XS or Destroyer

[K&S]

Originally Posted by Pablo

For info, Barnet was already selling XS ribs whilst they were still selling Tornado. Apparently the build quality is exceptional but the hull design is very different to that of Tornados.

One thing i have noticed is the lack of chine walk, which seemed to be noticeable in the tornado 5.8 and 6.5m when trimmed up.

Could be many reasons for this and its early days for us, perhaps a seasoned owner could verify

[JIY]

XS ribs are built in the UK, in Hull to be precise.

Tornado have moved production to China.

The Director of Barnet Marine (Laurence Lock) was a Director of Tornado until last year and is a Director of XS Ribs.

XS was originally supposed to supplement Tornado.

The XS750/850/990 are a development of the Tornado 7.5/8.5/9.5, but have been significantly improved upon.

PU tubes are excellent, but I don't want to get into that argument again!

I can vouch for their superb build quality and also excellent sales and after sales service.

My new XS850 is a huge improvement on my old 8.5 Tornado!

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by JIY

...My new XS850 is a huge improvment on my old 8.5 Tornado!

Tell us more.

[JIY]

Hi Jeff,

The XS850 handles the short, steep Clyde chop with ease. The ride is less jarring than the 8.5 Tornado and the turning ability is fantastic, no sign of bow steering and absolutely no tendency to skip out of the turn, even with the motors trimmed up a little. The stern tubes just touch the water at rest, so there is no "rock and roll" when people move about the boat (my 7.5 Tornado was terrible at rest) and absolutely no chine walk at WOT.

I expected the boat to seem more flighty than the 10m Humbers I drive commercially, but I was very suprised to discover that it is even more sure-footed. Two of my fellow Humber Skippers have also been out on my new boat and they both commented that they would prefer to be on my boat than a big Humber in the rough stuff.

The digital throttle and shift, coupled with the electro-hydraulic steering make the boat a joy to helm, it is very precise and you can balance the boat with ease. XS have also got the seating/steering/throttle positioning spot on, and the high capacity console with windscreen give a lot of weather protection.

The new 4 cylinder 200hp Verados are significantly more economical than the 6 cylinder version, I'm seeing about 60 litres/hour at 32 knots with 300 litres fuel and four persons aboard. Mind you, it doesn't half hurt to pay for my own fuel at £1.12/litre!

I know that we all naturally extol the virtues of the boat that we currently own, but I'm honestly very, very impressed with the XS850, it is much more capable than I imagined.

Of course, it doesn't have a wheelhouse!

Jim

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by JIY

...Two of my fellow Humber Skippers have also been out on my new boat and they both commented that they would prefer to be on my boat than a big Humber in the rough stuff.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION......

It sounds a good boat.

[JIY]

Originally Posted by jwalker

TOO MUCH INFORMATION......

It sounds a good boat.

Well they are both Airbus pilots, so perhaps the digital throttle is the real attraction!

[TonyC]

We had the same decision to make last month. In the end we went with XS over the Destroyer for much the same reasons that others have stated.

I can't wait for our new XS to be delivered next week (or the week after) and take it out on a few sea trials

My experience so far with XS and Laurence has been superb, and if they meet the deadline of the end of the month for delivery, i'd give them a 11/10 for customer service (5 week instead of 12 week turnaround due to end of financial year)

[Mr Flibble]

OK now I'm starting to get carried away with myself. I'm now looking longingly at the 5.5m XS with delux kit (hydrolic steering, underfloor cabling etc). Appears that the 5.4m and 5.5m have different hull forms but both have the same draft (50cm). Anyone know the difference? Another sleepless night for me.

[Trolli]

Buy RIBCRAFT....makes you sleep well again!

[Mr Flibble]

Nice but too pricey.

[BruceB]

I did consider Ribcraft but the price put me off too. Instead i just got my destroyer built with the additions like underfloor trunk and bought the steering myself to fit cheap, £234 for a baystar system....

[mdt]

Originally Posted by Mr Flibble

OK now I'm starting to get carried away with myself. I'm now looking longingly at the 5.5m XS with delux kit (hydrolic steering, underfloor cabling etc). Appears that the 5.4m and 5.5m have different hull forms but both have the same draft (50cm). Anyone know the difference? Another sleepless night for me.

from what I remember the 5.5 is quite a bit wider in the beam than the 5.4, you can't get the wide dule seat console into the 5.4 and the 5.5 has a deeper V in the hull dead rise. think the 5.5 also has a plaining pad where the 5.4 dose not.

[BruceB]

Anyway, even once you decide you will have lots of sleepless nights wondering if you have bought the right hull and thinking on whether you should call the factory and make it bigger/smaller/different/more options/less options....... ad infinitum until it arrives.
Then it is perfect until you start comparing it to other boats (just like a year or two after getting married) and thinking maybe I should have bought one of them instead etc etc.
Basically if you want to perfectly happy with you boat choice , don't pick one!

[ashbypower]

Originally Posted by Mr Flibble

OK now I'm starting to get carried away with myself. I'm now looking longingly at the 5.5m XS with delux kit (hydrolic steering, underfloor cabling etc). Appears that the 5.4m and 5.5m have different hull forms but both have the same draft (50cm). Anyone know the difference? Another sleepless night for me.

Sitting here looking a our 5.5 I can say that 5.4 has a slightly shallower V and a 2.4m beam. The 5.5 a deeper V and 2.6m beam with no planning pad. The 5.5 is a brilliant boat for it's size ours has done 3 faultless years training with (hopefully) many more to come