Advice for a New Boy

[Ribald]

Having just completed my Level 2 & Advanced course I am now itching to get on the water with a craft of my own. I have been offered a 5m Avon Pro RIB (3 years old) with a Honda 50 (1 year old) for £5500 and am wondering if this is a good deal. There is no trailer with the boat but this does not cause an immediate problem. I understand that this model rib has tubes which can be detached from the hull for repair/ease of storage which sounds like a good idea. My main use would be coastal between Brighton & Weymouth.

Any advice on the above to a new boy to ribbing (converted sailor getting too old to haul on those b****y ropes) from the learned members of this forum would be very much appreciated.

Peter T

[Alan]

Hi Peter,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Ribbing!

I'm not familiar with that particular model of Avon (aware that they do a 4.7 and a 5.4m but not heard of a 5m) but they are generally built like brick outhouses so it should be a good boat. 50hp Honda is a good quiet engine just a bit heavy like all 4 strokes. Should be OK on a boat of that size though. Price sounds good - engine alone would cost around that new I'dve thought!

My two bits of advice for a "newbie" are to go for proper deep Vee hull on whatever RIB you buy if you are planning coastal/offshore cruising and join BIBOA so that you get to meet other likeminded souls!

I can provide you info on BIBOA if you email me. cruising@biboa.co.uk

Cheers,
Alan

[Ribald]

Sorry, got the spec wrong for the boat - it is a Zodiac 5.5m PRO

[Alan Mckewan]

If its a 5.5 Zodiac write the chaeque now! That is a very good price for such a rig. BUT the engine is too small, the Zodiac / bombards are quite heavily built and you will find it will barely get on the plane with any weight at all on board. That boat really needs at least 70HP. But at that price you could easily chage motors after a few weeks / months and still have a good rig for a good price. One point of note, the Zodiacs (& Bombards which are like Austin & Morris) use PVC (albeit heavy) tubes. This stays clean and good looking easily compared to Hypalon, but can score / damage a bit more easily and hardens with age in the sun, so keep it under cover when not in use.

[John Kennett]

I'll second Alan M's comments -- unless the RIB has been badly abused that sounds like a very good price. You *will* want to change the engine, but you shouldn't have any trouble selling the 50!

John

[Ribald]

Many thanks for all your usefull comments - I am going to check out the beast over the weekend and will let you know how I get on.

[Ribald]

Now I know why the boat was so cheap - it's back had been broken during a savage grounding whilst trying a beaching in big waves. Oh well back to the hunt.

Does anyone which of the major manufacturers will be at Southampton next month as I feel a trip coming on?

[John Kennett]

According to the web site at www.southamptonboatshow.com the following RIB and inflatable manufacturers will be there:

Avon Inflatables Ltd
Barnet Marine Centre Ltd
Caribe Inflatables
Giles Reinforced Plastics
Henshaw Inflatables Ltd
Lodestar Inflatables
Ocean Adventure Marine Ltd
Picton Boats Ltd
Polymarine Ltd
Revenger Boat Company
Ribcraft Ltd
Ribeye Limited
Ribtec Limited
Selva Marine Sales (UK)
Suzuki GB plc
Valiant & Quicksilver
Viking Life-saving Equipment
Yamaha
Zodiac International

The web site is not well publicised (not even linked from the BMIF web site!) and is very slow to load the front page (it looks like nothing is happening). Still, I'm sure someone thinks it was a good use of a few tens of thousands of pounds!

John

[Ribald]

John,

Thanks for the list & link. You're right, they could do with changing the batteries on the server

Peter