RIB for diving under 900kg

[robo]

Hi

The boat we have in my dive club is old and ready to be replaced with something more seaworthy and reliable. I am therefore examining what our possibilities are, so that i can have a good suggestion ready for the annual general meeting in the club in march.

We want a RIB, that can carry 6 divers with doubles. It should be robust enough to survive being a club boat, and it should have good seakeeping abilities.

These requirements are all fairly standard, and many options exists. The problem is that we need to keep the weight very low. We have 180% tax on cars in Denmark! Therefore most of the club members drive small economical cars. The old boat weighs 1050 kg including trailer, and we often have problems finding a car to tow it.

We have been looking at RIBS in the 5 to 6m range, but the weight quickly adds up: RIB 380 kg + motor 180 kg + trailer 280 kg + fuel 80 kg = 920. And this is without all the extra bits and pieces.

My question therefore is: Is it possible to get a good RIB for diving weighing maximum 900kg all included (console, fuel, a-frame, lights, trailer etc.)? Any suggestions?

/Lau

[Pete7]

Robo, diving is a hard life for a rib. I wouldn't compromise the hull just to save a few kgs. My recommendation would be a 6m Osprey viper. I have had 8 twin set divers on mine. Have a chat with Osprey to see what the actual all up weight is, not what is advertised in a brouchure.

http://www.grandrib.se/

Pete

[Donnie144]

Do you guys have console on these boats? I have found on my 6.5 that 4 divers is all I really want if I’m going to be doing a long run (15+ miles each way) but can squeeze in 6 divers if pushed. You are also coming up on the max weight for the boat in a hurry with 6 divers. I’ve found I’m actually over weighted with 6 diver and 12 tanks. I’m assuming Denmark is cold water diving so you will have all the weight and equipment that goes with it. If you have a console I would love to see a diagram on how you run it so I can see what I’m doing wrong. I’ve welded up racks so I store the live set of gear (full tank assembled to BC and regs) to the rack in front against the anchor locker, Then I’ve welded up another rack to store 12 more tanks in the wasted space behind the console/seats and in front of the transom