Diesel thoughts and advice wanted!

[Alan]

Hi all,

As petrol prices here approach £4 a gallon and my hourly running cost on our thirsty old 150hp 2 stroke approaches the £30 an hour mark my thoughts are turning to the economies and availability of reasonably priced diesel RIB's.

Unfortunately lacking the neccessary sponds to commision a new Scorpion 8.5m (unless my lottery numbers come up!) I am very much in the budget end of the market - say £20k or less.

Now I reckon it is possible to find a Diesel boat for this price but I have to say thats entirely based on research in the magazines and on this excellent website amongst others. (BTW John that very nice Diesel Ribcraft in the for sale section sold some weeks ago!)My question to the assembled masses is am I right? Can I find a Diesel boat for less than £20k?

I'd also be interested in anyone's experience or opinions of the ex-Navy Halmatic Pacific's/Artic's that occasionally seem to be advertised. They appear to be build like the proverbial brick outhouse and whilst not terribly fast fufill the fuel economy criteria. What sort of boats are they for leisure use (coastal and offshore cruising.)

Finally can some friendly Diesel RIB owner give me an indication of the servicing costs of a diesel engine? (My outboard costs £150-200 a year to service.) Since I would be inevitably be buying a well used boat and engine whats likely to break and need replacing? (Turbo's is what I hear John!)

All advice, assistance and abuse gratefully received.
Cheers,
Alan

[john]

Hi Allen
I have owned a pacific 22 for 3 years, before that a atlantic 21 with 2 outboard, this was becoming more and expensive to run
The P22 cost well under 20K leaving spare for my own mods. Your right their not the fastest rib on the market but they handle well in all conditions leaving many others behind. Servicing is cheap about £50 per year if you do the work yourself. If i can help you further please contact me through this forum.

[John Kennett]

Alan

Diesel RIBs do come up for sale second hand quite regularly, but as you've seen they don't stay for sale for long!

Under 20k you are right to think that you are likely to be looking at an old Halmatic. They tend to be very tired looking when they are released from the MOD, but are tough enough to be brought back to a reasonable standard -- don't discount the possibility of retubing and old RIB, it may still come within your budget.

The other possibility would be one of the six metre RIBs that have been fitted with the Volvo Penta 105 hp diesel. I've only seen a few (Ribtec and Coastline spring to mind), but this would give you a much more modern RIB and engine, although not as bulletproof as a Halmatic.

Either way it won't be a particularly swift boat, but you've already taken that into account. I would guess at about 25 knots for an old Pacific and around 30 for a 6m boat with the little Volvo.

John

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John Kennett
RIBnet

[Alan]

John(s)!

Thanks for the info.

I have got some info on the Coastline RIB - new at least but its still rather outside my budget unless I can find a second hand one.

As you say this type of Diesel RIB is likely to be considerably slower than my current boat but when you limit yourself to 25kts anyway in an effort to save fuel its not a problem!

Cheers,
Alan

[Alan]

John - Pacific owner (not John K, too many Johns, way to confusing!)

Tried to email with some questions ref. Pacific's but email got bounced back. Can you confirm your email address to me on awinnett@hotmail.com

Thks, Alan