Good news for Ribcraft !! And.......

[Maximus]

A good friend of mine associated with the Olympic Sailing events at Weymouth has told me that after beating off stiff competition from around the world ''Ribcraft'' of Yeovil have secured the Olympic contract to supply ALL the Ribs for the 2012 olympics! According to him a total in excess if 65 craft!!! I suppose when you think of all the saftey boats,marshalling,transport,security, ect this is not that surpriseing a figure.
Good to hear its gone to one of our home grown premier Rib builders!!!Well done you guys!
......Could it also mean there may be a few low hour Ribcraft bargains around after the Olympics????

[Zippy]

Great news for Ribcraft if it turns out to be true although i am sure there will be lots of other deals floating around. as for some low hours bargains, never happens with the Americas cup fleet but heres wishing!!

i saw the RYA Ribcraft with twin hondas a few weeks back, looks like a very nice boat with the T top...

[martini]

Originally Posted by Maximus

in excess if 65 craft!!

Forget trying to order a Ribcraft for the next 2 years then!

[Max...]

Originally Posted by martini

Forget trying to order a Ribcraft for the next 2 years then!

That's what I thought! And for anyone who's got one on order I'd gee 'em up a bit!

[EdPed]

I spoke to them about the deal and no-one denied that the deal had taken place, likewise Suzuki were fairly upbeat about the deal, so I would imagine it is probably true.
Taken that they were also quoting delivery of next May then I do not see too many boats being supplied into the retail sector once they start on the new order for some time.

However I do have a solution for you all out there, contact me at the Southampton Dry stack and I will sell you a Redbay instead.

For those who do not know my contact number : MRL Marine 023 8033 5333.
Look forward to hearing from you - Edward

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by martini

Forget trying to order a Ribcraft for the next 2 years then!

I spoke to Jason at Ribcraft and he told me that if they did happen to win a contract for between 50 and 100 boats in the next year or so, they would set up a separate production line to avoid screwing up the rest of the business.

The last time a RIB builder got a contract like this it was the Camel Trophy boats and they pretty much finished Ribtec off. I should think (hope) that whoever gets the Olympic contract will have learned a few lessons!

[Jizm]

What's the score with the Protector RIBs then?

[Simon B]

I thought Ribcraft had a separate resin transfer line anyway?

[Mollers]

To be fair, I would've been surprised if Ribcraft hadn't won the contract. Probably the nearest thing we have to a mass producer of Ribs in the UK and only 30m from Weymouth. Well done to them never the less.

Setting-up a second production line has to be a huge financial undertaking and I'm sure, that the Olympic procurement team would've squeazed them pretty hard on an order of such value.

[Downhilldai]

It would be interesting to hear how many other potential suppliers were in the mix