Building RIBs

[cap]

Me and a fellow builded two 5m ribs from "bottom off". We moulded the hull and made the tube and also made the outfit of the boat as well as design and other stuff.

We are very pleased with the result, as the perform around 36 knots with 50 hk and has been driven in pretty rough sea without any problems. Also the tubes as not in regular neoprene/hypalon but rather in pvc (as zodiaz/bombard). They contain some inner tubes inserted through a zipper, the inner tubes is completly heated togther and made in plastitane (don't know how to spell it), which is 100% air tight. We haven't "refilled" the tubes since we builded the boat, and the pressure is still the same.

We are currently setting up a project on building 2 new ribs, this time like 6-6,5m long and with a sleeping cabine in front of the console (like Nimbus, Aquador, and other GRP-boats).

I'm very interested in people having experince from building ribs or normal grp-boats, or experience with hulls (have to find a good hull, seaworthiness counts more than top speed so a deep-V is needed, and I mean DEEP!).

Also I'm interested if you have thoughts in the driving arrangement, planning to have some custom made chairs that you stand in, that just gives your back a little support.

Anyway as you can see I'm interested in anything regarding RIBs, so please write to me on anything

(an excuse on my bad english, I'm from Norway, hehe )

[John Kennett]

Sounds like quite a project you are planning! Do you have any photos of the RIBs you made?

You will probably find more information about boat building generally on the rec.boats newsgroup.

Your idea for the seats sounds good, but I still think that the best type is the stand astride "jockey" seat. When you are standing up then back support isn't as important as when you are sitting down.

Alan Priddy at Offshore Expeditions designed a good variation where the seat pods are narrower than usual (roughly 20cm across at the top), so you're not forced to stand with your feet too far apart. The seat cushions are like oversize bicycle saddles, withthe front section the same width as the seat pod, but the back part much wider to give you something comfortable to sit on.

Let us know how you get on (and don't worry about your English, it's certainly better than my Norwegian)!

John



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John Kennett
RIBnet