Willard 730 Project

[pathalla]

It is frustrating installing a tube set. I have a 30 ft. rib and have had the sponsons on and off the boat several times. It seems I had the most luck with the sponsons inflated just enough to make them round. Seems no manufacturer makes a manual referencing how much air pressure you should or should not have in order to have an easy install. Any time I reinstalled them it was lots of work.

[RyanPratt]

We have been busy making money working our ribs. Fingers crossed will wrap this up wed if we don't get any calls.

[RyanPratt]

She is in the water and working. I will try to get some video but it runs awesome!

[RyanPratt]

She does 43 knots

[RyanPratt]

Done, Done, Done And man does she rides oh so smooth!

[willk]

That's a great rig Ryan, and it looks as though you guys have put a lot of thought into the layout. You are carrying a lot of gas - I presume for other craft? Care to tell us about your experiences with callouts? It would be interesting (to me anyways)

I saw your "no toobs" video on Youtube - sporty! The pic below was taken mid-90s in Ireland.

[RyanPratt]

Originally Posted by willk

That's a great rig Ryan, and it looks as though you guys have put a lot of thought into the layout. You are carrying a lot of gas - I presume for other craft? Care to tell us about your experiences with callouts? It would be interesting (to me anyways)

I saw your "no toobs" video on Youtube - sporty! The pic below was taken mid-90s in Ireland.

We have put a lot of thought into the layout and have already found some small details we will address on the next one.

Yes the gas is for other crafts. We usually carry an extra 20gal. but the day i took the pic we had 35 on board. our internal tank is 150gal.

We do all sorts of calls from the simple 5gal of gas to the boat on the beach in a storm to running the inlets in weather most would not. We do our best to keep safe and not create any more dangerous situations but inevitable you spend enough time on the water and you will find yourself in some situations you hope you can get out of. We also find our selfs helping get many people back to shore safely. It is a wickedly rewarding job and one I think i can say all Sea Tow Captains do for the excitement and the opportunity to help people out of some bad, worse and horrible situations.


I love your pic man! what type of rib is that?

[RyanPratt]

Took the boat out the inlet today in 4-6's they were rolling so most of the time we had to slow down to stay in the water. But we found some good tight 2-4 that were an awesome test for the boat. She cuts the waves and or lands real smooth. Very excited the boat is Dry as can be all the jumping, turning and pounding and no spray at all it was nuts we get wet on or 40' RIB but stayed dry on the 24' go figure. We braced for impact a few times only to find that nothing happened. I will try to get a second boat out so we can get some video or stills.

[Stringer Bell]

Great build Capt!

Thank you for the detailed photos. Rig looks sweet, and very seaworthy.

I see you are not carrying any trash pumps....Treasure Coast ST doesnt do salvage? Just wondering

[RyanPratt]

We do carry pumps . Gas and large electrics. They are on the boat but not during photos.

[ncp]

Originally Posted by RyanPratt

Done, Done, Done And man does she rides oh so smooth!

Ryan, I noticed in one of your pics that you had some slight wrinkling on the inner skirt of your tubes. Where you ever able to get rid of it? Did it work it's way out?

I also have wrinkling but only along the last 4 bolts near the bow. Any tips?

It was a pain getting the tubes on! I ended up pinning the bow with a couple of bolts, backed the trailer up to a tree, and then stretched the tubes back with large ratchet straps. I had to re-drill a bunch of holes and ended up short by about 1 1/2 inches at the back end (I plan on just moving the transom straps back).

Second question: When you tapped the deck to mount the t-top/etc., were you able to get under the deck outside of the main centerline channel? I'm thinking t-top or radar arch but haven't figured out how to get underneath.

Thanks!!!

[RyanPratt]

I did not get the wrinkle out. I chose to let it be it is not a big deal to me as it is a work boat and i did not want to punch new holes in the skirt. I did have a heck of a time getting the tubes all the way on so they aligned back up with the stern straps but after about 2 1/2 hrs and a lot of pulling we did it.

I'm assuming you mean outboard of the two stringers. We did all our work on the inside of the stringers and mounted 3x3 angle under the floor and drilled and taped into those for our strength.

Hope that helps. any more questions ask.

You going with outboards or you keeping the I/O?

[ncp]

Thanks.

I had attached a pic of my front wrinkle and don't feel so bad that my myself and a 14 year old weren't able to get it wrinkle free either!



As for drilling holes and stretching, I think that I had to. I talked Willard and Wing and it turns out that they changed the bolt pattern on the hull sometime 97/98 (I have a 94 hull and separately purchased 99 tubes). I wish it had only taken me 2 1/2 hours!

3 separate ratchets to get it tight and still 1 1/2 inches short!


Thanks for the info on mounting to the deck. Because I'm keeping the i/o, I think I'll need to figure out how to deck mount outside of that easily accessable middle 1/3 because I still need to be able to flip up the console to access the engine.

If I had the money (an extra $20,000!), I'd consider switching to outboards. The increase in the performance would be worth it! But I'll just have to live with 30 mph (in almost any sea state) and the cost savings of diesel (~4mpg). I'll be dreaming of the ob conversion, someday!

Thanks again!

[RyanPratt]

Yeah if the year changes you can run into issues as you have found with your tube set. Good luck and enjoy! You picked a great boat!