Sea Scout RIB - a refresh.

[Richardnhunt]

Our Sea Scouts is based on the Thames, but also runs at various coastal locations. Whilst we have occasionally had SIBs in the past, we have never owned a RIB ourselves, but have taken the decision to add one to the fleet over the last couple of years, which finally turned into budget this year!

The aim of the boat is to both be used for safety cover (our own events plus things like the Great River Race were we are already involved and our sister group's RIB has been in the safety fleet), as well as developing top end training activities for our older Explorer Scouts.

With the help of a number of people, including Chris, Daniel and Peter, all of this parish, we have located and purchased a Ribcraft 4.8m





As can be seen, she is in good shape for a mid 90's boat, but needs a bit of TLC to get her up to scratch.




For anyone who wants to know more about the group - we can be found at www.facebook.com/warspiteseascouts, www.warspite.org or on this link

[Richardnhunt]

Early jobs will be sorting out gear, cleaning her up and a good service for trailer and engine. We had some Rib Revive delivered yesterday and I couldn't resist tying a little bit this evening.

General tube colour Before:


After having 5 minutes with a patch: (in the dark and rain)

[HDAV]

That looks like it will be a lot of fun!

[Richardnhunt]

Work continues with the Rib Revive (can't claim this is going to be a quick one!) - I am quite impressed with the difference it's made so far:

[JamesF]

Remarkable improvement. Is the discolouration caused by an accumulation of grime or is it the tubes themselves fading (or both)?

[Richardnhunt]

Genuinely don't know. It was stored outside but covered, so am suspicious that there is an element of both involved.

[SteveHall]

Cant wait to see the end results - Looks like its going to be a long process.

Would love to know how many hours its taken...

[Searider]

I'd recommend pumping the tubes up nice and firm - you can exert a more even pressure when scrubbing.

[Richardnhunt]

Cheers - 1 of our volunteers is doing about an hour a day on his way home from work

[WDI]

God, what a job...

Looks as though she's definitely going to be worth it though!

[Richardnhunt]

Well, she was on the water today, helping support a big event.



All seemed to work well, although a few more bits to do





Being welcomed into the family



She should be flying our defaced ensign - but that was all that was available today.

Still a couple of jobs to do. Flare boxes need to be sorted out with "normal kit" and there was some leaking around the elephant trunk fixture. However she performed well and we are very happy with her so far.

[Shaz]

She's looking good, nice one !

[Sam G]

Great improvement on those tubes! Looks like a lovely boat

[Richardnhunt]

She is working well and making a big difference to us.

[Richardnhunt]

Now with the defaced ensign and out hard at work over the weekend.

[Richardnhunt]

And again on the water this week: