bwm rib

shirehorse · 05 November 2007, 20:50

I am looking at purchasing a bwm rib are there any of you helpfull souls out there that can give me some advice on what to look for or points to be aware of.All help will be much needed thanks.

Hightower · 05 November 2007, 20:57

What size/year of MNFR you after?

shirehorse · 06 November 2007, 05:54

An 18 or 21 deepsea i know nothing about them accept what i have picked up on here.

Zippy · 06 November 2007, 06:19

i had a Sub Aqua 17 as my first rib. great little boat for what its designed for. not the deepest v so the ride was fairly hard but great fun! did a lot ogf hours in her before selling to move on.

Mine was a 1995 boat and i rewired it and put new A frame on.

Andy did have a deepsea 19 i think which was much nicer than mine but sold recently i think?

Hightower · 06 November 2007, 07:50

I had a Deepsea 17 but it was 18' long

Yes nice little RIB, very fast with a 90 on the back. I would recommend one as a starter RIB or a dive/Safety boat, but as with Zippy and myself you might want to start looking at the 21's as they are more of a longer term RIB and the Sea Handling is much improved.

shirehorse · 06 November 2007, 11:05

Thanks Zippy and Hightower do you know of any problems with the 21 that i should look for or a bad age for that matter how do i check the age?.

Alan · 06 November 2007, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirehorse

Thanks Zippy and Hightower do you know of any problems with the 21 that i should look for or a bad age for that matter how do i check the age?.

You need to find out when it was built. BWM has gone through a number of iterations and some DS21's were built better than others. We had a 1998 Loxton marine built boat and the quality left a little to be desired.........

shirehorse · 06 November 2007, 15:00

Is it the year or build yard i need to worry about?.

Hightower · 06 November 2007, 15:03

who built it I guess. All I would say is that if your not experienced at looking at the structure of a boat, let someone with experience come along with you or employ a surveyor to give you a report.

RAD · 10 November 2007, 10:58

Dont buy the one on Ebay, its in Norfolk from the least favourite RIB member.

Tim M · 10 November 2007, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAD

Dont buy the one on Ebay, its in Norfolk from the least favourite RIB member.

If its that blue one then I really isn't worth the money.

Jizm · 10 November 2007, 16:44

cheap enough at the moment tho'

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BWM-DiveRib-57...QQcmdZViewItem

shirehorse · 10 November 2007, 21:39

Does anyone have a good word to say about BWM they have been around along time. What are the faults with them do they not float or are they just not fast enough for you?

Hightower · 10 November 2007, 23:01

I can only speak of my RIB, was fantastic for what I origianally bought her for, Cruising and fishing. The advantages where cheap to buy and run, fast but hard ride with a 80 2 stroke 36knotts. A wide platform for diving, fishing or whatever.

Disadvantages where, hard ride. Not to clever in a following Solent chop. Rubbing strake kept comming away from the bow (that could happen on any old RIB).

There where some stress cracks in the hull, but that didn't worry me as I trailer my boats so Osmosis didn't worry me. Was told that Stress cracks where common on BWM's and just the surface gel coat cracking and not to worry, my advice to you is to get a survey if there is any doubt.

My Transom knees suffered cracking after one particular trip when I launched Kohaku a number of feet into the air, that did concern me and was brought about probably because I had an overweight engine bolted to the transom. Had a proffessional repair done and the cracks turned out to be superfisial the transom was rock solid.

That's all I can really say. A great beginners RIB is the 17 and 18 but the 21 is a longer term prospect. Have a look at the Parker range of 21 footers, I think you'll find the design the same (or similar) build quality much more consistent and better tho. At least the design has stood the test of time and it's still in current production.

Downhilldai · 11 November 2007, 08:51

Northcraft also continue to produce the same basic hull design, although I understand some developments have been made over the years. From what I've seen of BWM, the Northcraft boats are better built - more attention to GRP quality, heavier lay-up and better quality toobs.

Zippy · 11 November 2007, 12:20

My experience of them was really good! my first boat and i learnt a huge amount from it!

fast boat but a bit hard in the solent chop. fully agree with Andy's comments.

i still have fond memories of the original Zippy! http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?...ighlight=zippy

Alan · 11 November 2007, 17:20

Good design but variability in construction and finish of the BWM built ribs makes buying a second hand one a bit of a minefield. We had a 1998 DS21 & it was a good boat for diving & cruising. The list of things that went wrong with it (seats coming adrift, split fuel tank, stress cracking, transom knees cracking, everything being held in with self tappers including the A frame!) would make me hestitate to recommend one as a second hand purchase. For us it was an expensive learning curve on RIB construction and ownership.

That being said I would have no hesitation in buying a Parker if I were in the market for a 21ft beamy, stable RIB. I can't speak for the latest iteration of BWM as clearly I haven't seen one.