariders share the same love for the old classic !?

definitely, my tubes have final given up too -

[Nos4r2]

OLD?! Mine was out in stuff that scared off bigger boats last weekend

Wonderful beasties!

[al40]

Fab boats - mine is an '81 and looks quite tatty but still has original tubes and screen (seats were taken out before I got it and a makeshift jockey console fitted).

I've been out in really horrible conditions with waves crashing over the bow (covered bow is great from that perspective) but never felt anything other than secure in it.

There must be loads of old ones about - a real testimony to the design.

Having to upgrade now as I need more seating - will be really sad to see it go.

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

OLD?! Mine was out in stuff that scared off bigger boats last weekend

Wonderful beasties!

Matt,

Thats just an average day for a Solent Searider driver.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Matt,

Thats just an average day for a Solent Searider driver.

[Lets go boating]