Rib on a mooring

[johndoe007]

I am finishing up my 7m train wreck (please see my pictures) and am beginning to think of storage. I have only two options. One is trailer launching which is fine and dandy and the other is a semi protected mooring. Has anyone any experience with leaving these in the water during the week and then using it on the weekends? I did not put anti-foul on the hull at this time, but I could. My concern is one day showing up and finding the hull on the bottom. What is the longest you would consider leaving your rib on a mooring unattended?

Thanks

[boristhebold]

Ive seen a few left on moorings and they tend to look rather shabby after some time, lots of bird droppings, covers half hanging off due to wind etc.

[Vandad]

Depends on what type of water you are in; Organisms in the water, especially saltwater, attach to slick surfaces like a boat's hull so it gets dirty and may even affect your speed and fuel consumption.

Put cover on it; I am serious. and not just on the seat and console. A big cover covering the tubes. You may find that it gets filled with water if the shape of the cover is not right but believe me we put two ribs on mooring for about three years; one with cover and the other without one. The rib with mooring only needed minor cleaning every week but the other one ended up being retubed.

Also, if you have power connection on the mooring you may connect it to charge your battery AND use an auto bilge pump.

The cleaning must be done on regular basis, especially your tubes. We kept our cleaning spray and other bits on the rib so we could do it with no excuse!

[Poly]

By semi protected mooring I assume you mean some sort of swinging mooring in the middle of the water rather than on a mooring. That does mean shore power is not going to be feasible and you need to think about rain water and spray.

Plenty of ribs are kept afloat. They would normally be antifouled - if you really don't want to do that you will need to recover and scrub regularly which defeats the purpose.

It sinking is not the problem (although think about how you are going to fasten it to the anchor chain) - especially if it will be used every week. The issues are getting dirty/damaged from storing outside (sunshine on uncovered tubes, careless other users bashing it, and bird waste being as well as the risk of theft either of kit or the boat - of course boats get stolen ashore too.

[ncp]

John, let me know if you find a good (reasonably priced) cover. I'm looking for one for my Willard and can't seem to find a center console cover with the width to cover the tubes (though I am going to coat my tubes for some uv protection...already bought the paint/griptex from Wing: Polyurethane Sponson Finishes | Wing® Inflatables ).

I'm not ready to pay for custom yet!!!

[Erin]

Mine lives on a swinging mooring for 6 months of every year. The sun and rain take their toll, but a good tube clean and polish every year sees to that. Came up as good as new this year with ribshine after 3 seasons of only light cleaning previously. Definitely need antifoul tho'. Security might be an issue depeding on what the natives are like.

[johndoe007]

Sorry to be a bit more clear the mooring is a deep water mooring in a semi protected harbor. I agree a full mooring cover down to the tubes makes the most sense. The military only had a cover for the console so I will probably have to fabricate a proper cover. Security is not an issue as most would prefer the look of the Sunseeker on the next mooring to that of a military boat My boat unlike the 733 Zodiac has a tube that has individually chambered sections so I can't use an onboard inflator to top up the pressure, or put a sensor on it to run when it gets low. I did find a very nice new military solar panel that is 24v to recharge the pair of house batteries as mine is rigged to run with 4 batteries as I will be running a pair of huge bilge pumps.