"Canadians know how to build em yes they do"

pathalla · 19 October 2009, 04:34

Here's another excellent rib manufacturer, very nice lines, handsome, the overall build quality looks, well... outstanding! I definitely could buy one of these. Wonder if they melted down beer cans to make those nice shiny hulls...
Maybe?

http://www.polarisboats.com/p/boats.htm

prairie tuber · 19 October 2009, 06:44

They certainly do make excellent RIBs. Their manufacturing plant is about 1/4 mile from where my mother lives in Langley, BC. The 2 fellows that own/run the place are first rate and very helpful even if you need help with an inflatable boat other than one of their own. The welds on their aluminum hulls are works of art. Jyasaki has one of their boats, and I believe he has been quite happy with his.

captnjack · 19 October 2009, 07:11

I own a 15.5ft spirit model with custom interior setup for diving. Hypalon tubes with blind gluing. 60hp Yam pushes ALOT of dive gear, 8 tanks and 4 people at 27 knots is impressive. This is partially due to the hull. Only 14deg of deadrise so its not the greatest at rough water, but great for planing the load of divers + gear I carry.

jyasaki · 19 October 2009, 17:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

Jyasaki has one of their boats, and I believe he has been quite happy with his.

Quite true.

When I first started thinking about upgrading my SIB, I decided to look for an aluminum-hulled RIB. Several web searches over a long period of time yielded a few resourses: Polaris, Titan, and Northwind, locally (West coast of North America), a couple of others on the Gulf Coast, and a few overseas (New Zealand, I think, and South Africa.)

A few e-mails and phone calls later, and the only manufacturer who seemed to take a request for information for a consumer (rather than commercial) small RIB was Guy at Polaris (well, not exactly true - Titan, as I recall, was interested, but tended to let information requests sit for quite a while, if they got around to answering them at all.)

Long story short, Guy and I talked about costs and designs and such for about a year before we came to a reasonably complete design; that was the point was when I actually made the decision to purchase. So, he had been doing all this work with no commitment on my part. Impressed the hell out of me. Five months later, I had the boat in-hand, so to speak.

I'm a bit curious as to what sparked Pat's original post, but having dealt with Guy and run one of his boats for the past 4 years, his comments on quality and everything are spot on.

jky

Stoo · 20 October 2009, 00:45

We Canucks build a number of things pretty well... There's at least three good RIB builders in that area... Hurricane, Titan and Polaris. I suspect that they all learn from each other and benefit...

pathalla · 20 October 2009, 01:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Quite true.

When I first started thinking about upgrading my SIB, I decided to look for an aluminum-hulled RIB. Several web searches over a long period of time yielded a few resourses: Polaris, Titan, and Northwind, locally (West coast of North America), a couple of others on the Gulf Coast, and a few overseas (New Zealand, I think, and South Africa.)

A few e-mails and phone calls later, and the only manufacturer who seemed to take a request for information for a consumer (rather than commercial) small RIB was Guy at Polaris (well, not exactly true - Titan, as I recall, was interested, but tended to let information requests sit for quite a while, if they got around to answering them at all.)

Long story short, Guy and I talked about costs and designs and such for about a year before we came to a reasonably complete design; that was the point was when I actually made the decision to purchase. So, he had been doing all this work with no commitment on my part. Impressed the hell out of me. Five months later, I had the boat in-hand, so to speak.

I'm a bit curious as to what sparked Pat's original post, but having dealt with Guy and run one of his boats for the past 4 years, his comments on quality and everything are spot on.

jky

I hadn't forgotten that you were the proud owner of a Polaris Jyasaki, pics of your boat are up here somewhere, perhaps you can put a shot of it up here for those who haven't seen it, it's a nice looker. I was seriously thinking of buying one of these quite a while back, but then I stumbled across my current boat and the rest is history... people on this website are always going on about Zodiac or another European brand, manufacturers like Polaris
are equivalent to anything manufactured overseas, possibly better...

Limey Linda · 20 October 2009, 05:14

Hi Pat
Nice to see you posting. We are now living in Mexico with a boating area you would not believe. Having tooooo way much fun and very tired every day. Have to decide to go fishing or work on the house !!!!!. Got hit by Hurricane Jemina 5 weeks ago and still cleaning mud out of the house.
Ho-Hum.
Tony
PS. PM me if you need a big time fishing vacation.

jyasaki · 20 October 2009, 17:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by pathalla

perhaps you can put a shot of it up here for those who haven't seen it, it's a nice looker.

Thanks, Pat;

Funny, but I have not gotten too many new pics of the boat since then (with a couple of exceptions.) Here are a few, though.

Later;

jky (off to entertain lobsters in the Channel Islands for the rest of the week...)

pathalla · 21 October 2009, 04:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Hi Pat
Nice to see you posting. We are now living in Mexico with a boating area you would not believe. Having tooooo way much fun and very tired every day. Have to decide to go fishing or work on the house !!!!!. Got hit by Hurricane Jemina 5 weeks ago and still cleaning mud out of the house.
Ho-Hum.
Tony
PS. PM me if you need a big time fishing vacation.

Fishing... good Hurricane... bad Mud... ugly
glad you made it through Jemina o.k. The fishing sounds like a blast, I would love to take you up on it! Right now I am attempting to unload everything for a move south so I may be calling, thanks for the invite.

pathalla · 21 October 2009, 04:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Thanks, Pat;

Funny, but I have not gotten too many new pics of the boat since then (with a couple of exceptions.) Here are a few, though.

Later;

jky (off to entertain lobsters in the Channel Islands for the rest of the week...)

You've got to be having a lot of fun with that, nice boat! Good to see it again, we need to see more pictures on this site!!!

jyasaki · 26 October 2009, 17:39

The big problem is getting pics from outside of the boat while running. Tough for me to do, and we are usually thinking about underwater photography while in transit.

But, I'll see what I can convince my buddies of...

jky

tiverton_tom · 22 November 2009, 10:49

You folks should know there are great builders on the EAST Coast (too)!!

ABCO (very professional boat builder, of MANY sizes in the historical ship building town of LUNENBURG, NS) ... I think you west coasters still use the dime with the Bluenose on it?? LOL

anyway, ABCO built a 25' RIB for me (tube was made in Quebec) - ABCO.ca (?)

and Roughwater (Rosborough Boats) - also in Nova Scotia (I believe same company makes the tubes in Quebec) -they just won a gov't tender to build 10 Fisheries RIBS ... no more $4-5K/boat shipping them from B.C.!

as well as RIBCRAFT USA in cape Cod!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_explorations/sets/

tom - www.oceanexplorations.ca

Screaming04 · 22 November 2009, 16:57

Tom, roughly how much did the 7m set you back (without power)? Thanks, they look like a nice boat.

4str · 05 December 2009, 15:02

Nice looking boat! I have to concur, the folks at Polaris build a great boat and really work hard to make a boat that is right for the customer.

I really like the configuration you have for the dive ladder too! ;-)

Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Thanks, Pat;

Funny, but I have not gotten too many new pics of the boat since then (with a couple of exceptions.) Here are a few, though.

Later;

jky (off to entertain lobsters in the Channel Islands for the rest of the week...)