New Sib or Alu rib or Plastic Rib

[Pentland Zodiac]

Hello! I’m new here. I was out just the other day in my Zodiac Futura and upon return spotted that the floor and tube have started to separate near the bow…..the boat is rather old and whilst probable repairable (the transom is a bit shabby and I was going to attempt to refurbish everything in the off season) the other half has lost confidence in our tub and has hinted that we should probably get somthing newer/better.

This leads me to my question, what to go for!

I usually at the very least take out with me the other half and the dog. The kids come out when they are staying over. We usually have a flare box with safety bits and bobs, and a bucket for the anchor, 25 litres of fuel, sometimes a creel and the obligatory fishing rod.

I am not a fair weather sailor and quite happy with a bit of swell and chop if conditions change when we are out.

I was quite impressed with the inflatable v hull on a Honda t38 that I saw but I am drawn to the alu hulled Quicksilver 420 and the Whaly 370/400/435 look interesting propositions as well. I was hoping to get somthing with some sort of hull shape rather than a flat bottom again. Does anyone have any experience with the boats I mentioned?

Attached is a pic of my boat before it was decommissioned for the winter

[beamishken]

No experience of a whaley but do own a small aluminium hull rib which we do like. A rib be it fibreglass or aluminium hull will out perform a similar size rib in every way except cost and folding up. We use ours as a tender & its actually lighter than the air floor sib it replaced it's faster with the same engine & rides far better & doesnt flex like a sib as boats get bigger my preference would be for a fibreglass hull but the smaller alu hulls in the size your looking at seem a good option.

[Fenlander]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Almost three different boats for three different circumstances. Much depends on your storing and launch circumstances.

The T38 is relatively cheap and aimed at those who wish to blow it up from the car each use. Use with existing outboard.

The Quicksilver 420 a serious boat (see long trips by The Gurnard on this forum) at probably costing twice three times as much, weighting almost three times as much and needing a trailer plus probably a bigger outboard.

The Whaly boats are for bashing up rocks without a care, cost over twice that of a T38, weigh three times as much, probably need a bigger outboard, need trailer unless moored.

So it's really how your use fits in best with one or the other.