Safety Boat SIB - Recommendations?

[Jimbo]

I am looking to purchase 2x SIBs to use as a safety boats for a youth charity I volunteer with.

We have a fleet of 9 sailing dinghies, and over 40 Kayaks, and take them away once a year on our summer camp; although I am looking to increase the number of coastal trips the dinghies do (we usually sail on a lake).

Our requirement for a safety boat is as follows:
- Inexpensive (relatively) both in purchase price and maintenance
- Suitable for use as a youth PB training boat
- Ideally transportable in such a way that it doesn't need a trailer
- Easy to secure
- A safe working platform for coaching
- Enough power to tow up to three dinghies
- Suitably for coastal use as well as inland

For that reason I have pretty much narrowed down what I am looking at to the Bombard C4, probably with wheels on the back, but with a Tohatsu 20hp Outboard.

My reasoning is the alu floor makes it a credible coaching platform, it's reasonably quick and durable, and I can fit it and engine in the back of a car for transporting, freeing the car up to tow dinghies.

Does anybody have any other suggestions? I chose the bombard as have already used one, but am open to other makes?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

For that reason I have pretty much narrowed down what I am looking at to the Bombard C4, probably with wheels on the back, but with a Tohatsu 20hp Outboard....

....and I can fit it and engine in the back of a car for transporting, freeing the car up to tow dinghies.

Jimbo - have you done this? I don't know how big a 4.3m Sib is when folded up - but I'd have thought would be large. As I recall my 2str 20HP required the back seat down on a mazda 323 hatchback so your 4str will be bigger and heavier. I think with most cars you'll definitely need the back seat sown to fit it in - especially with fuel tank and any boating gear and safety kit (as well as personal kit for driver and passenger) that you might want in there. A 20HP 4str will also be a significant lift to get in and out of a car. Not sure if the boats or trailer are upto it but would it be better to pack this inside the dinghies?

Personally I'm not sure about random people packing and unpacking sibs and any potential damage that might inflict. Likewise with heavy engines which are sensitive to being stored on their side . You'll know the people better than me and how likely you are to spend your time fixing the damage of well meaning people who help out, or how likely it is that you become an essential part of the team as you are the only person who can do it right (and put them together) and how that might impact on you.

[Jimbo]

Hi Polwart,

Thanks for the response

Originally Posted by Polwart

Jimbo - have you done this?

Yes - Clipper Ventures have a Bombard C5 we use as a tender in the west country, and that plus it's 20hp Tohatsu fit in the back of my Citroen, with just one seat removed.

Many of our volunteers have landies, and we have a couple of big box trailers we use for kit - so it's manageable as a concept; certainly more so than a couple of Rigiflex's or similar.

Originally Posted by Polwart

Not sure if the boats or trailer are upto it but would it be better to pack this inside the dinghies?

This is an option for the SIB, but probably not for the engine - too hard to secure it from moving about.

Originally Posted by Polwart

Personally I'm not sure about random people packing and unpacking sibs and any potential damage that might inflict... ...you are the only person who can do it right (and put them together) and how that might impact on you.

Yep, this is a potential issue, but in reality no more so than getting people to put our (borrowed/hired) ribs to bed on trailers etc - at least it's our own kit we'd be trashing! My sailing team are a pretty good bunch, and have gotten used to me being OCD quite quickly, so I think we'd manage.

I've already made myself indespensible as long as I'm the only Senior Instructor and Advanced PBI that's part of the group - I'm working on getting some others qualified up ASAP to counter that

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Yes - Clipper Ventures have a Bombard C5 we use as a tender in the west country, and that plus it's 20hp Tohatsu fit in the back of my Citroen, with just one seat removed

I guess its not a citroen C1!

So which brands of SIB have you looked at to arrive at the Bombard? That will let those in the know suggest others.

[treerat]

I used to have a yam 3.83 with a 25 on the back. I could carry it in the boot, on the roof rack, inflated on teh roof rack or load on the top of a trailer.

Would do what you need it to nicely.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by Polwart

So which brands of SIB have you looked at to arrive at the Bombard? That will let those in the know suggest others.

None - I've started at the Bombard as that's what I've driven and packed etc with Clipper, then asked a question of the knowledgeable people of RibNet

Originally Posted by treerat

I used to have a yam 3.83 with a 25 on the back. I could carry it in the boot, on the roof rack, inflated on the roof rack or load on the top of a trailer.

I'm guessing that was a 25hp 2-smoke?

I'll get some pricing on a Yam 3.83 too - that may come down to being the deciding factor.

[C2 RIBS]

Jimbo we had the Quicksilver 430 with Ali floor but kept it inflated on a trailer with a mariner 25hp as in photo with A frame etc.
Still being used by a search and rescue team

[treerat]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

None - I've started at the Bombard as that's what I've driven and packed etc with Clipper, then asked a question of the knowledgeable people of RibNet



I'm guessing that was a 25hp 2-smoke?

I'll get some pricing on a Yam 3.83 too - that may come down to being the deciding factor.

Indeed it was

[CJL]

Our Thundercat "Eastern Thunder" has proven very useful as a safety boat and a dinghy teaching platform.

We went for the 50hp Mariner on the back (its the same as the racing Tohatsu) but you could easily put a 30hp or a 20hp on it.

Its stable and can tow dingies off the ally transom very easily. Plus you can roll flat and put it in the boot of a large-ish car but it's a bit of a hassle compared to roof or trailering.

Chris

[tim griffin]

Got a 3.10 m Zodiac rib/tender for sale with a 8hp yamaha 2 stroke £900
no trailer .
Let me know if any good.
Cheers
Tim

[9D280]

Out of curiosity, what are the dinghies, and how ae they trailered?

I'm thinking that you could possibly bolt / weld an O/B bracket to the trailer somewhere.

Also if they're not fast dinghies, (e.g oppies) you could get a smaller engine with a lower pitch prop - less weight, as you only need enough HP to get on the plane. Lower pitch also = puilling power. Different story if it's a fleet of Int.14s!

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by 9D280

Out of curiosity, what are the dinghies, and how ae they trailered?

We have two Laser Bahias, three Laser Vagos, and four Laser Picos (nothing like a bit of brand loyalty!).

The Bahias go on a frame double stacker - we could possibly arrange a bracket on the front without too much difficulty - it's a very well balanced trailer at the moment.

The Vagos and one Pico go on two Mersea Trailers Regatta Double Stackers... we've had a bit of an issue with these! They have a large storage box underneath the two boats, and weigh a massive amount even unladen. We struggled just before our last camp getting weight far enough back to give an acceptable nose weight - there really is no scope on these for the outboards.

The last three picos go two on a double stacker - again we could do something with a bracket on this one, and the third on either a roofrack or a single roadbase (no options for engines here).

I think we fit somewhere between the I14 (I've just bought a 1/4 share in one of these, it's mental!) and the Oppy - the Vagos are pretty fast, so we need a decent bit of pace to keep up with them. In terms of towing from the SIB, 15hp should be plenty.