New member

Limey Linda · 07 May 2006, 17:45

Hi to all
My name is Tony, living in Scottsdale AZ, USA. First and foremost thanks to Limeydal for the welcoming PM. I am an Englishman married to a Texan and have lived in the USA for 24 years. Born and bread in Soton/Hamble River area. 30+ years of boating/sailing experience including Atlantic crossing in a 40 footer and Admirals cup stuff. Have owned many power and sail boats. I have wanted a RIB for many years. We are selling up and retiring to a small town in Mexico, called San Carlos, Sea of Cortez. I need a project to keep me out of the pub/cantina Planning on building a marine ply/ composite RIB about 8M OAL. with big Yam. 4s. I am an engineer by background and have a ton of woodworking/metal working equipment. Reckon it will take about 18 mo. and about $45,000 ( dollars) inc. engine, for materials + labor at 1p an hour. Any advice, input, contacts, experience would be very much appreciated. It would save a lot of time if I could get hold of plans/drawing for such.
Thanks to all. T.

codprawn · 07 May 2006, 18:04

Labor? What about the U? Still I suppose 24yrs is a long time - if you had murdered her you would have been out now......

Still welcome to another - dare I say it - Yank!!!

When you mention marine ply I hope you don't mean the hull? Hard chine RIBs are a little old hat to say the least!!! unless they are aluminium....

You would be better off buying and old boat and doing it up along with a retube etc. You could also fit it out to your spec.

Have a look at this for a good example your side of the pond.

http://www.rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12779

Limey Linda · 07 May 2006, 18:24

Dear Codpiece
Thanks for your welcome and sorry about the missing U. My spell checker works in American English, unfortunately. FYI, I am still a British citizen so the term Yank is not appropriate, however it is acceptable when refering to my wife.
According to my research there are still a lot of new racing boats being made out of ply. Ply/epoxy composite is lighter than GRP. RIBS are not popular in the USA( Called RHIB ) and therefore there are very few, if any used ones available. This option was my first choice but cannot find one.
Regards. Tony

codprawn · 07 May 2006, 20:04

Yes many F1 boats are still ply I suppose - brilliant material and with the addition of epoxy it makes it very durable.

The only problem is that you can't really get fancy curves etc unless you go for cold moulding.

Suprised you are still a Brit - thought you had to become an American citizen if you lived there that long?

Good luck with the project whichever way you go - keep us posted and loads of pics - should be an interesting one.

Andy Moore · 07 May 2006, 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Dear Codpiece

Like it.

Limey Linda · 07 May 2006, 23:54

If you hold a green card in the USA it is good for life and you do not have to become a citizen. If I was on a hijacked plane I would rather have a British passport, also you can travel to more countries in the world wihout a Visa than with any other. And, anyway, I like being an Englishman. Anybody got experience of using fuel tank bladders in RIBs ?

Nos4r2 · 07 May 2006, 23:57

I believe Cookee does. Paul Tilley on here makes them so he'd be the guy to talk to.

pathalla · 09 May 2006, 03:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Hi to all
My name is Tony, living in Scottsdale AZ, USA. First and foremost thanks to Limeydal for the welcoming PM. I am an Englishman married to a Texan and have lived in the USA for 24 years. Born and bread in Soton/Hamble River area. 30+ years of boating/sailing experience including Atlantic crossing in a 40 footer and Admirals cup stuff. Have owned many power and sail boats. I have wanted a RIB for many years. We are selling up and retiring to a small town in Mexico, called San Carlos, Sea of Cortez. I need a project to keep me out of the pub/cantina Planning on building a marine ply/ composite RIB about 8M OAL. with big Yam. 4s. I am an engineer by background and have a ton of woodworking/metal working equipment. Reckon it will take about 18 mo. and about $45,000 ( dollars) inc. engine, for materials + labor at 1p an hour. Any advice, input, contacts, experience would be very much appreciated. It would save a lot of time if I could get hold of plans/drawing for such.
Thanks to all. T.

Hello Tony and welcome to the forum. Are you going to be powering this boat with twins? If so I would think the 45,000 figure is optimistic, costs for building/rigging a boat can add up rapidly, believe me. Plan carefully, lists of components needed for electrical, steering, seating, hardware (cleats, etc) anything you can think of and price it out thru West marine or other parts house. If you are building the boat ground up I would guess it would cost 55,000 to 85,000 with twins. A single would knock off about 12,000 in overall cost.
You may have better connections for parts and equipment than me and be able to reduce that figure considerably, but I would think a custom built tube set would be 7000 to 14,000 depending on the builder, motors or motor would run about 12 to 25 grand, Trailer 3000 to 5000, and then you have the hull and everything that goes into it... I have rigged about 4 boats and it always ends up costing you more than you think. That said, I wish you the best of luck on your project and will be watching for any posts of your project in the future. One other thing, there are composite materials out on the market which make better material for building a hull than wood, stronger, lighter and rotproof. I would stongly recommend looking into this if you are building out the hull yourself. again, good luck!

Limey Linda · 09 May 2006, 16:54

Thanks Pathalla for the welcome. Have spent 6 months doing research and budgeting for this project. No, I will not use twin outboards as I do not need speed above 40knts. Have been working with Ribcraft USA and have had great input from them. They want approx. $70k for a new, but basic, 7.8 with single 250 Honda not including delivery. If I could buy a used circa. 25ft RHIB in the US in any condition that would be my first choice. If you know of one please advise. Yes, I have the West catalogue. Thanks again for your input.
PS. Have been to Cleveland (connected with Lincoln Electric) and it is cold, cold , cold.. I am going to Mexico!!!!.

jyasaki · 09 May 2006, 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

We are selling up and retiring to a small town in Mexico, called San Carlos, Sea of Cortez.

Hey, I've been there. Years ago (1969, I think) when I was short of 10 years old. Actually, we visited Guaymas, with a trip to SC to go sport fishing (sort of.)

Luck with the project;

jky

Hugh Jardon · 09 May 2006, 17:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Dear Codpiece

well you certainly got the measure of our codders very quickly!

i would imagine it would be perhaps cheaper to look at buying a rib in the uk and shipping it back to the USA, have you priced up that option?

also go to ribcraft in the uk for tubes and get them shipped back home, you can give them all the dimensions etc so must surely be cheaper, even consider flying over and packaging them up in your luggage to take back ! There are a lot of tubing companies over here that would give you some good quotes i am sure then carry them home, just an idea

Building your own is very satisfying and you can get it just as you like it which is what i did

good luck and ignore the silly yank comments

Limey Linda · 09 May 2006, 19:20

Have researched cost of tubes in the US and there are several comanys that do them including Ribcraft USA. There is one company that supplies the US military in CA. that is not to far away. Shipping costs plus import duty from the UK are a big problem. Do not use the dollar/pound exchange rate to work out the costs. In terms of purchasing power the dollar in the US is about the same as the pound in the UK. In otherwords I can buy a pint for 2 dollars and you pay 2 pounds: I can buy a 1/2lb steak in Safeways for 3 dollars and it costs you 3 pounds. Get the picture! Thanks for all the advice. And, by the way that steak in Mexico is half the cost and is free range beef!!!! Yummee!
Thanks very much for the input.

Hugh Jardon · 09 May 2006, 20:09

we know the states very well, and mexico as we have a timeshare there

have worked for an american company for the past 14 years and most of my day is engaged with our USA colleagues. which is fun of course

95 % of my time is spent dealing in $$$

would be good if you build the boat and share the experience on here, it does help to give others ideas and inspiration and is an interesting experience

all the best

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Have researched cost of tubes in the US and there are several comanys that do them including Ribcraft USA. There is one company that supplies the US military in CA. that is not to far away. Shipping costs plus import duty from the UK are a big problem. Do not use the dollar/pound exchange rate to work out the costs. In terms of purchasing power the dollar in the US is about the same as the pound in the UK. In otherwords I can buy a pint for 2 dollars and you pay 2 pounds: I can buy a 1/2lb steak in Safeways for 3 dollars and it costs you 3 pounds. Get the picture! Thanks for all the advice. And, by the way that steak in Mexico is half the cost and is free range beef!!!! Yummee!
Thanks very much for the input.

Rogue Wave · 09 May 2006, 22:58

First welcome to the Forum. There is a brand of exmilitary boats available in this country which are not very popular because they take a lot of power and the fuel is expensive!

Bottom line is that you can buy an exceptonally well built 8metre rib with decent toobs ( good for 5 years) for around £4k . you can have any colour you like as long as it's grey.

I can't imagine shipping would be more than 2 K

Stick a couple of opti 225's on that baby and you have a real mother of a RIB and you could spend your money on building a cabin

here is a link to the manufacturers page

http://www.vtplc.com/halmatic/produc...D=452&catid=93

If you are interested I can give yo a link to the disposal company. I saw them today and I 'd say they were about 6 years old

pathalla · 10 May 2006, 02:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Thanks Pathalla for the welcome. Have spent 6 months doing research and budgeting for this project. No, I will not use twin outboards as I do not need speed above 40knts. Have been working with Ribcraft USA and have had great input from them. They want approx. $70k for a new, but basic, 7.8 with single 250 Honda not including delivery. If I could buy a used circa. 25ft RHIB in the US in any condition that would be my first choice. If you know of one please advise. Yes, I have the West catalogue. Thanks again for your input.
PS. Have been to Cleveland (connected with Lincoln Electric) and it is cold, cold , cold.. I am going to Mexico!!!!.

I will keep my ear to the ground as to a boat, best of luck, hope you find a used boat cheap that would fit your plans, Mexico sounds good to me and yes Cleveland is cold, I go to Miami frequently to get away from the weather when it is bad, sounds like you have the bases covered on what you are going to do, good luck, Pat.
P.S. you might give Debra Young at Nautica International a call, I know Debbie and Franco Rossi jr. quite well, they build great boats at Nautica, if you are thinking about used you might want to give them a heads up, they do get used boats in from time to time, I have bought quite a few boats from them and they are great people and fair on pricing, give them your budget, they may know of something possibly, Tell them Pat Hallaran said hello.

Limey Linda · 10 May 2006, 18:33

Thanks to Pat and Rogue for the great info. Regarding import from the UK it would be approx. $20K(dollars) as you have to pay for a whole container. Also, to deliver to the USA west coast involves the Panama Canal which pushes the price up. If delivered to the USA E. coast then I have to pay for overland shipping thru. the US and thru Mexico.( approx $4k) on top of that I would have to pay 10% import duty at both the US and Mexico port of entry. Rough estimate of total cost would beat least $20K. Look at a map; it is at least 4 days drive from Miami to San Carlos, Mexico. It takes 1 1/2 - 2 days to drive E. to W thru. Texas alone. That is a a lot of beer and steak!!. or an engine. I will contact Nautica International. Thanks for the tip.
Regards to all, including coddy

Liverbird · 11 May 2006, 02:02

Hi Have you considered a Caribe rib ? They are made in Venezuala and make very large ribs,both console and open boats.I have had a DL15 (hypalon) for nearly a year now & it has been truly faultless. www.caribe.com Their website has a world map where you can click on your 'hometown location' and check out the dealers .I use mine for personal use up & around long island,jones beach,fire island,along the east Atlantic coast and i do venture out into the Atlantic every now & then.

I too have just bought a place in Mexico (Cozumel) its a small island about 45 mins by boat from Cancun.It has the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world that leads all the way down to Belize and the blue hole dive site.I went on vacation last November & saw the place,then came home back to NY & thought about it for 2 weeks and then flew back down there for a weekend and just bought it.I love Mexico,the people,the culture,the whole place.

My new apt is under construction now (it actually should've been completed on May 1st) but i am in no hurry yet. Eventually when i do decide to leave NY i hope to take my boat down to Cozumel and use it down there but thats probably a few years away yet.In the meantime i am considering buying another Caribe that they make that has a small glass window in the bottom and leaving that in Cozumel.I think its 11ft but its probably perfect for zipping around the caribbean for a few weeks.
Anyway all the links are below including port inflatables who i got mine from (who by the way where absolutely superb and i have no hesitation recommending to anybody)I know they had a nice maybe 20 or 22 ft rib a few months back (maybe its still on their site.)

www.caribeinflatables.com
www.portinflatables.net
www.haciendamontecristo.com

Rogue Wave · 11 May 2006, 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Look at a map; it is at least 4 days drive from Miami to San Carlos, Mexico. It takes 1 1/2 - 2 days to drive E. to W thru. Texas alone. That is a a lot of beer and steak!!. or an engine. I will contact Nautica International. Thanks for the tip.
Regards to all, including coddy

Don't I know it! I was on the road for 18 years been involved in many mega drives in the States. Is it still a 55mph limit.

Limey Linda · 11 May 2006, 22:19

Speed limit on motorway in most states is now 75mph outside of town limits. Texas is an exception as it is 65mph.