My F-rib 330

[mm289]

So a year on and thought i would update this with a few modifications I have made on the FRib.


First of all, wanted to get a basic plotter/sounder/fish finder so based on recommendations on here picked up a Garmin DV45. This has been great to use and ideal for the Frib as it isn't to big. Been playing around with locations for the Transducer fow which there is a seperate thread here http://www.rib.net/forum/f37/in-hull...cer-79316.html


Next challenge was where to mount it so based on another piece of advice I have made up a seat mount. Basically a piece of wood that is fixed to the front seat on the FRib via the cushion straps and a single bolt.


The wood then has 2 Scotty mounts, one infront, one behind the seat which allows me to fit a range of attachments. At the moment i have the Garmin mount and a rod mount, but will probably get a cup holder mount as well for that added touch of luxury


Cheers,


Paul

[Fenlander]

Always good to get some snagging/refining done Paul.

Having owned the Aerotec for 4yrs it's pretty well sorted so I'm running out of fiddling jobs. Of course changing the outboard this year did give an excuse for purchases and further refinements but now that's sorted I've pretty well run out of "to do's".

Look forward to hearing how you get on in the Oban area. Did you get sorted with a prop or wasn't there time before the holiday?

[mm289]

Yep, got a spare prop sorted thanks, Pacer marine did one on next day delivery which was great. Went for an 8" pitch as suggested by Jeff as it will give me something to play with


Also got a new tach fitted so should be able to get some WOT numbers.


Cheers


Paul.

[mm289]

Just back from a very wet week in Scotland, middle of August and it hooned down nearly every day and was way to windy to get out on the water apart from one day

In preperation for the trip we threw together (aka the wife industriously sewed) a bow dodger for the front of the FRib.

It was made from the groundsheet of an old Halfords tent which we cut to rough shape and then pinned in place (slightly scary) so wifey could then go and sew in pleats.

Used some of the poles cut to lenth to create a bow/frame and slotted these into a couple of pins I made from some S/S rod that slide into the front rope eyes on the FRib.

Then got some U clips to hook on the rail around the FRib and secured with some bungees a la Guppy.

Although a little scruffy it a actually worked really well to keep the spray off and also to keep out water when running in a chop at displacement speeds. Dog liked it as well

Cheers,

Paul.

[mm289]

The final mod I did before the trip was to mount my second rod holder. This is another Scotty mount that takes the same lockable rod holder that I already use on the seat mount, but means when in transit I can have the rod mounted out the back, out of the way.

It was a bit scary as this was the first time I had drilled through the transom

Anyway, following advice on here drilled through and coated bolts/holes in Sikaflex 291 to seal and mounted the unit as high up as I could. Beacuse of the length of the rod butt (Uglystik) it has to sit at an angle rather than straight up, but doesn't interfeer with the engine as it is on the non tiller side.

As well as the locking device on the holder, I will also use a Kayak paddle leash (the blue small bungee cord) to hold the rod in under tension just to stop it bouncing around.

Did I get a chance to use it on holiday - did I heck

Cheers

Paul

[mm289]

Some observations on FRib performance.

When we were up in Scotland we got the chance to spend about 5 hours on the water with Paul B in his Honwave T38ie. It was really interesting to compare the performance of the two units.

Paul was solo and running his 15HP 4 stroke, we were 2 up plus dog (so about 175kg) with my 15HP 2 stroke. Obviously the Honwave is a slightly larger boat at 3.8m vs the FRib at 3.3m, not sure on the relative weights, assuming they are similar with the extra weight of the solid floor on the FRib.


From a speed point of view the boats were very similar. we did a couple of comparison runs and at WOT I was running about 19kn into a slight headwind. Paul was pretty much the same, maybe 0.5kn quicker but not a lot in it.


There was a real difference in the ride though. The conditions were varying between a small ripple to an annoying chop, wind coming up the Loch was about 10kn with stronger gusts and especially on the way back was over tide. Nothing nasty but enough that it created a swell of maybe 12" with a shortish frequency and white crests. The real difference was how the air floor just smoothed out these bumps whereas the FRib crashed into them.

When it got particularly lumpy I was consciously throttling and choosing oblique lines on the bigger chop to minimise the crash. It would have been fine for me 1 up but with passenger and dog it would be too uncomfortable. Having said that, we still maintained about 15kn but it was very noticieable how Paul just absorbed the bumps whereas we felt the crash.

Paul still had to stop and resecure stuff in his boat, so it wasn't that it wasn't feeling the bumps it was just absorbing them better. You could also tell by the way the Honwave maintained a pretty flat profile in chop whereas the FRib was noticably "skipping".

As other have said before, the trade off is the slippy hull, for the FRib to be basically as quick as the Honwave with double the passenger weight is pretty good I think

The other really noticeable difference was the bow height. The Honwave has a very pronounced uplift in the bow section whereas the FRib is relatively flat. Makes no difference on the plane but really noticeable at displacement speeds. When we were poodling along at displacement in the rougher conditions the bow on the FRib had a definiate tendency to plough and send water up over the front. Not at a level to be dangerous, but would definately have mde it a wet boat. As it happened this is where the bow dodger was great as it stopped this water from getting into the boat at all. The Honwave had no such problems as its natural uprise in the bow just lets its ride over these crests much more easily at displacement speeds.

So, trade offs as ever, no right or wrong but interesting to see the different characteristics of the boats.
Cheers,
Paul

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by mm289

Some observations on FRib performance.

When we were up in Scotland we got the chance to spend about 5 hours on the water with Paul B in his Honwave T38ie. It was really interesting to compare the performance of the two units.

Paul was solo and running his 15HP 4 stroke, we were 2 up plus dog (so about 175kg) with my 15HP 2 stroke. Obviously the Honwave is a slightly larger boat at 3.8m vs the FRib at 3.3m, not sure on the relative weights, assuming they are similar with the extra weight of the solid floor on the FRib.


From a speed point of view the boats were very similar. we did a couple of comparison runs and at WOT I was running about 19kn into a slight headwind. Paul was pretty much the same, maybe 0.5kn quicker but not a lot in it.


There was a real difference in the ride though. The conditions were varying between a small ripple to an annoying chop, wind coming up the Loch was about 10kn with stronger gusts and especially on the way back was over tide. Nothing nasty but enough that it created a swell of maybe 12" with a shortish frequency and white crests. The real difference was how the air floor just smoothed out these bumps whereas the FRib crashed into them.

When it got particularly lumpy I was consciously throttling and choosing oblique lines on the bigger chop to minimise the crash. It would have been fine for me 1 up but with passenger and dog it would be too uncomfortable. Having said that, we still maintained about 15kn but it was very noticieable how Paul just absorbed the bumps whereas we felt the crash.

Paul still had to stop and resecure stuff in his boat, so it wasn't that it wasn't feeling the bumps it was just absorbing them better. You could also tell by the way the Honwave maintained a pretty flat profile in chop whereas the FRib was noticably "skipping".

As other have said before, the trade off is the slippy hull, for the FRib to be basically as quick as the Honwave with double the passenger weight is pretty good I think

The other really noticeable difference was the bow height. The Honwave has a very pronounced uplift in the bow section whereas the FRib is relatively flat. Makes no difference on the plane but really noticeable at displacement speeds. When we were poodling along at displacement in the rougher conditions the bow on the FRib had a definiate tendency to plough and send water up over the front. Not at a level to be dangerous, but would definately have mde it a wet boat. As it happened this is where the bow dodger was great as it stopped this water from getting into the boat at all. The Honwave had no such problems as its natural uprise in the bow just lets its ride over these crests much more easily at displacement speeds.

So, trade offs as ever, no right or wrong but interesting to see the different characteristics of the boats.
Cheers,
Paul

Very interesting & useful write up, thanks for taking the time[emoji106]
I’m in the middle of research re.buying a smaller boat to take on tour. I & was umming & ahhiing about the Frib v Airfloor, your info has helped confirm my decision, thanks again.

[Fenlander]

Yep thanks for that informative report Paul. Broadly speaking it supports the few posts there have been on here re the Frib. Hull efficiency seems to be their USP enabling a smaller OB to be used for the same performance which... particularly for a circumstance like The Gurnard when he's boating from the back of the car... makes for a more portable outfit.

We've had a couple of SIBs with lowish bow profiles where... combined with them being uncomfortable on the plane in a sharp chop... we suffered water over the bow at displacement speeds.

With our Aerotec it has a higher bow like the Honwave (different shape but same result) and if we are pulled right down in speed off the plane I shift my weight back a bit to raise the bow and keep dry. Alternatively in the worse waves I lift the revs a little to run it at that speed I normally avoid... where it's just trying to climb the hump so has a bow up attitude.

It's a shame there are current rumbles about quality control issues with new Honwaves because as your report indicate they have good abilities and at a price of £1050 for the T38 compared to £2995 for the 3.6m Frib they are amazing value.

Scotland is a weather dilemma indeed. On the good days it's the best place to be but it takes some resilience to cope with the cost of a week's holiday sometimes booked months ahead, an 850ml round trip and trouble of taking the boat for that one suitable day out.

We've not travelled North for three years now but previously had done so for decades. The last four holidays up there we went for two weeks at a time and found it massively increased the chance of a few nice days but I know not everyone has enough holiday to do that.

Mrs F and I are actually OK(ish) with below par weather but it was our daughters that tired of it hence moving holidays to the south for these past years. In a couple of years the youngest will no longer come with us and we'll head back to the west coast.

[mm289]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I’m in the middle of research re.buying a smaller boat to take on tour. I & was umming & ahhiing about the Frib v Airfloor, your info has helped confirm my decision, thanks again.

Which way are you leaning Dave?


@Fenlander we are fortunate in that our kids have grwon up so have a lot of flexibility. The weather was grim though however the one day we got on Etive with Paul almost made it worth while.


I am somewhat vexed however at coming home to find it is 28 degrees and dead flat on a Bank Holiday weekend


So much so that we ended up taking the boat out inshore of Deal and around to Sandwich and did a bit of fishing as well so not all lost


Cheers,


Paul.

[mm289]

Just to add to my comments above, the one real advantage of the FRib for me is the hard floor when beach launching.


We don't have any slipways around here so have to launch of beach's and the ability to run the FRib into the beach without worrying (to much) about scratches, rocks, pebbles is a real bonus.


If I was trailer launching then I think that would lean me to an air floor but if beach launching, and especially when exploring Scottish rocks/beaches it just feels a lot more robust having a hard floor!
Cheers,
Paul.

[mm289]

Propellors, pitches and revs's:

So for the trip to Scotland we got a spare prop as a backup. Original prop was a 9" pitch and the spare I picked up was a genuine Mariner 8" pitch.

For comparison here are the stats on both props after a couple of longish runs, both fitted to a Mariner 15HP 2 stroke:

9" pitch:
Loaded with 2 persons plus dog circa 175kg. WOT 5400RPM max speed 18.5kn
Loaded with 1 person circa 100kg. Not sure on WOT but max speed 20kn
8" pitch:
Loaded with 3 persons circa 200kg. WOT 6400RPM max speed 16kn
Loaded with 1 person circa 100kg. WOT 6400 RPM max speed 18kn

The boat definately had more initial launch with the smaller prop especially when loaded but I was surprised how much more revs it was pulling.

The manual seems to indicate WOT at 5000-6000RPM so not sure if it is over revving at 6400RPM, but it would cruise happily at about 14.5kn at 5900-6000RPM so that was where I was keeping it.


Almost feels like a 8.5" pitch would be ideal but not sure thats available


It was also interesting that with the 9" the boat ran noticeably better on trim 3, i.e. fully trimmed up whereas with the 8" it was happy just on 2.


With the FRib, trim 1 is a no-no as it creates so much splash - almost feels like the engine needs raising on the transom when on trim 1, whereas on 2 & 3 there is very little splash.


Cheers,


Paul.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by mm289

Which way are you leaning Dave?

.

Air floor at the mo. Going to the boat show just to look at other options, but I’m 75% decided.

[Fenlander]

Great info and detail.

Re the pitch I think the Frib hull is sufficiently slippery to make the 8" a little underpitched for your situation as even your 14.5kts "cruise" is right at the OBs maximum. You never know until you try each alternative prop as I've found.

You could discuss with a prop shop re sending your 8" prop away to have it cupped or re-pitched because as you say something that works as if an 8.5" might suit best. One of the good prop repair shops should be able to do this for you.

[jeffstevens763@g]

Paul great write up especially on a one day trip I would like to have seen the results of Paul's boat with the extra person and dog as a full comparison. The frib impresses me, well gurnard's one does in many ways but having owned shallow hulled ribs they aren't as forgiving in the rough as a SIB IMO if they were I would have bought one still driving to the conditions with either makes for a better ride I tend to lift the Bow on a desent rev range and leave it there as long as possible in the rough it keeps the spray down to some extent.
It's a shame you had bad weather bug always next time

[mm289]

One of the minor issues I had last year was the n/s/r tube deflating very slowly e.g. if I left the boat inflated overnight the tube would be a bit soft in the morning.


I had read a thread somewhere about the blow off/over pressure valve leaking so when we went to the Boat Show last year I asked Steve Bruce (UK importer) and he said sometimes you can get sand or grit in the valve itself or where it mates to the tube.


So today I had a go at sorting it out. It was sooooo much easier as I have also invested in a trailer to try and help us get out a bit more as I can leave the Frib set up in the garage and just shoot off whenever we get a chance.


Anyway, if you have a similar issues the valve looks like this (the red one)
2020-05-29 10.13.48 (Medium).jpg


And is a 3 piece arrangement. Their is a male threaded outer that holds the actual spring loaded valve, a cap and a female threaded inner inside the tube. The tube itself is clamped between the inner and outer.


The outer has indentations around it that you can grip with thin nosed pliers or I used a large set of expanding circlip pliers. You can hold the inner by hand gripping it through the tube and then loosen the outer using the pliers.


Unscrew and the outer and cap will come off together.
2020-05-29 10.14.01 (Medium).jpg
2020-05-29 10.14.14 (Medium).jpg


When I got the outer off you have to have an arrangement to hold the inner in place as it will just fall into the tube otherwise, I used some clamps to hold it whilst I took the valve inside to clean.
2020-05-29 10.13.53 (Medium).jpg


The threads had the remains of some silicon type sealant on them although Steve said not to use any sealant so i cleaned all this off and also pushed the valve itself open against the spring to clean the rubber seal there as well.


Went back outside to refit and yup, my clamp had fallen off and the inner valve was somewhere inside the tube


5 minutes of fishing later and I got it back - I used some soapy water just as a lubricant to help the valve tighten down onto the tube when I reassembled
2020-05-29 10.54.27 (Medium).jpg


As you will spot from the photo above I forgot to fit the cap first so had to take off again and redo


Still, all tightened up now and seems to be holding pressure - passed the bubble test with soapy water so all looks good. Only about a 45 minute job so although fiddly, well worth it.


Cheers,


Paul.

[Fenlander]

Interesting to read Paul. Always good to get an annoying small leak sorted. I've never had a SIB with over pressure valves so wouldn't know what a branded one would look like but... no disrespect intended... those look a bit cheaply made.

And no you aren't the first Frib owner to have them faulty.

[mm289]

Yep, bit like you no idea what good looks like!


Had it out on the river today though and all appeared ok so holding pressure now


And I can't believe how much more relaxed it is trailering rather than setting up each time, its soooooo easy


Cheers,


Paul.

[mm289]

A few updates on the setup of the Frib promppted by @fenlander's great post about his. Not detailed what goes in the bags yet - still thinking about that

Attached a stretchy net bag to the port side to hold drinks etc to hand and also attached a couple of bits of velcro to the grab rope so I can easily access the boat hook and stow it securely when underway (copied from someone else on here )

The battery box that is used for the pump/phones/garmin used to be kept in the underseat storage, but have now got it bungee'd to the starboard side floor. Creates more room in the storage bag but also means I can access it easier. Might need to create an outlet in the lid though as the Garmin power socket sticks out a bit.

Moved the emergency bag (red tape) to the rear, this holds tools, plugs, pump, tape etc if needed and means if I need to access something like a spare kill cord or tools quickly I don't have to climb over the boat to reach them.

Leaves more room up front for anchor bag

which the dog appreciates



Cheers,

Paul.

[Fenlander]

Interesting to see, thanks for posting. Good to have one other member of the SIB/Frib boathook club... we may be the only two members.

[mm289]

Yep, I couldn't remember who I had knicked the idea off but it is really good
I used to keep it on the floor but it was a real pain getting it out when needed past the seats etc, this way I can reach from the tiller and release in a matter of seconds.


Makes it much easier on the river when you are coming into a bank or mooring and of course for recovering baseball caps when they blow off


Cheers,


Paul.