hello and help please

[g1977]

hello! Can anyone point me to some good posts about how to get started I.e. Once I have the boat, what I need in terms of insurance, qualification and where I can launch the boat on the southcoast and park the car with the trailer on etc, sorry if they are stupid questions

[C2 RIBS]

Welcome, here are a few pointers
Launching- try- boatlaunch on RIBnet
Second hand ideas- http://www.rib.net/forum/f8/how-do-i...and-44499.html
Insurance- http://www.rib.net/forum/f8/rib-insurance-44475.html

I missed qualifications- Most will suggest PB2 (Powerboat level 2) which is an excellent start with loads of options afterwards- our trade members will be able to offer courses
Loads more on search bar above, enjoy plenty of excellent write ups. Seconds hand boats also on RIBs for sale section

[Erin]

You don't need any qualifications to own and use a boat. However you'd be a bit foolhardy if you had no qualifications or experience.

You may need insurance to comply with harbour bye-laws but again not necessarily a legal requirement to go to sea.

I would recommend insurance, a radio licence to be able to operate a marine VHF legally and one of the RYA powerboating courses if you are new or inexperienced.

[The Slug]

Hello and welcome. I'm also fairly new to ribbing so not that experienced but i guess the best advice i could offer is to make sure the boat you buy has the orininal purchase invoice and check that all the hull and engine numbers still exist. lots of stolen boats advertised as I naively found out the hard way

[Nathan k]

Hi, welcome to the forum

I'd recomend a RYA Powerboat two course. they are great value, great fun and give you good basic understanding of boating.

Where I launch you pay for the trailer as one parking spot and the car as another. of course you need to clamp it and ideally use a hitch lock as well.

Insurance is a must have considering the amount of thefts these days. a clamp and outboard must be left on otherwise a payout will be unlikely.

I don't know your budget but try and get a boat as complete as possible, the costs will soon rack up otherwise (atleast for me, i can't stop adding things )

Agian i don't know your budget but don't under estimate other costs like lifejackets, clothes, fuel, training, maintanence. most can be kept relatively cheap though if you hunt around bit

Training wise you will need to do a VHF course. depending on what you are planning to do other courses like intermediate (day cruising) might be worth it. in theory you don't have to do any training or even get insurance but it's not really worth the risk.

Good luck
Nathan

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Nathan k

Training wise you will need to do a VHF course.

I am going to be contraversial and suggest that whilst legally it is "required" I would prioritise it far below the PB2 course:

- there is an argument that you could carry a radio and only use it in an emergency. I'm not necessarily advocating this as you don't want to be learning how to use it in the middle of a crisis
- the course is not rocket science and you probably won't learn much you can't get just by buying the handbook/notes.
- you could be better than average just from leading the book.
- checks are very rare in the UK, especially since ships licenses became free.

Some people think it is a good course - but I'd guess well over 1/2 the people are attending because they "have to" rather than want/need to - if it became optional attendance figures would fall dramatically;

By all means do the course - but probably don't wait to go to sea till you've done it - and even if it is the winter after your first season you are probably better than most!

[SPR]

depend who's running the VHF course, I hope mine are informative and fun!

Nothing beats practice talking to over the demo radios , finding out what happens when you press the red button, etc,

At the club most members that are boaters have been on the course now. Think between the trainers we trained about 40 -60 people , eeeek! equates to 10 courses in 4 years that's about right! eeeek! we only run with 6 max.

4 -5 years ago, you would been lucky to find 4 members.

Making courses accessible to people is prob one of the good things!

But 100% behind get your PB2 first, but then again VHF is a nice winter course!

S.

[9D280]

Welcome,

+1 for the PB2.

Regarding insurance, if, for example your boat is not a shiny new whatever with a gleaming 200Hp latest engine on the back, there is a good argument for 3rd party. Not only does it keep the cost down, but also meand that - perish the thought- you ever hurt someone or break soemeone else's boat with your new toy...... I've found 3rd party seems to be a fairly linear cost to horespower relationship.

As for the rest, the forum is here to read.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by 9D280

Regarding insurance, if, for example your boat is not a shiny new whatever with a gleaming 200Hp latest engine on the back, there is a good argument for 3rd party. Not only does it keep the cost down, but also meand that - perish the thought- you ever hurt someone or break soemeone else's boat with your new toy...... I've found 3rd party seems to be a fairly linear cost to horespower relationship.

I've not done any exhaustive investigation - but I think the 3rd party risks are the substantial cost element of any policy. Certainly I've had 3rd party only quotes which were less than 20% cheaper than theft and gearbox cover etc.