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3.65m Excel SIB and trailer
My Excel SD365 SIB has been a great introduction to watery adventures with my wife and two kids.
The boat is in great condition, and has carried us up and down Loch Lomond, around the Firth of Clyde and even over to Arran, a 15-mile sea crossing.
It’s light enough for one person to carry, so is very easy to launch and recover single-handed. As you can see from the pictures, it also deflates quickly and packs down, so will fit in the boot of a car, complete with engine and oars.
The boat has an air floor which, when blown up, is very rigid, and is certainly not to be confused with the basic cheaper inflatable boats on the market with slatted or wooden floors. Underneath are two floorboards, which are new this month (Feb 2019). They sit on top of an inflatable keel with a reinforced band running the full length. The inflatable keel provides a "V" shape to the hull, which gives the boat excellent seaworthiness.
It also has two aluminium bench seats, which is rare in SIBs and gives great flexibility – we mostly took the front seat out and let the kids sit on the air floor for extra safety.
This boat will take up to a 20hp engine, ideal for recreational performance and water sports, but will also get on the plane with my 3.3hp auxiliary 2-stroke engine on the back too.
The boat comes with a Snipe trailer, which has had new wheel bearings at the end of last season (they’ve probably only got 50 miles on them since new) and a spare wheel, as well as a full waterproof cover. I will split the boat and trailer if requested – these trailers sell for £500 online.
This was my first boat and I was staggered by how good it’s been in the two years I’ve had it. It’s an easy-to-maintain go-anywhere fun machine.
First to see will buy.
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