Rib Virgin

[Sarah G]

I think I need help - probably in more ways than one - but I'm getting very confused. We have decided that we would like to buy a rib. We currently go dinghy sailing and yacht sailing but as our daughter is growing and will want to learn to sail soon, would like to have a rescue boat. We also want to whiz over the IoW to visit friends.

We were coming around the idea of a 6 - 6.5m boat preferably loads of seating but only have a budget of about £10K. Some of the 'commercial' sellers have been very unhelpful sailing that we cannot possibly expect to buy a boat for this amount - I don't want a new one just a reliable one.

I have found one: Humber 6.5m Rib. professionally retubed 2006, Engine 2003 Volvo Penta 4.3 GS, V6 petrol with duo prop outdrive. Very fast, excellent for diving, wakeboarding, skiing or just plain fun. Fishfinder, nav. Lights. Bilge pump, all over cover,anchor, on trailer, new antifouling, ready to go for the season within our budget - does anybody have any views on the boat.

I have also been told scare stories about running costs for ribs and that £100-£200 for a day in petrol isn't unheard of. I'm hoping this is only if you are running the thing all day at full pelt - or am I being deluded?

Are there any makes that should be avoided? Is it better to go inboard or outboard?

I am going on a Level 2 powerboat course this weekend so hopefully I will be a little more confident but any advice would be welcomed..

Help...

[Nasher]

Sarah

Hi, and welcome to Ribnet.

The Humber sounds like a good boat, but the running costs of any Petrol engined RIB will be quite high when you are looking at bigger engines.
To get an idea I would suggest you are looking at using around 2l of fuel per mile or more with that set up.

So it doesn't take long to reach your £100

Nasher

[Sarah G]

Thank you for this. I can understand that. Do inboard engines use more fuel than outboards? Are they more reliable? Is it cheaper to maintain (in the longer term) as I understand outboards have a 'serious' life of 10 years and looking at the costs of those - that worries me?

Thanks again

[codprawn]

Sadly it is quite easy to spend £100 on fuel in a day on a reasonable trip. Just remember that without tax our petrol would STILL only be 32p a litre or so. Diesels are a lot cheaper to run at the moment but that may end soon when you have to stop using untaxed fuel.

Having said that diesels are a lot more to buy so unless you do a lot of hours a year the cost isn't worth it.

If you keep your speed down a bit and drift around fishing etc it is possible to have a nice day out and spend 1/2 that.

I would rather something with an outboard as they are easier to maintain.

[Nos4r2]

There's only one real answer with that budget and not wanting enormous fuel bills on a 6-6.5m

Pac 22.

Here's an example- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...DME:B:AAQ:UK:1

It's either that or buy something smaller.

[Sarah G]

Cool - so boats do exist within our price range then.

Would you want to go to the IoW from say Chichester in anything less than 6.0m?

Sorry woman of many questions?

[codprawn]

As regards outboards vs inboards it is not just the engine you need to consider but the drive leg as well. If the boat is kept in the water I would always try to go for an outboard because it can be lifted right out of the water.

Outboards are also lighter so they tend to use less fuel for the same power and a very important thing to look at is space in the boat. Inboards tend to use a lot of space which often means the back end of the boat is pretty much out of bounds other than as sunbed on top of the engine cover. o9f course it may be different on the Humber you have been looking at - maybe there is a seat each side of the cover or something?

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by Sarah G

Cool - so boats do exist within our price range then.

Would you want to go to the IoW from say Chichester in anything less than 6.0m?

Sorry woman of many questions?

Plenty of people do it in a 4 meter. Even in rough weather.

[codprawn]

There are all sorts of RIBs in your price range - condition is the most important factor.

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F146138/

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/JMM202/

Try JBT - they are nice people to deal with

This one looks ok although a little smaller than you want - a 90hp Honda will be pretty cheap to run!!!

http://www.ribsforsale.com/detail.asp?RefNo=7824300

[Nos4r2]

Personally I wouldn't go near a dealer or broker if I was spending £10k. You'll get a significantly better boat privately for that money as there's no dealer's/brokerage markup on it.

Just make sure you take someone who knows what they're doing with you.