Is Highfield as good as they seem?

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by cdbxyz

Ultimately you need to go and look at boats and decide for yourself what is worth paying for.

Indeed As helpfully pointed out by the Troll-in-Chief, I own a far eastern made SIB. This was bought as a package at the Southampton boat show. I paid just over £3.5k for the complete outfit, including a brand new Suzuki DF20a. The best price I could get on the engine at the time was £2600, which meant the SIB stood me at a shade under £1000, with a 5 year warranty. I was happy that if I got 5 years out of the boat, I could bin in & still have a cheap engine to put onto a new SIB. Lucky for me that I had the 5 yr warranty on the SIB, as it didn't make it that far After 3 years the floor popped & the boat was swapped by the new owners of Excel for a new hull, which came with the remainder of the original 5 year warranty, i.e. 18 months. The boat was swapped without any quibble by Excel as "they'd had a few others do the same"
The boat is actually a decent bit of kit in it's own right, it does what we want it to do, in so much that it rolls up into a trailer & we can tow it easily abroad with our camper & it gets us on the water. It's rough around the edges finish wise, & if I'd paid a lot of money for it, I wouldn't have accepted it, but I got what I paid for.
When we bought it, I'd gone to the boat show with the intention of buying a new Zodiac MK2, which would have cost approx £6K. At the time, Zodiac was going through yet another of it's "difficult" periods. When we visited the Zodiac stand, the Rep said he had a brand new MK2 packed away in the back, but not one on display. I asked if he could get the MK2 out & inflate it for us to look at. His reply was, and this is the truth "not unless you are going to buy it, & I'd want a deposit first" We walked.

So what's my point? When I bought the Excel, I didn't have high expectations (and I wasn't disappointed). The boat was going to cost me £1000 over 5 years=£200 a year & I was happy to pay that for what to me was/is a disposable toy. I knew what I was getting into & I knew this wouldn't be a Lifetime purchase, I'm under no illusion that it's a throwaway product.
The flip side to all this, is we also own what is considered (by some) to be a "Premium" British built RIB, this is now 9yrs old & still looks as tidy as the day it left the factory, it's a proverbial "brick sh1thouse". It's been to Croatia/Italy/France/Spain/Portugal + all around the British Isles including the Channel Isles, Scottish Hebrides, St Kilda. I fully expect to get at least another 20 years out of this boat, and me just having turned 60, it will probably outlast my boating life.

Horses for courses, you pays your money and makes your choice.

[Hypalon]

cdbxyz, I see your point. I just went to Ribcraft's site and looked at the 5.7, that's a serious boat. They're also priced accordingly. I was also chatting with Olivier Dalidec the CEO at 3D Tender. I was looking at their Patrol 550 w/ a 115 HP Suzuki. Who knows. I have a lot to think about. I appreciate your assistance.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Hypalon

cdbxyz, I see your point. I just went to Ribcraft's site and looked at the 5.7, that's a serious boat. They're also priced accordingly. I was also chatting with Olivier Dalidec the CEO at 3D Tender. I was looking at their Patrol 550 w/ a 115 HP Suzuki. Who knows. I have a lot to think about. I appreciate your assistance.

I have almost finished putting together my new 3d XPro 535 and am very pleased with it so far and the quality is very good. I have seen many Ribcraft and been on a couple and much prefer the XPro. You will however soon see that I many on here feel that I am not entitled to an opinion in this regard

[cdbxyz]

OP - what you will also find is that with major purchases like boats, relatively few people having any breadth of actual experience across multiple manufacturers to compare, so you tend to get a lot of confirmation bias clouding the advice you will be given. Folk will always look favorably on the model/brand they have selected because it fits their specific needs and of course they have made the correct choice!

With the breadth of hull shape, intended use, material quality, price, after care, local availability engine options etc etc it's really a pretty futile exercise to ask for advice because your needs/wants will always be different to the advice givers.

[treerat]

Originally Posted by cdbxyz

OP - what you will also find is that with major purchases like boats, relatively few people having any breadth of actual experience across multiple manufacturers to compare, so you tend to get a lot of confirmation bias clouding the advice you will be given. Folk will always look favorably on the model/brand they have selected because it fits their specific needs and of course they have made the correct choice!

With the breadth of hull shape, intended use, material quality, price, after care, local availability engine options etc etc it's really a pretty futile exercise to ask for advice because your needs/wants will always be different to the advice givers.

After moving from the Sib to a Rimini rib I was fairly happy until i went out with more then two on board and in anything other then a flat sea.

The Rimini went and a Zodiac Pro 9 man arrived, loved this, again with two up and ok with 3 but any decent sea it'll slap and we quickly ran out of room.

Forward wind 3 years and an (X-Pro) Defender (patrol) 550 appeared so the Zodiac was part exchanged and we had 5 great years - see the report here - https://www.rib.net/forum/f8/the-sea...toy-85251.html

However the lack of seating did for us and it was a Highfield that was bought - https://www.rib.net/forum/f8/my-new-...ort-87476.html

I've ran her for three seasons at 100 hrs a year. She looks as good today as she did 300 hrs ago and I'm looking forward to a busy year afloat, once the rain finally stops.

I'm also used to the build and design of dive and club rescue boats. If I was to use the Highfield as a club boat I'd be looking at teh size of the console, great for weather protection, but does take up space, and removing the rear locker as the Harbour Masters have done at West Bay and installing a rear Sampson post. The twin jokey, rear bench configeraion works nicely for my family / safety boat activities.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Easedalenovice

You will however soon see that I many on here feel that I am not entitled to an opinion in this regard

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by cdbxyz

OP - what you will also find is that with major purchases like boats, relatively few people having any breadth of actual experience across multiple manufacturers to compare, so you tend to get a lot of confirmation bias clouding the advice you will be given. Folk will always look favorably on the model/brand they have selected because it fits their specific needs and of course they have made the correct choice!

With the breadth of hull shape, intended use, material quality, price, after care, local availability engine options etc etc it's really a pretty futile exercise to ask for advice because your needs/wants will always be different to the advice givers.

I agree, but the OP did ask for “thoughts” on the subject, which is basically what he got.

[Hypalon]

There’s a guy on YouTube, “Boating, Sibbing and Wandering about” who also has a new 3D Tender XPro 535 project Is that you Easedalenovice? That video is what got me thinking about 3D.
This morning 3D wrote me back and indicated their warranty on the tubes is only 2 years, I thought that is a bit weak. I suppose it doesn’t matter if they don’t leak or there are no issues, but it seems to suggest they may not be as confident about their product. Most RIBs have a 5, or even 10 year warranty.
What’s interesting is the NIVIDIC550 has an aluminum hull, and the PATROL550 is fiberglass. Both RIB’s are the same size, but the NIVIDIC550 with the aluminum hull allows a max 100HP and the fiberglass PATROL550 is 115HP. I’d think the aluminum hull on the NIVIDIC550 would give it more structure to support the larger HP, but I guess that’s not the case. Interestingly, if I compare the 3D Tender PATROL550, Highfield Patrol 540, or Zodiac PRO5.5 they’ll all priced like, good, better best. The 3D Tender is about $30k, the Highfield Patrol 540 is $50k, and the Zodiac PRO5.5 is $60k (or more)
In the UK I see a lot of RIB’s used that are in fantastic shape and priced accordingly, it isn’t so much like that in the USA, the RIB market isn’t as strong, so there are not a lot of discounted good RIB’s available.
Thank you for your opinion.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Hypalon

There’s a guy on YouTube, “Boating, Sibbing and Wandering about” who also has a new 3D Tender XPro 535 project Is that you Easedalenovice? That video is what got me thinking about 3D.
This morning 3D wrote me back and indicated their warranty on the tubes is only 2 years, I thought that is a bit weak. I suppose it doesn’t matter if they don’t leak or there are no issues, but it seems to suggest they may not be as confident about their product. Most RIBs have a 5, or even 10 year warranty.
What’s interesting is the NIVIDIC550 has an aluminum hull, and the PATROL550 is fiberglass. Both RIB’s are the same size, but the NIVIDIC550 with the aluminum hull allows a max 100HP and the fiberglass PATROL550 is 115HP. I’d think the aluminum hull on the NIVIDIC550 would give it more structure to support the larger HP, but I guess that’s not the case. Interestingly, if I compare the 3D Tender PATROL550, Highfield Patrol 540, or Zodiac PRO5.5 they’ll all priced like, good, better best. The 3D Tender is about $30k, the Highfield Patrol 540 is $50k, and the Zodiac PRO5.5 is $60k (or more)
In the UK I see a lot of RIB’s used that are in fantastic shape and priced accordingly, it isn’t so much like that in the USA, the RIB market isn’t as strong, so there are not a lot of discounted good RIB’s available.
Thank you for your opinion.

Yes Boating Sibbing and wandering about is my YouTube channel.

My main motivation for buying the XPro 535 was because it will fit on an unbraked trailer and I am fed up with the issues around trailer brakes and salt water. I tow a lot. I looked at highfield but they were way more expensive than 3D and also the size I wanted would not fit on unbraked.

Many people have said that the Highfields are made in one factory in China and the 3D ones are made in a factory over the road.

For the XPro 535 on a trailer with the main console, leaning seat and rear seat, cushions with a few other accessories I paid in the uk about £10,200. I sourced an engine myself and rigged it myself. All up ready to go including a 75 hp yam 2 stroke second hand the final cost will be under £15,000.

I have a full thread here

https://www.rib.net/forum/f8/bought-...rib-90394.html