new club ribs

[lf.]

looking at a couple of car towable ribs for the club, the ribcraft 5.85m with a 115 4-stroke is looking like a good option. any of you guy any experience with these or should we look else where. needs to take 10 divers (single tanks).

thanks

louis

[ray]

Hi.

I think you will be looking at something 6 meters plus if you are going to take ten divers plus kit, unless you are all boy snorkelers or midgets.

You then get the problem of who is going to tow it and storing the thing.

2 boats would be better with maximum of 6 in each boat, or one of the size you are looking at with 6 divers in!.

Just read the post properly you say 2 boats, so my ramble is of no significance!!!!!!!!!!!!.

[Andy Bloss]

If

Our club has just ordered a new Ribcraft after looking around the various RIB hulls on offer. We did have a Tornado, and would have been happy with another of these, if manufacture hadn't been shipped off overseas somewhere.

On balance the Ribcraft seem to offer the best cost/quality ratio and they are based down in Yeovil, so we can see them and talk about what we want on the boat.

So they get our clubs vote.

ta

Andy

PS - We will also have 6.5m Tornado with a bench seat, twin bottle racks and twin 90BHP Mercury engines for sale soon if anyone is interested...

[Phil Mauer]

Our club has two ribs:

1. 6m Rib with 135hp 2 stroke Mercury Optimax engine - max 8 divers - far better with a max of 6

2. 6m Rib with 115hp 2 stroke engine - club takes 8 on it but better with max of 6.


Phil

[lf.]

at the moment we have 2 6m zodiac's with single 90 2-strokes that take 8 no problem in flat calm conditions, but are poxy in swell. 10 would be for a around the corner potter, 8 would be the usual number. cruising at 25 knots would be a luxury for us. and yes, we pretty much all swim and snorkel so no fat b@st@rds on board ;o)

[Kent Tooling]

If,

You can not go far wrong with the RIBCRAFT range they are suberb sea boats very deep V hull and have big tube diameters, the finish is also very good. Also with the Ribcraft boats they tend to hold their price for when you want to resell her

If your club budget can go up a little bit i would certinally advise on a bit bigger boat length and also increase the engine size as well, this is because once you have put say 8-10 divers in it you are looking at a 1 tone weight on top of the boat & engine etc weight is a 115hp big enough. I persanley DO NOT THINK SO. I would always try and put the biggest engine on the back of a boat that the boat will take, you will never need to use all the power BUT if you needed it you know you have it, whilst if you had say a 115hp you will need nearly all the power of the engine to keep the boat going especially if you are in a fairly choppy sea

If you require any further assistance regarding the RIBCRAFT boats as i have recently received my new 10.5m boat



John

[mala]

does the keel of that thing stay in the water long enough to get dirty?

[lf.]

ok, were up to either the 135-150 hp mark in either a 5.85m ribcraft, 6.1m redbay or 6m osprey vipermax.

the engine choice are the Suzuki 140 or 150, yamaha 150 or honda 150. the latter three are a bit heaver than the Suzuki 140. any body had any issuse with any of these.

electronics wise anybody got any experience with the Standard Horizon CPV350 GPS? would make for a nice tidy set up. and through the hull tranduser, do they work well? (wreck finding)

ta

L

[Kent Tooling]

Originally Posted by lf.

ok, were up to either the 135-150 hp mark in either a 5.85m ribcraft, 6.1m redbay or 6m osprey vipermax.

the engine choice are the Suzuki 140 or 150, yamaha 150 or honda 150. the latter three are a bit heaver than the Suzuki 140. any body had any issuse with any of these.

electronics wise anybody got any experience with the Standard Horizon CPV350 GPS? would make for a nice tidy set up. and through the hull tranduser, do they work well? (wreck finding)

ta

L

L If you are able to give me a call i can give you some advise on the engines that you have mensioned and also can discuss the electronic issue as well. it will be a lot easier on the phone instead of via PMs

[Beerdiver]

beware going to big we have 6.2M ribcraft Great boat but only two people with large trucks/4WD's can tow it due to towing weights.