Five minute wonder sib owner

[T4bus]

Evening

I’ve just spent well over an hour, again, scrubbing the sib after a few hours having my eardrums assaulted on the river in the quest of getting away from it all!
So I may suffer a couple more trips out in order to keep the kids sweet but in the meantime if anybody is interested or knows of anybody that maybe considering a sib, I have an immaculate undamaged 2009 Zodiac 340 Acti-v Int-l, Mariner 15hp 2 stroke in stunning condition and loads every bit of kit a family would ever need which I'll list up in the classifieds soon.
Reading posts on here I think my problems are pretty common, these boats are completely impractical as they are almost impossible to clean, plus running up the river at 6-7 knots calls for just the right amount of throttle to simulate sitting next to a set of roadwork’s for the afternoon, I know I sound miserable but though I love the idea of being out on the water, I have 4 children, three of which generally come out with us & nowhere to store a trailer, the Zodiac seemed the perfect solution but it's simply not the experience I imagined.

So this is just me putting it out there, not going to put it on e-bay etc straight away as I'll let the boys have a trip or two to be fair to them, but if somebody is interested, it will go up withing the next few weeks

[D. Jones]

This is more or less exactly what I was aiming for as a newcomer to boating who wants to go into harbour and inshore - 3m-ish+15hp 2s - although those who know have advised something smaller because of my particular circumstances.

However if you're still in ownership when I'm ready to buy I may very well message/email you about it.

Regarding your problems cleaning the boat, what problems are you facing? Is it removal of general residue/dirt or marking/staining, or difficulty with all of the nooks and crannies or what...?

The reason for asking is, I was hoping it might be a case of hosing the boat down after use, drying it off and packing it up... would love to know what's taking the shine off if you're hapy to share?

[Max...]

Superb topic, thanks very much for posting as this is exactly the reason (as per the 'Which SIB'?) sticky so many of us always advocate buying a used big name SIB and popular engine. If you don't get into 'it' you can sell them on at virtually no cost and at least you have given it a go.

Boats are a right royal PITA and faff at times and often the effort doesn't seem worth it (loading it all up, dragging up and down a beach, too choppy when you get there, load it all up again, wash it, flush it, dry it, pack stuff away.......etc), hence the popular saying about the happiest days of a boat owner being the day he buys the boat and the day he sells the boat...

But the good days make up for it and as you say you're doing something different with the kids while so many stare at a telly or video game screen all weekend...

Would you consider copying your first post into the sticky as above as it's a valuable lesson as much as any other.

I would spilt all your gear up and sell, you'll do much better that way.

One other point is that small 2 strokes are noisy and if running at displacement speeds stick to 4 kts or so, the gains at 5 or 6 are not worth the huge increases in noise.

Also fit a floor mat of some sort, the non slip deck of SIB airfloors holds onto dirt terribly. Tubes are relatively easy to keep clean though.

[T4bus]

Originally Posted by D. Jones

This is more or less exactly what I was aiming for as a newcomer to boating who wants to go into harbour and inshore - 3m-ish+15hp 2s - although those who know have advised something smaller because of my particular circumstances.

However if you're still in ownership when I'm ready to buy I may very well message/email you about it.

Regarding your problems cleaning the boat, what problems are you facing? Is it removal of general residue/dirt or marking/staining, or difficulty with all of the nooks and crannies or what...?

The reason for asking is, I was hoping it might be a case of hosing the boat down after use, drying it off and packing it up... would love to know what's taking the shine off if you're hapy to share?

Yep, pretty much what I expected, if your happy to buy an undamaged but filthy example with price reflected I'd advise you to do that, I searched for my kit for over 5 months as I wanted the best I could get for my limited budget, It's immaculate and so I wish to keep it that way to maintain as much re-sale as possible, so after a couple of years of fun I could sell it on & put the residual money towards a holiday for the family & have a summer or two first to give the kids another life experience. I also expected the 15hp outboard to be much less noisy when used at lower throttle, but anything above trolling gets very difficult to put up with on the river.
We had a fantastic day out a Lyme Regis last weekend when I took the boys out a few at a time & have some great Gopro video of how it performs on YouTube,

gopro Zodiac 340 acti'v - YouTube

so I'll give the boys a couple of more days out in the sea wake chasing & then call it a day.

[D. Jones]

Goes really well with the three of you - will keep an eye on the classifieds when I get ready to buy, I'm not expecting to find a great deal of used stuff up here in the North East so happy to consider travelling if it means getting the right set up at a good price.

[beerbelly]

if you split it up let me know how much the outboard is please

[9D280]

Yeah, the faff factor is a pain with any boat. It's the thing that puts Mrs 9D off most about the whole boating game.

I have modified two boats now - the rib I am still messing with the trailer to remove all the "extra" faffs that used to take upwards of half an hour. (things like submersible lights so I don't need to remove a lighting board, console / seat cover bag so I don't need to lash in all the stuff under the seat kind of thing)

My 470 dinghy will instanly fail a measurement test so will never seriously race - but I can get it from road legal to launchable in under 7 mins! (and back again in a similar time). It takes longer to get the wetsuit on than prepare the boat!


So yes, I feel your dissapointment.

As said above, do you maybe need to pick weekends & go to the coast, maybe not as often if it's a long trek, but would a lesser quantity of good days be better than many "damp squibs"? Could also possbly buy a second smaller 4- stroke 4Hp / electric engine for the river o keep the nouise levels down? - Plenty of small cheap engines appear at the end of the season.

[Nick Hearne]

My Yamaha 15hp 2St is very quiet for river use and I find the best thing for the floor is jet washing it to get the grime out I have a Bombard Aerotec!

[stray]

I find the best thing for the floor is jet washing it to get the grime out I have a Bombard Aerotec!

Be very, very careful using a Jet wash on you Air floor, I managed to blow a hole in mine.

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by stray

Be very, very careful using a Jet wash on you Air floor, I managed to blow a hole in mine.

that's not good what boat is it on?

[Landlockedpirate]

It looks a lot like a Aerotech

There is so much difference in pressure washers, a £50 quid one from Lidl isnt going to harm it but a commercial Karcher could cut a sib in half

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by T4bus

I'll give the boys a couple of more days out in the sea wake chasing & then call it a day.

Get a grip ya miserable git, this is what lads should be doing, get some fishing rods & take 'em out macky bashing. Spend some quality time, doing all that male bonding tripe, they'll be better individuals for it. They'll be confident & have character as they grow. Keep the boat & put some effort into it, life's not supposed to be easy

PS See rule #4

[T4bus]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Get a grip ya miserable git, this is what lads should be doing, get some fishing rods & take 'em out macky bashing. Spend some quality time, doing all that male bonding tripe, they'll be better individuals for it. They'll be confident & have character as they grow. Keep the boat & put some effort into it, life's not supposed to be easy

PS See rule #4

Oh?
If you had the first modicum of an idea of what my circumstances are, or how much sport and at what level my children compete you may re-considder barking your advice on how much "effort" I should put into raising my offspring.

twat.

[kerny]

T4bus, I think that you are taking PD the wrong way (he's from Yorkshire tha nuss ) I think that he was trying to say "stick with it" in his own kind of way

Enjoy RIBnet and its banter

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by T4bus

Oh?
If you had the first modicum of an idea of what my circumstances are, or how much sport and at what level my children compete you may re-considder barking your advice on how much "effort" I should put into raising my offspring.

twat.

Oh yeah, I forgot, get a sense of humour as well BTW, me granddad allus said, "son, nivver use words that tha can't spell"

[mick]

Originally Posted by kerny

T4bus, I think that you are taking PD the wrong way (he's from Yorkshire tha nuss ) I think that he was trying to say "stick with it" in his own kind of way

Enjoy RIBnet and its banter

Yup but he is usually right tha nos

[kerny]

Originally Posted by mick

Yup but he is usually right tha nos

Shouldn't you be tekin yer whippets out yer Yorkshire git

[mick]

Done it pal just putting pigeons to bed

[mick]

Originally Posted by kerny

shouldn't you be tekin yer whippets out yer yorkshire git :d

[kerny]

Originally Posted by mick

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