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Old 15 August 2008, 11:22   #1
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Small Rib for skiing - Question on buying

Hello,

We are looking to buy a cheap Rib just for occasional messing about in decent weather on an estuary and near the shore in open water. We want to do nothing more than pull a donut or a single skiier.

We have spotted a clean looking 3.6m Rib for £2500 which has a 25/30 HP Engine at http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F188512 which fits our budget. The owner claims it will seat 4 to 5 and can pull a skiier using a stainless steel eye on the rear of the transom.

Being used to rigid boats this sounds very low power for pulling up a skiier but I am aware that Ribs don't need the HP that rigids do.

Can anyone give me an opinion as to wether 25/30HP sounds enough or any general opinions on the advert?

Many thanks for any help.

Mark
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Old 15 August 2008, 13:03   #2
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It might just about pull out a very light skier with 2 people on board....that's about it I'm afraid.
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Old 15 August 2008, 13:06   #3
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Basic rule of thumb if you need about 18mph for beginner skiers, and about 26mph for mono skiers. There's no way that horsepower will pull up a mono skier but I reckon you'd have enough guts for 1 skier on 2 skis... You won't have much though.

If you want to just do recreational skiing then a 50hp is the minimum really, ideally more.
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Old 15 August 2008, 13:14   #4
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Thank you both for the replies. We will only want to pull a single skiier on 2 skis with 2 people in the boat. As for light skiiers, well I'm 15 stone so it may struggle. Shame as it looks a lovely clean boat.
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Old 15 August 2008, 13:26   #5
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Actually, while I'm asking daft questions!!!!

A RIB this small, would it be possible to launch and recover by hand (by 2 semi fit blokes) on a slipway rather than bring a car with tow bar each time?That would be nice!
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Old 15 August 2008, 14:33   #6
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It would be easy enough to use a solid object to anchor the trailer to via rope and launch this way -many do this with much larger boats.
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Old 15 August 2008, 14:35   #7
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Actually, while I'm asking daft questions!!!!

A RIB this small, would it be possible to launch and recover by hand (by 2 semi fit blokes) on a slipway rather than bring a car with tow bar each time?That would be nice!
its about the same size as my boat so I think you would struggle to do this if the slip is steep or slippery - but in theory you could probably manage it - assume the trailer is unbraked though - so you need to work out how you stop 1/2 a ton of trailer/boat/engine sliding down the slip if you need a rest.

OH and my top speed with 20HP 2 stroke on a roughly similar sized boat without optimising the prop is 22 knots with 1 up, so I think you should get a bit more than that.
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Old 15 August 2008, 14:52   #8
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From Experience ... 20/25hp definitely not enough. I have skied on a 14ft Nouvarana RIB with a 40HP and once owned a 4 Metre Avon Searider with a 50HP and would say that your minimum requirements are a 4 Metre boat with a minimum of a 40HP Engine
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Old 15 August 2008, 20:04   #9
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Hello,

We are looking to buy a cheap Rib just for occasional messing about in decent weather on an estuary and near the shore in open water. We want to do nothing more than pull a donut or a single skiier.

We have spotted a clean looking 3.6m Rib for £2500 which has a 25/30 HP Engine at http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/view/F188512 which fits our budget. The owner claims it will seat 4 to 5 and can pull a skiier using a stainless steel eye on the rear of the transom.

Being used to rigid boats this sounds very low power for pulling up a skiier but I am aware that Ribs don't need the HP that rigids do.

Can anyone give me an opinion as to wether 25/30HP sounds enough or any general opinions on the advert?

Many thanks for any help.

Mark
I have a small rib which my son uses but we also use this for waterskiing.It is a flatacraft force three and has only a 15hp mariner,suprising to most people and we have wiped the smiles off peoples faces when we pull a skier out.So in my opinion 30hp would be fine.
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Old 15 August 2008, 21:06   #10
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I'd suggest you go for a 4m Searider with a 50hp - it will do the job, no problem. This one only made £3k and it knocks spots off that twatsoo, despite being a bit older:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=010
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Old 15 August 2008, 21:43   #11
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I'd suggest you go for a 4m Searider with a 50hp - it will do the job, no problem. This one only made £3k and it knocks spots off that twatsoo, despite being a bit older:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=010
Looks like a bargain to me ... good package and trust me ... if you buy a smaller one it wont be long before your upgrading. I started with one of these, had 3 others and am now looking for a 7.5m 250HP
The Avon is an excellent all round package for what you want. I even managed a deepwater start on mono with mine (you do need to be good at holding your breath though )
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Old 16 August 2008, 09:35   #12
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..... I even managed a deepwater start on mono with mine (you do need to be good at holding your breath though )
Yep - been there
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Old 19 August 2008, 00:53   #13
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4m Searider on ebay

Another one here with a Yam 50. Would make a good boat, once the folding seats were chucked out and the A-frame 'reprofiled':

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Avon-Searider-...d=p3286.c0.m14
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Old 19 August 2008, 08:40   #14
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Thank you everyone for the varied and interesting replies.

Having looked at the RIB and looked into the issue of towing a skiier I found it to be in near perfect condition, not a mark on it. It pulls a single skiier no problem at all (much to my surprise) so I have bought it.

Will be chugging around Teignmouth/Torquay over the coming weeks complete with squealing kids on the donut!

Thanks for all your help
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Old 19 August 2008, 08:59   #15
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Glad you found the experience and advice from this forum useful
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