your best upgrade or tip

[darrenwest1]

, whats been the best upgrade you have done to your rib , dont have to be expensive ?

[Peter_C]

Well I bought a boat/trailer/outboard, including a Garmin Side scan sonar, for $2,000 US that was owned by a professional "handyman". Not only was the boat well used, he had no clue about anything to do with boats, and I don't recommend anyone hire him to do any kind of work for them. It required a complete disassembly, and with help of a friend we rebuilt the entire boat, so the whole thing is an upgrade.

The best upgrade? New upholstery, made on wider seat bases, so we can sit two on the forward console seat, and two adults with a child between us on the helm seat.

[ptm]

It has to be last year when I re-engined the rib from a 115 etec to a 140 Suzuki. Such a great, smooth, economical engine. The etec was great too, but because I bought the rib with it already fitted, I was never 100% sure of its history, and as it turned out there were some pre-existing gearbox issues which turned out quite expensive to sort. The Suzuki gives us great confidence when we head out, which is worth a heck of a lot.

[cdbxyz]

cup/beer holders

[User name]

One of my favourite simple mods was sewing some tie down straps onto the boat bag (the ones with the little thumb brake thing). It means I can snug them up when the boat is packed in and it keeps the bag very compact and easy to store. Also stops it flapping around and making noise when I have it on a roof rack.

Next to that would probably be my pump setup. I use a 20v compact pump (something like this) that is high volume rather than high pressure so It inflates the whole boat in under 2 mins. I then go around with a manual syringe pump to bring up to final pressure. I needed to make a 3D printed part to adapt the pump outlet to my Halkey Roberts valves though. I also have one of those 2-stage bravo pumps, but it takes ages and the noise of it drives me insane, especially when you're out on a quiet lake first thing in the morning.

[spartacus]

I’ve got a couple. Zodiac MilPro fuel bladder. I don’t really need it unless I’m long distance cruising, but it’s so convenient. Takes 20 litres, sits on one of the sponsons and locks onto the lace cuff on the rib and is more practical to refuel, than hauling the main fuel tanks out from under the jockey seats, where they are strapped down. They come up for sale from time to time and I can’t recommend highly enough if you fancy one. New they are £800+ from memory.

This is taking the pi**, but like everything, I blame Brexit. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145160983...kaAjrLEALw_wcB

Second one, stainless steel locking carabiner, you can’t have too many.

[willk]

Over a few boats, I'd say my favourites changes have been to storage. Better ways of storing stuff, loading stuff, accessing stuff. Having kit sorted and ready to go is legend. So boxes and bags and kits of Stuff.

Oh, and a second plotter. That's maybe a slightly more expensive addition, but maybe not too much so. Great to have at sea. I used to run a second VHF which was regarded as a little odd, but I found it very useful.

[Pikey Dave]

Elasticated cargo net, damned handy for stuffing all the odds & sods. As already said, storage is the big issue on any boat, not just RIBs