What may have caused this??

[jambo]

Originally Posted by Burtox

Well I was going to say you should of bought a Ribcraft but it seems you have!!

I've got a 10 year old ribcraft with the same backrest and I haven't had any problem as I really give the boat a good beating.

It may be worth sending the photo to Ribcraft and seeing whether they can comment to whether there was a batch that suffered from this failure. It may of been an inferior batch of tube.

If you bend it straight, it will probably happen again. Try Ribcraft as I have always found then very helpful.

Burtox beat me to it!1 But as a fellow Ribcraft owner of 13years I would second everything he has said. Phone jace now you know you want to!

J

[Jizm]

Originally Posted by redthunder

They do bend very easily. Most the ribs I have owned have seat rests that have bent or broke at some point there is to much leverage and not enough support. They need another angle of support.

I had a double jockey fitted to my Tornado, it was supplied to me by a very unpopular forum member. That said I towed another boat with no problems using the backrest so can't fault the quality of the stainless work (or the glass). Must have been the thicker stuff.....

[lakelandterrier]

Backrest has definitely not ever been used to tie her up I have warps on A-frame & springs for this & no-one else drives her but me.

Could it have been done earlier & not noticed - I think not, as with the gap between the hand hold & rear seat would have made getting on / off reat seat difficult.


I wonder if some overweight thieving ****** pulled themselves on board using the backrest fro a shufti round the pods / console - all left empty.

RC next port of call, just wondered what thoughts the experts here had first.

LT

[Hightower]

I would say it's your FAT arse that's caused it to bend

It happened on my MK 1 seat back and cracked the weld so that it fell off and ripped my seat cusion

MK 2 is looking rather good however

I think you'll be surprised at the sort of loads a seat back takes as you try to brace yourself for impacts.

Either repair and brace the exsisting seat back by running either a stainless fillet down the bent tube/welding another tube from the grab handle to the base of the seat pod, or remake it with heavier gauge stainless tube.

[Leapy]

Ok, the daughter could have pulled it, but I'd be more thinking the helmsman had pushed it. 7yr minor versus fully grown () adult?

You sure you weren't pushing yourself back into the seat or got thrown against it?

For what it's worth, our RC 5.3 seats look just like yours (apart from the wing backs which don't play a part in the loading we're discussing here)...all straight so far. Just been to check

[gotchiguy]

Originally Posted by BrAinZ

It's funny how your eyes see things, but don't really SEE them

Hearing without listening....the only way for a man to keep himself sane..

[biffer]

don'i really matter how it was done, what really matter's is what are you going to do about it?

[crafty rib]

I own a 2007 6.8m Ribcraft and bought this from new, on my first few trips out one of the backrests bent completely back. Ribcraft replaced this under there warranty. A while later both the front backrests bent back, and after speaking to Ribcraft they agreed to chance them. About two years ago both front rests went again, this time Ribcraft took all rests back and said they replace them with thicker walled tubing. A year ago two rests bent again, after sending them back to Ribcraft they refused to replace them this time and just repaired them and stated that they are not willing to honour any more warranty on my backrests. I am now looking at a way of modifying and strengthening the frame work so that this does not happen again. I have suggested to Ribcraft that they should re-evaluate the strength and any modifications that could be implied to their backrests but they don’t seem to be interested.

[Peter_C]

Double the tubing up for strength? Once bent it will bend again.

[biffer]

There ain't much to stop that happening again. If you are heavy on backrests you'll have to change them for heavier duty ones. The only other thing you could try is to take the bolt lugs off and weld a solid flat bar along the back and bolt through that. My feelings are it will eventually bend above the flat bar

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[willk]

Biff, how about those supporting legs that drop from the back handle to the rear face of the pod? Do they go the distance? As they have no bends, I wondered...

[biffer]

Yep. I see where you're coming from. Some of the RYA boats have them. I'm just thinking of the angles and the fixings. It would help but it's not ideal
I look at most things as time which in turn is money. Time I messed about sorting that out I could have bent up a 32mm hoop and gone back in the same holes and sold on the originals
I do understand that a lot on here have a budget but quality only costs once. It's like buying cheap shoes. They look good for a while then fall to bits. Good shoes will last forever
I've had the same with lots of stuff. Drills grinder. Welders. Even hacksaw blades they all work for a while

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[Leapy]

Looking at your original picture again I'd say that your SS tubes don't look as substantial as those on my 3yr old RC 5.3.

Biffer's right...do a quality job and then forget.

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by willk

Biff, how about those supporting legs that drop from the back handle to the rear face of the pod? Do they go the distance? As they have no bends, I wondered...

I've seen some of this style made in 7/8" OD tube.

[lakelandterrier]

[QUOTE=Leapy;432122]Looking at your original picture again I'd say that your SS tubes don't look as substantial as those on my 3yr old RC 5.3.

They should be - are - standard RC fittings.
They've always seemed strong, hence the original question what could have caused the damage bearing in mind it was fine last trip of the season, itwas flat calm, 7 there's been no backrest abuse from me!

Will sort a repair out over winter