Would you buy a second hand RIB for a dive club.

nickjaxe · 23 July 2004, 21:37

Hi all I belong to a sub aqua club and we need a new boat, we have 2x5mtr RIBs at present that are to small for the size of our club and to old, they need constant work to keep them going, so the idea is to sell both of them and have one big boat, we are in the process of applying for a lottery grant, but I dont think they hand them out as willingly as they did once, any way if we have no luck with the grant the next coarse of action may be to think about getting a second hand RIB, what do you guys think about a sub aqua club buying second hand, and if we did go down that road, do we go private or from a dealer, the size of boat we are thinking of needs to carry a max of 8 divers and full kit, we thought about 6 to 6.5 mtr would that be big enough for 8 divers and kit, what size engine would we need for a boat of that size and load.

Regards Nick.

Jizm · 24 July 2004, 07:16

We used to regulaly use a 5.8 tornado with a yamaha 90 for six divers plus driver. I remember it was on the limit with not a lot of room to spare but the boat still went and handled ok. You will get a better deal privately but beware of fraudsters, since the boat you are needing is going to be large and expensive get some expert advice from somewhere like Andark diving in hamble, they will know what sort of thing you need and point you in the right direction (they don't sell boats). I think you are right to aim for about 6.5 metres or more, go for deisel if you can afford it!
regards

Rupert Bear · 24 July 2004, 14:21

We used to use a 5.8 Humber Destroyer, 6m Northcraft and a 6m Osprey for 8 divers and kit (all with two cylinders) and were adequate but the boat at that length needs to be fairly broad beamed.
The size of boat you need really depends on how much money you have and were and how you dive. The 6.5m+ boat can be a real pain because you then need a large 4x4 to move it rather than a medium sized car, you need lots of folk to go to make it cheap enough to run and maintenance costs are higher.
On the other hand the seakeeping qualities will be better if you are diving offshore or have a large active membership that will fill it all the time so you will need the larger hull.
Basically if you make the wrong choice you can end up not being able to use it very much either because three of you can't afford to pay to take it out cos its too big or it isn't big enough for the conditions.....................

tue · 24 July 2004, 16:59

We have a 5.8m Delta as our main club dive boat. We can just get 6 single set divers in it and still make it plane. We also have a 5.5m Avon which will take 6 more comfortably and handle better, plus we have a 4.5m Humber inflatable which is good for 4 divers inshore diving. My 6.5m RIB is going to be used to carry 8 twin setted divers for further offshore trips (eddystone, Scilly isles etc). And at the moment looks as though it carry that number very comfortably.

nickjaxe · 24 July 2004, 17:03

Thanks guys some interesting points you come up with, jim the 5.8 tornado you ran what size engine did you have on it,

RB we were thinking of a humber ourselves, I see you ran a 5.8, what engine did you have on it, when I have seen humbers out on the water they always look a bit on the narrow side to me or am I mistaken, generaly how do you rate the humber cos that the type we are looking at, what about your ospray again what size engine, my last club had a 5.8 ospray nice boat very beamey had twin 60s, how did you find it for room with 8 up all with full kit, what we need is a boat big enough for 8 and room to kit up, some of our guys are talking about an 8 bottle rack but to me that will take up to much room, engine wise what minimum size would we need but it does what to be on top of the job, what do you think guys.

We do have a fair few 4X4s in the club so towing should be ok and we normaly get a tractor launch.

Nick.

tue · 24 July 2004, 18:09

I did my diveleader training with another local club on their Humber 5.8m Destroyer. It had a 100hp Yamaha 4 stoke. It was ok, but a few things I didn't like.

It had a bottle rack mounted to the back of the jockey console. As the Desroyer is not a wide boat this cut down on the space for kitting up and only 2 divers could kit up confortably while the other 2 had to struggle by the rack. Also if you were to put 8 divers on it I think you would very quickly run out of space. The bottle rack also made it difficult to lie a casualty out flat in an emergency and you end up throwing all the kit in the bow.

IMHO for 8 divers you should be looking at 6.5m ish boat with at least 125hp if not 150hp or more. The 6.3m Humber Ocean Pro looks like a good boat. I was looking at getting one before I bought the my Ribtec. With its fairly wide beam you can kit up the tubes and almost not have your fins touching the other guy. Plus for the money I think they are quite reasonable RIBS.

Nick Hearne · 24 July 2004, 20:53

Hi I have a Osprey Viper 5.75 with a 100 hp Johnson on it, it will cope very well with 6 divers with 2 cylinders divers possible but it dose get a bit crowded! Never went for a bottle rack as we always prefer clear deck space!
Built like a brick s**t house.
Nick

Rupert Bear · 24 July 2004, 22:48

The 5.8m Destroyer had a 125HP 2 stroke on it. It has to be the best handling dive boat I have ever driven, balance, turning ability and stability were absolutely fantastic. I admit that I would be tempted by the Ocean Pro now though.
Had an 6m Osprey with a 175Hp Mariner 2 stroke and although it was slightly beamier it handled like a pig. Constantly shipped water over the transom and slow speed straight line stability was rubbish as the hull was relatively shallow V.
The Northcraft 6M with the 150Hp was a nice handling boat and fairly wide but we had some build quality issues with it. The tubes started coming off and the fibreglass work was very flimsy.
All these boats had 8 cylinder racks and took 8 fully kitted divers around the Forth and Clyde with the odd jaunt up the West coast, no real offshore work more than 6-8miles.
I agree about the rack taking up space and never fitted one to my 5.3m when I fitted out but in hindsight I am sourcing one now. It is irrelevant more than two divers kitting up on my boat cos we only go out with a max of 4 so the rack will actually save space.

I can't understand why a 5.5m would struggle to get on the plane with six single setted divers unless it was over propped or seriously underpowered. My 5.3m has only 60HP and even with 4 twinsetted divers, 75l of fuel, shots/anchors and everything else still cruises at 24 knots!

Simon B · 26 July 2004, 08:37

The ultimate dive rib, close to my heart; not mentioned yet has been the wasteful fitting of double jockeys to dive ribs, in that they are used to house a large built-in above floor tank menaing they can be long but no-one in a our dive sits on them as it looks like your either a softy or its favouritism.

I'd rather have a single jockey for the cox and use the space thus bringing the bottle rack forward which can help with the planning. Our Delta 5.5m with 100hp yam 4 is way overpropped doesnt plane easily but will get sorted. We learnt a bit late that its a bit of a heavyweight (engine) so consider this carefully.

Ive dived out of Ribcraft in Ireland and was impressed with the beam and the handling. Going second hand means looking a lot harder rather than speccing something spot on. If you are after a grant it really needs a business plan and a project that requires the "new" resource so cannot be used to replace old equipment. Hope this helps, will post more when I remember it.

thorper · 26 July 2004, 09:23

Nick

Give Laurence Lock at Barnet Marine a call (www.ribs.co.uk) He's sold a lot of dive club boats in the past (tornados and xs-ribs) and might be able to do you a deal - he is pushing to get the xs-ribs into the dive club space at the moment.

Ricky

Rene · 26 July 2004, 11:08

HI

I used to take 8 divers out in my Osprey 5.95, with the 115 Hp on the back we cound not get it to plane, but with a 150 HP Vmax on the back it went fine, but a bit crowded.

Osprey is like Nick said built like a Brick, you won't do wrong buying an Osprey.

And the Viper range is quiet wide giving a lot of deck space for divers and kit.

Rene

Nick Hearne · 26 July 2004, 12:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rene

HI

I used to take 8 divers out in my Osprey 5.95, with the 115 Hp on the back we cound not get it to plane, but with a 150 HP Vmax on the back it went fine, but a bit crowded.

Osprey is like Nick said built like a Brick, you won't do wrong buying an Osprey.

And the Viper range is quiet wide giving a lot of deck space for divers and kit.

Rene

Rene have you sold your Viper?
Nick

Nick Hearne · 26 July 2004, 12:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rupert Bear

Had an 6m Osprey with a 175Hp Mariner 2 stroke and although it was slightly beamier it handled like a pig. Constantly shipped water over the transom and slow speed straight line stability was rubbish as the hull was relatively shallow V.

I take it it was not a Viper? Whick modle was it?
Nick

Mosser · 26 July 2004, 15:45

Our club has a 6m+ (never actually measured it, but someone mentioned 6.2m once...might be 6.4m) with a 120 two stroke on the back and it takes 8 divers and kit. It performs quite well with this setup expect for being heavy on fuel. We tend not to take second bottles out. I could imagine anything less than 6m as being a tight fit for eight divers. Keep in mind the internal beam as there are some narrow boats out there.

Mosser · 26 July 2004, 15:47

...forgot to mention, it was bought second hand. Then again, there are some handy types in the club here so she was cleaned up nicely at minimum expense.

As I recall, it cost 5k (sterling)...brought in from the England.

Rogue Wave · 26 July 2004, 16:48

Dive Ribs is something I know little about so can't speak eruditely. Buying secondhand Ribs is something I do know about so heres my sixpenneth.

You don't want to buy a rib from a dive club (it's likely to have been hammered) but there are many fine rbs out there on the seconhand market.

meke sure the Hull is intact, if it's antifouled and hasn't been kept in the water ask yourself why.

The engine needs to have a service history, if it hasnt sell it on and buy a new one providing you want the hull and the price is cool.

You want the seats to be demountable easily as you are likely to rip em out

you also need to steer clearof the sports makers, scorpion revenger ribeye Falcon etc. Other makes to consider would be Avon. Halmatic, Flatacraft all make very sturdy ribs

Simon Hawkins · 26 July 2004, 19:43

May i also suggest Ribcraft and Tornado as they are good load carriers and seaworthy boats.

Rupert Bear · 26 July 2004, 22:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

You don't want to buy a rib from a dive club (it's likely to have been hammered) but there are many fine rbs out there on the seconhand market.

I agree with this, a club will only sell on a boat for two reasons generally
1. they have a grant to buy a bigger one. OR
2. the old one is knackered and will start costing money to maintain or fix.

The Osprey that was rubbish in our club? Don't know the model type other than it was an Osprey, was 6m long and was bought new around 7-8 years ago and went some years ago.

Simon B · 27 July 2004, 07:53

An Eagle at a guess if it has a hard nose, we've got one in our club (5.25?) its a narrow boat for diving with a cluttered floor area. However its eminently seaworthy and goes quite well with 75 on the back.

If you intend to buy the boat on a trailer familiarise yourself with them they are parts dive clubs spend most time sorting out. Make sure its got readily available parts that are cheap some arent knott seals at £4 - £8 each etc etc.

Rene · 27 July 2004, 09:23

Hi Nick

No I havn't sold the Osprey yet, but I am considering it. I have a friend who post here as HAL, he is trying to fix up the boat, as it's been used a lot during the last 4-5 years.

Regarding Tornado, I thougt they where a bit to narrow to be a really good dive rib. I have been out in a around 6 meter, and there is not as much deckspace as the Osprey Viper. In the Viper we cound stuff 8 divers (not muck room left), but in the Tornado only 6 divers and the divegear was just put on top of eachother.

Rene