First full day out in Aerotec

[SeanKent]

Hi all

Took the Aerotec down to Hernebay yesterday with some friends so had some ballast.

First off I went out on my own with a 22mm block under the outboard, this made a huge difference, boat no longer fills with water !

I pumped it up using the bravo pump, came back in after 10-15mins to check pressures, tubes had changed quite a bit but the floor didn't. I pumped it back up.

Made a big difference going out with some weight up front but was still pretty scary at WOT. My friend that came with me has had several RIBS and agreed it didn't feel very stable at full power and less so than my old ali floored Zodiac, he also agreed that its slower too.

It was more successful than my recent outings but I'm still not convinced with the Aerotec. I'll try a bit more and weight up the pro and cons (it is much easier to pull up the beach) but it could end up on ebay at somepoint in favour of an ali floored sib (I really do prefer the feel of the ali floor on the water).

Good day out though.

[Max...]

With two of you how were you distributing the weight (incl fuel, kit etc)?

Did you check the engine height/trim etc with regard to feel and flow over the deflector plate etc and try different trim settings to see if this lost the sketchy feel?: http://www.rib.net/forum/f50/abc-sib...nes-58373.html

What was the speed at WOT with the 25??

I only have a 15 (top speed recorded about 18 kts) but never felt anything less than totally safe in the Aerotec even in pretty lumpy stuff, it is a light boat though and like any SIB needs care in handling especially in windy head seas.

[SeanKent]

Originally Posted by Max...

With two of you how were you distributing the weight (incl fuel, kit etc)?

Did you check the engine height/trim etc with regard to feel and flow over the deflector plate etc and try different trim settings to see if this lost the sketchy feel?: http://www.rib.net/forum/f50/abc-sib...nes-58373.html

What was the speed at WOT with the 25??

I only have a 15 (top speed recorded about 18 kts) but never felt anything less than totally safe in the Aerotec even in pretty lumpy stuff, it is a light boat though and like any SIB needs care in handling especially in windy head seas.

I didn't try any of this, it was good to finally get on the water in something that felt even half acceptable. It wasn't too bad when only one up. Maybe next time.

I sent him up front, he's a bigger chap too, we had up to 5 of us in the boat at one point (two were very small children) and made sure as much of the weight was upfront and even from side to side.

Have no idea regarding speed, need to download an app to my phone, any recommendations ?

At slower speeds it felt fine, I think its just because its so light. There was very little wind yesterday.

[Fenlander]

It's often difficult to fine tune all issues in one outing unless going off a pontoon immediately into no speed limit waters... and to have decent weather... good sea state... and a patient crew so you can keep trying small changes.

We have all said about getting weight forward however it is possible on this trip for some of the time you had too much and suffered bow steer which feels odd and unstable.

I find the ideal for our Aerotec is a full 25l tank of fuel in the position of the floor tie down straps which puts it just forward of the seat position... with our heavy anchor/kit bag beside the tank.... plus a person of 10-12 stone sitting on the seat or kneeling on the floor at that point.

Add more weight than that further forward and you may end up bow heavy.

However... despite the immense firmness of the Aerotec floor compared to other air floor SIBs it may be from your comments you will never be happy without an alloy floor.