Proud owner of a Bombard Aerotec 380

bigscott · 22 May 2011, 13:29

Finally bit the bullet and got myself a BA380 and man what a sib!!!!!!

With 40st on board and the 25hp on the back we clocked 24mph

It handles well in the lumpy stuff and without an ali floor to add weight its also the lightest boat ive ever had.

Theres a few things i need to fix, the bolts on the launch wheels need replacing and so do the diaphragms on the bailers. The floor has a patch which needs repatching. other than that its in tip top condition.

Bought a bravo pump which is an unbelievable bit of kit and has the sib ready for action in 10 minutes

My only gripe is once the floor goes flat ( from the bad patch) the sib loses its good handling and cavitates badly

Happy sibing

PeterM · 22 May 2011, 16:52

Great Stuff ! I wimped out today . Thinking 40knt gusts is not ideal for a 1st trip out ...

Instead I made a seat ... go to love powertools ! A bit of spare black paint .. all sorted !

1st trip now next Sunday !

bigscott · 22 May 2011, 17:00

Nice job on the seat Pete

Is that a kayak trolly you use to launch?

matt h · 22 May 2011, 20:45

superb pete, nice one

PeterM · 23 May 2011, 07:51

well I'm dead envious of anyone using their 380 when i am just filling mine with stuff to use later. It is a kayak trolley. I used it to move the boat in and out of the garage, but dont think it will cope with the weight of the motor too! Roll on sunday 29th! poole harbour speed limits watch out!

MattB · 24 May 2011, 18:44

Looks like Big Scot got that grey one on ebay from a couple of weeks back. I was put off by the patched floor. They sent me a picture of the patch and it looked badly done. They did say that it had been blown up for a few days without any loss of pressure but if you have found it going down in a day I think they may have been elaborating on the truth!

PeterM · 24 May 2011, 22:27

I think the grey looks very nice. Given what Nasher has patched on his anything is fixable. Just a bit of time and thought and sure it will hold air fine.

bigscott · 25 May 2011, 16:20

Hi MattB Yeah the seller wasnt completely honest the floor stays up for less than half hour. Im tempted to send it to tilly to get repaired as theres a bit of glueing that also needs doing. That said the rest of the boat is in as new condition

Mytac · 31 August 2015, 16:38

Hi all, Hope you dont mind me chipping in but I have just bought my forst ever boat, and shes a beaut.... a BA380 also in Red. Still lots to lear, but deflated her today for the winter, but I am sure I wont be able to resist that 25hp as soon as the sun comes out. Hope to get to know you all..

Nick Hearne · 31 August 2015, 17:20

Nice one, but deflated her for winter

it,s still summer you know and we have some of the best boating weather of the year coming up

Mytac · 31 August 2015, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Nice one, but deflated her for winter

it,s still summer you know and we have some of the best boating weather of the year coming up

hahaha,,, good point,, To be fair, I do hope to get a few good days out in her yet,,,

Fenlander · 31 August 2015, 18:32

>>> I do hope to get a few good days out in her yet

Yep have it at the ready for another month or so. Our Aerotec is on standby for a good weather/tide time combination... a combination that a week ago was supposed to be today... but it rained all day... oh well.

Amukinado · 05 September 2015, 09:03

How big is the boat inside the bag when folded? Do you happen to have a pic?

Fenlander · 05 September 2015, 09:41

The makers say the packed dimension is... 115 x 72 x 39cm.

I have two here and I've just measured them. They always pack a little different each time you put them away and this time they are 110 x 66 x 34 cm and 105 x 64 x 38 cm.

Image with a standard Quicksilver 20 litre fuel tank beside it to give an idea of scale. This is the one packed to 110 x 66 x 34 cm.

Amukinado · 05 September 2015, 10:51

That is very compact compared to my Suzumar 320 without the wood floor. I get the impression that this is the lightest and most portable decente size sib out there, which is interesting to me. I just don't know how I can get my hands on one as there is no dealer in Portugal.
Do you think that the Aerotec's weight compromises it's reliability?

Fenlander · 05 September 2015, 11:16

>>>Do you think that the Aerotec's weight compromises it's reliability?

No not at all.

At over £2300 new in the UK it's about 60% higher price than other similar size Zodiac air floor models so is obviously a premium model. Having owned examples of Aerotecs and other Zodiac air floors the Aerotec is obviously better built in terms of design, fittings and a very strong transom.

I have a new Aerotec and a 17yr old one at the moment. The tubes have lasted perfectly on the 17yr old one... the only issues have been the usual Zodiac glued seam failure in some small areas... this can come at anything over 12yrs old in any Zodiac... even the most expensive Futura models.

So as long as you are OK with the rather narrow V-floor interior I'd say there are no downsides to the lightweight air floor build of the Aerotec.

kaman · 06 September 2015, 00:01

In my opinion the Aero tech is a good Sib.
There is no doubt it has a keen following on here but.......
I think it is vastly over rated and over priced.
Plenty other sibs out there that can go toe to toe with it at a fraction of the price.
Granted these sibs to which I refer may well take longer to set up and be less portable - you pay your money you take your choice.
The big negative for me is the concave shape of the aerotech floor.
If money were no object I'd have one - but not high on my limited budget for a replacemeny for my Honwave at the moment.
Similar sized rib with aluminium hull would spank it rotten in a chop☺

Fenlander · 06 September 2015, 07:41

>>>I think it is vastly over rated and over priced.
>>>If money were no object I'd have one

Somewhat mixed messages there!

>>>The big negative for me is the concave shape of the aerotech floor.

That's a fair point and a personal use/circumstance thing. Until this year we had the need for a mostly flat floor so an Aerotec was off the list and one of the best SIBs we had for that period was our Honwave 3.5AE like yours... so roomy and stable... amazing value too. But circumstances have changed hence we've been able to trial an Aerotec and decide if it's what we want for the next "X" years into the future.

>>>Plenty other sibs out there that can go toe to toe with it at a fraction of the price.

Hmm not sure that's true if you consider keeping on the plane in difficult sea conditions a priority. We've owned 7 SIBs over the past few years and the Aerotec is the only one that has been able to keep going at speed into a nasty chop or a larger sea with any degree of safety or comfort. They also have a far more progressive way of going onto the plane than any other SIB I've used which is very useful if you need to manoeuvre on/off the plane in very difficult sea state.

>>>Similar sized rib with aluminium hull would spank it rotten in a chop☺

A heavier, deep V, proper RIB with a big engine would... but I've also owned sporty GRP fast fishing boats in the 12-16ft range with a more conventional deep V at the bow/flatter at stern similar to most current small alloy floor RIBs and the Aerotec has a softer ride than those.

So your spanking by a small alloy floor RIB would only happen if there is one with a constant deep V bow to stern.... but of course it wouldn't roll up and fit into the car at the end of the day.

Fenlander · 06 September 2015, 07:55

BTW I was wary of the constant Aerotec praise on here... I always knew they were quite sporty but wanted to be sure they had real advantages for our specific use.

So I didn't just accept the hype. For a fair trial we bought a used one and took it on holiday for two weeks (Scottish west coast) to use alongside our existing Zodiac 340 Acti-V with the HP floor/keel.

Over several trips in often very bumpy conditions the difference really was chalk and cheese.

Max... · 06 September 2015, 08:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaman

In my opinion the Aero tech is a good Sib.
There is no doubt it has a keen following on here but.......
I think it is vastly over rated and over priced.
Plenty other sibs out there that can go toe to toe with it at a fraction of the price.
Granted these sibs to which I refer may well take longer to set up and be less portable - you pay your money you take your choice.
The big negative for me is the concave shape of the aerotech floor.
If money were no object I'd have one - but not high on my limited budget for a replacemeny for my Honwave at the moment.
Similar sized rib with aluminium hull would spank it rotten in a chop☺

With respect that is total bollox.

Have you actually tried one? Like Fenlander I've had many different SIB's and nothing comes close to the Aerotec in typical UK conditions.

The floor shape is the reason it performs better than any other SIB (and works much better inside too for bracing against and getting you lower in the boat - it's a performance SIB). An alloy floor or FRIB or whatever will perform no better as they have such shallow hulls and none have the deeper V that extends all the way to the transom.

Nothing, even the Aerotec will perform like a proper (Searider) RIB as they don't have the weight but the next best thing in SIB land is undoubtably the Aerotec.

Plenty of bargains out there two, check the SIB's on ebay topic, two or three in the last month with engine well under £2k.