Out of interest does anyone know who made the first true production RIB I have always assumed that it was Avon because they were the first to use structured hulls in inflatables
My money is on Tony Lee-Elliottt of Flatacraft fame, some good history stuff over on Hotribs about it.
Must have been a facinating time gluing bit of ply wood together and then adding tubes to see what happended or how long it would last. They never say anything about the ones that broke up, sank or flooded etc
Ah the old story of "Never let the truthh get in the way of a good story"
Cmdr Hoare is reputed to be the inventor of the RIB but a little known guy called John Cauldicott was the person who came up with the idea.
The first production ribs where made by a company called Watercraft a very long time ago and was owned by some guy called Mr Wilks! (father of Tim) For information the Wilks family designed and built the first land rover hense the Ribtec Company saying of "The 4x4 of the sea." They really did lead where others follow. Strange thing is, everyone who has written books about ribs dont know this!!!! Alan P
I think it was Atlantic College who started by putting wooden planks onto the bottom of an inflatable.
I can remember seeing it on an old RNLI film made in the 70's.
I have always assumed that it was Avon because they were the first to use structured hulls in inflatables 
