First time rib buyer.

doggypaddle · 15 July 2007, 16:46

Hi every one, i am new to this forum and hopefully will soon be a new ribster!
i have been looking at Ribs for sale for a while now and have a few questions to ask other ribsters about ribs in general, firstly is the price of used ribs very seasonal? whats the cheapest time of the year to buy?
secondly are there any makes of rib to avoid or be wary of? i have heared one horror story of a rib being stripped to retube having a transom made of soggy chipboard!
Any recomendations for boats in the 5-6m range? i think for three of us and two dogs plus possibly 3 guests this will be the minimum size! i will have a limited budget and am currently looking at humbers, avon SRs and similar in the 5-6K range. i dont mind a project as long as i have a good boat at the end of it.

thanks

Hightower · 15 July 2007, 16:59

During the first part of winter is the best time of year to bag a bargain, however your selection of RIBs available will be less as people only tend to sell during season.

Seariders and Humbers for the budget is definatly the way to go, there are many threads that you can search on RIBnet relating to specific manufacturers. If I where you I would stick to the bigger brands, you'll not go too far wrong.

Is that Newent, Glos you live in?

doggypaddle · 15 July 2007, 17:08

Hi, yes its Newent Gloucester. What about BWM they seem sometimes cheap,
I think i want a medium or deep vee hull too? I have been on a rib that was a fairly shallow vee and it was awful! do you know what ribs ride the best?

Hightower · 15 July 2007, 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggypaddle

Hi, yes its Newent Gloucester. What about BWM they seem sometimes cheap,
I think i want a medium or deep vee hull too? I have been on a rib that was a fairly shallow vee and it was awful! do you know what ribs ride the best?

I cut my teeth in the RIB world with a BWM DeepSea 17, very nice RIB for a beginner, wide beam and a medium to a deep V, however the real rough stuff showed it's limitations and had to back right off in a following Sea, this was in part due to it's concave bow feature and hated following seas with a vengence. That said however I never felt unsafe in her and was quite comfortable taking her out in a F6 as I did a couple of times.

Watch around the transom for cracks particularly around the knees. A 2 stroke 90 is the absolout maximum outboard she'll take without modification and I found that a 90 fourstroke was a little heavy and stressed the transom too much, so much that I had to have a repair done, but it turned out to be only cosmetic though.

Sarah G · 15 July 2007, 17:58

Hi there

Just to say that as a relative newbie, you've made the first step by finding this fab forum, there are a load of ribbing experts that can all help you, whether about the dimensions of a specific boat, the electrics, you name it they really helped us out.

As we are fresh from buying our first rib, I would suggest a number of things:-

work out a budget

remember that once you bought your boat:-

where are you going to store it long-term, for the summer? Do you really want to trailer it to and from the coast every weekend - it gets really boring driving at 60 m.p.h. trust me.

harbour dues

fuel costs

It is amazing how much more you end up spending up-front so factor that in to the equation.

Don't underestimate the cost of repairs to a trailer - everyone talks about the outboard/inboard being the biggest part of the cost, but the trailer can suddenly cost a load of money that you were not expecting (not that we are talking from experience - oh yeah we are!!!

). It is hard to inspect the bearings or brakes.

Having said all that, it is great to have the boat and we love it. We joined a group from here on a recent trip to Priory Bay and the support we received was really lovely.

Remember that if you are talking about all those people coming on board, you need lifejackets, there was a thread on here talking about cheap lifejackets. It is really worth using the search facility on boats, newbie, RIB Virgin (where we received loads of help!), etc.

Good luck with the search.

doggypaddle · 15 July 2007, 18:01

Thanks for that, i will look out for that if i look at a BWM, I have been looking at the threads on fuel consumption, engine reliability etc, and it would seem that if
i can find a reasonable 5-5.5 boat with a two stroke 50-75 it will be exactly what i want and wont cost me a grand a week to play! i used to have a microplus 502 (like a shetland 5m) with a yammy 3 pot 40 and that went well enough and was very frugal on fuel, i guess a 5m rib would be lighter and have less wind drag, and would go for hours on 5 gallons.

cheers
Martyn

doggypaddle · 15 July 2007, 18:26

Hi sarah
thanks for the advice, fortunately i am not new to boat ownership so i am aware of most of the pitfalls, also i am a keen DIYer so trailer repairs, welding brakes, tyre changing, outboard repairs and rebuilds arent at all daunting, I dont have a problem driving at 60mph the landrover is quite bearable at that speed, and i and get between motorway services without refilling! I do live a long way from the coast though, hence the tight budget, i dont want 10+K boat sitting on my driveway depreciating for 50 weeks a year! if its only spend 5k perhaps i wont mind so much,

thanks
Martyn

Hightower · 15 July 2007, 18:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggypaddle

Thanks for that, i will look out for that if i look at a BWM, I have been looking at the threads on fuel consumption, engine reliability etc, and it would seem that if
i can find a reasonable 5-5.5 boat with a two stroke 50-75 it will be exactly what i want and wont cost me a grand a week to play! i used to have a microplus 502 (like a shetland 5m) with a yammy 3 pot 40 and that went well enough and was very frugal on fuel, i guess a 5m rib would be lighter and have less wind drag, and would go for hours on 5 gallons.

cheers
Martyn

Yammi 80 was about 35l/hour WOT (wide open Throttle)

The Yam at the age and budget would be the best course of action.

Nos4r2 · 15 July 2007, 18:57

Just my opinion but I think with the 4 to 5.5m boats that are out there you need close to the maximum HP that the boat can handle. Most of us with boats in that size range on here are close to or on the max HP.

Ribs tend to have a lot heavier layup than the equivalent size hardboat as they can take a lot more punishment and you'd be surprised at how heavy they can be.My 5.4m Searider weighs about the same as my Microplus 500 did.

doggypaddle · 15 July 2007, 19:13

My microplus 502 was probably a good bit heavier than it was when new! i put at least 3 gallons of resin and matt in the bottom of it! that probably slowed it down a bit, the yam 40 was good on fuel though, flat open it used to use in the reigon of 3 gallons an hour, but if you backed down to 1/2 throttle it would go for hours and hours on the 30 litre tank, and didnt seem much slower, I think it may have been over-propped though, no tacho but it always sounded like it had an extra 1000RPM to give.

Nos4r2 · 15 July 2007, 19:27

So was my 500-the foam under the cabin was waterlogged and anywhere that water could collect was full.

Your best bet is probably to go and look at a few ribs that you can sea trial for the cost of the fuel to see what you think. I go through at least 10 gallons every time I take my 5.4 out. Realistically if you want to run all day on a 5 gallon tank you're looking at a 4-4.5m with a 50hp.

As has been said, stick to the bigger makes. You really can't go wrong with a Searider

doggypaddle · 16 July 2007, 07:43

I think i can tolerate that sort of consumption, so i will be looking for a 5-5.5 rib with around the max Hp the hull can take, i did consider an inboard, atlantic or pacific?22 with the cummins b series engine, but they are a big old things to tow, and with the cherryade not being available for much longer there wouldnt be much advantage really, unless you ran on old chip fat! yuk!
on the plus side there are plenty of dirt cheap hulls around for refurbishment so it may be a possibility.

Tims Osprey · 16 July 2007, 09:27

A good bwm for sale on boatsandoutboards, its only about a mile from where i live, if you go and view it and need any help then let me know. Bwm are well made ribs with medium to deep vee hulls.

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F150767/

I had the same 75 mariner on the back of a boston whaler 15 dauntless and it was very fuel efficient and easily enough power when pulling a skier with 3 people on board.

doggypaddle · 16 July 2007, 11:31

Thanks for the offer tim, its much appreciated, for the time being i am just watching what boats go for, to try and get a feel of the market and seasonal fluctuations, to be honest i would like to spend a bit less on a boat than that, even if it ends up costing more by the time i have fixed it up, i enjoy the satisfaction of restoring things, and it keeps me out of the pub!
i must say though that is exactly the seating arrangement i want and boat size and engine are right too..........must resist the temptation until i know the market better!

many thanks

martyn

Hightower · 16 July 2007, 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggypaddle

Thanks for the offer tim, its much appreciated, for the time being i am just watching what boats go for, to try and get a feel of the market and seasonal fluctuations, to be honest i would like to spend a bit less on a boat than that, even if it ends up costing more by the time i have fixed it up, i enjoy the satisfaction of restoring things, and it keeps me out of the pub!
i must say though that is exactly the seating arrangement i want and boat size and engine are right too..........must resist the temptation until i know the market better!

many thanks

martyn

I did the same as you and let a couple of real nice RIBs slip though the net.

Tims Osprey · 16 July 2007, 11:55

No worries

, i think that the lousy summer that we are having though is probably keeping prices down at the moment, so now may be as good a time as any to be seriously looking for a bargain?

doggypaddle · 16 July 2007, 12:31

Yes i think you are right, i have been watching RIBS on ebay and after a pre season high there seems to be a few reasonably priced ones at the moment, for once in my life i am actually hopeing we have a lousy summer! Andy is right about one slipping through the net, but likewise if i rush out and buy one now i can almost guarantee to see a better boat a week later, there is a name for it!
What do you know about flooding hulls? what are the disadvantages? a few boats i have seen have been commercial/dive spec with flooding hulls, now i would imagine getting out of the hole is a slow laboured affair compared to a dry hull? if i bought a boat with a flooding hull can i bung it up for leisure use??
thanks
martyn

walruz · 16 July 2007, 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggypaddle

What do you know about flooding hulls? what are the disadvantages? a few boats i have seen have been commercial/dive spec with flooding hulls, now i would imagine getting out of the hole is a slow laboured affair compared to a dry hull? if i bought a boat with a flooding hull can i bung it up for leisure use??
thanks
martyn

As a Searidet owner I would say it depends on what you intend to use the boat for. I keep mine moored (I can see it from the house

) and watching it and other ribs you can see how much more stable they are when at rest and at low speeds. Yes it can take a little longer out of the hole but that depends on the engine and prop combe you use - I actually up propped from 17 inch to 19 as I found it too torquy (still have it for towing

). However, my boat is certainly not laboured getting out of the hole and with the 17 I was planing in seconds.

Hope my waffling helps.

Ian

Tims Osprey · 16 July 2007, 17:31

If a flooding hull is much better than a dry hull then why don't leading rib builders such as Ribcraft, osprey, humber and the likes of design their ribs with this concept in mind, is it because Avon patented it or because other rib builders see no need? A rib is a stable enough craft in its own right with the tubes and its low profile giving more than enough stability for a stable platform in the water, i would much rather have the massive wide beam of my boat for stability than i would a flooding hull.
Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the searider though.

doggypaddle · 16 July 2007, 18:45

So a flooding hull is little advantage for just messing about, but the disadvantage of being slower getting out of the hole is not worth worrying about, and certainly shouldnt put me off buying one if it happens to have a flooding hull? is this a fair conclusion to come to? i really dont need a flooding hull though and would rather the performance to be a bit more peppy!
cant you just bung them, or do they float too high?

Thanks