advantages/Disadvantages of a SIB or A RIB

[TROGGLES]

a total newbie, can i ask whats the pros and cons of a SIB over a RIB, apart from cost

[m chappelow]

End of the day you can roll it all up and it will go in your car ,,

with a rib the floor/hull doesent flex as much as with a sib so increases a bit more comfort and a bit more speed perhaps ,
and you can bump into rocks or run up onto a slip without scratching the hull gellcoat

[astra]

A sib will fold up and go in your car but as they get bigger with larger outboards they become so god dam heavy that you have to put it on a trailer and get a towbar fitted on a toyota yaris to even use the thing

[Channel Ribs]

We have been customising Quicksilver heavy duty inflatables (SIBs) for years and we have done some pretty extensive things with them, to such an extent that people have mistaken them for RIBs and as the range goes all the way up to 5.3m they do look the part.

A SIB is...

+ Cheaper,
+ Forgiving of being bumped and beached,
+ Easy to modify and then change back again,
+ Light, therefor faster or more economical,
+ Can be folded up after a holiday or end of the season*
+ Hold their value fairly well, because of that modular design.

- A shallow V hull (avoid anything with a flat bottom) so do not ride so well,
- Do not take engines bigger than about a 50, so will never be record breaking fast,
- Small gaps in the floor allow things to go missing,

A RIB is...

+ Robust, the GRP and Hypalon combination is mighty,
+ The GRP hulls come in many depths of V to suit all uses,
+ Easy to set up neatly, with cables below the deck and tidy permanent fixings,
+ One of the best boat designs ever.

- The good ones are often pricey, except old Seariders,

* With practice and some nifty tricks it is possible to assemble a SIB faster than launching and parking a trailer, so can be assembled per use if you feel the need.

There are more, but I am distracted.

[tinker]

SIB = easy to beach and recover, especially with the transom wheels fitted
RIB = More sea worthy in a chop.

I find the SIB suits my needs more than a RIB, most of my time is spent using my SIB from the beach, which is alot easier with the SIB than it was with the RIB.

Ask yourself what you will use your SIB/ RIB for? Distance cruising between harbours and ports with good shore access? (A RIB) Or pottering about around beaches, rivers...... ? (A SIB)

[TROGGLES]

thanks for that.

i think i might be heading more towards a SIB

reason being say if i was out with dog and i needed to go ashore on beach, the gelcoat on rib would be more prone to getting scratched, but how does a SIb comapre to a heavy dogs claws. dealer sell with RIB it wouldnt be a problem

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by TROGGLES

how does a SIb comapre to a heavy dogs claws

We sold a SIB to a guy who has a Newfoundland, a heavier dog you will not find.

The boat is holding up nicely.

[TROGGLES]

thats nice to know, he not as heavy a a newfoundland but 60kg

[Poly]

I don't own a dog... ...but would have thought an aluminium or wooden floor might be more suitable than an air floor.

I don't think there is a clear cut winner in the RIB / SIB argument. There seems to be a transition around the 4m mark. Below 3.5-4m RIBs are relatively rare (although not unheard of) presumably at this size the benefits of a RIB are less important (people tend not to go to far off shore in crappy weather in 3m boats) but the advantages of a SIB are more important. Likewise around the 4.5-5m point where the advantages of a SIB are less apparent - e.g. it no longer fits in the boot of your car, needs a bloody great engine that you can't lift etc. Although SIBs do go bigger, but are rarer / more specialised.

But there may be a third way. And I'll fall foul of the "promoting your own type of boat" trap. A polythelene moulded Rigid Boat may offer you some of the advantages of both. So you can beach it without worrying about gel coat, but no dog will tear your hypalon either. It will be more rigid/comfortable than a SIB and easier to get a centre console etc. Also a bit cheaper than a RIB. Of course you also have some of the downsides of both - so it will need a trailer and a bigger one will not be possible to move on transom wheels.

[Sonar]

There both great fun the question is what you would like to use it for.

If you have no or little storage space then a sib. As you can fold the whole thing up .

If you are able to either afford storage or have somewhere to store it either a club or home then a rhib.

A larger sib would need a trailer to transport it around the same as any size of rhib.

[TROGGLES]

was thinking of keeping it in garden with cover, as long as can get it through garage intially.

My concern is if going for a RIB and wanting to offload at beach possibly more chance of damaging gelcoat, but suppose they are more comfortable than a SIB

only ever been on a RIB and it was a friends a real monster with 2 huge engines on back, mind you i think he paid something crazy for it

[Sonar]

Originally Posted by TROGGLES

was thinking of keeping it in garden with cover, as long as can get it through garage intially.

My concern is if going for a RIB and wanting to offload at beach possibly more chance of damaging gelcoat, but suppose they are more comfortable than a SIB

only ever been on a RIB and it was a friends a real monster with 2 huge engines on back, mind you i think he paid something crazy for it

A keelguard strip on a rib helps .

I don't know what sort of damage could happen to a sib.
If it was an unknown beach I think a rhib rather a scratch than a tear.

[TROGGLES]

- what wholes theres values better

any preference on engine manufacturer

[Sonar]

Originally Posted by TROGGLES

- what wholes theres values better

any preference on engine manufacturer

Me I like the Mariner 4 stroke but I would ask the forum the Question

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by TROGGLES

was thinking of keeping it in garden with cover, as long as can get it through garage intially.

My concern is if going for a RIB and wanting to offload at beach possibly more chance of damaging gelcoat, but suppose they are more comfortable than a SIB

only ever been on a RIB and it was a friends a real monster with 2 huge engines on back, mind you i think he paid something crazy for it

I would suggest a cat-hulled SIB, which will be much more comfortable in the big waves than a conventional SIB, yet still allow you to run rapid strewn rivers that would smash up hard hulls. Here is a thread I posted a while back that discusses this;

http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?...ight=bloodvein

[Flyguy]

I've got a 3.4 SIB and 9.8 2-stroke. The whole lot fits in the car, takes 20mins to get onto the water, 20mins to recover and deflated. No launch or trailer parking fees, towing hassles or storage issues. But its limited to inshore trips and gets blown around in a wind.

If I upgraded to a larger boat I wouldn't get a RIB. They seem overpriced, cramped and generally more hassle than normal boats for fishing at least. I fail to see an upside of RIBs other than speed, OR am I missing something?

[walruz]

I can put my SR 5.4 onto the beach gently without causing scratches and still land people where they can go ashore without getting their shorts wet. Granted once its aground it isn't going anywhere till the tide comes back in.

Ian

[Fishery Pokery]

Hi,
I am sure a rib has advantages over a sib, but for me the best things about sibs are;

When my boat needed work over the winter I brought it in the house (it is 4.5m), inflated and worked on in warm, non humid conditions. You can't do this with many boats.

I can launch it by myself at the slipway, ground it, then park the trailer up. This means I don't have to rely on others.

Fuel. My last sib, a 3.4m ali floor avon with 9.8hp engine used less than a £5 a day when fishing. This inludes going to different wrecks, and continually motoring back up to drift again.

Power. On the boat above, my 9.8hp used to do 17knots with tackle and allsorts.

Repair. I know a lot of people can repair fibreglass, but I can't. I can glue hypalon though.

Cheers,
Geoff

[longjohn]

Originally Posted by Flyguy

I've got a 3.4 SIB and 9.8 2-stroke. The whole lot fits in the car, takes 20mins to get onto the water, 20mins to recover and deflated. No launch or trailer parking fees, towing hassles or storage issues. But its limited to inshore trips and gets blown around in a wind.

If I upgraded to a larger boat I wouldn't get a RIB. They seem overpriced, cramped and generally more hassle than normal boats for fishing at least. I fail to see an upside of RIBs other than speed, OR am I missing something?

Just sold my 3.8 SIB and the guy who bought it wanted to transport it deflated - what a hassle - took a long while and ended up quite a big package - as for the engine 20 hp Honda - wouldn't want to lug that on and off everytime i used the boat. So the SIB advantage is limited to under 3m boats I think. Otherwise RIBS give a much better ride without fear of being blow over/capsized in any sort of big sea and wind.

I kept my sib trailered and inflated always and did have a lot of fun in it - but the RIB i now have is altogether in a different league. Yes its a bit bigger at 4.7 metres and more powerful at 70hp - but I can keep much drier and have dry places to keep kit etc. Of course its much heavier but I can still easily launch and recover single handedly (with the aid of a winch) - I could just about launch and recover the SIB without a winch but to do it comfortably needed a winch.

[Knot Yet]

I think it depends purely on what you want to use them for and what storage facilities you have. They both fill different needs and have strengths and weaknesses on both sides.

RIB: Can be very fast, can be drier, can be more of a cheesy smile moment
SIB: Can be easier to store, can be easier to launch, can be cheaper to run

If you are like me though you will end up with both and make a meal of each