What 6 to 6,5m rib for the Med

[Seaharrier]

We are considering to buy a new RIB that we could leave in Spain. This way, we would no longer have to tow our actual one to Spain every year.

The rib would be stored in our garage and thus can not be longer than 6,5m (8m with trailer) and a beam of 2,5m. It is essential that the rib has a bimini top for the hot summer sun.

We use our rib in Spain for fishing, waterski and day-cruising.

What rib would you take taking into considaration that a good bimini-top is essential.

[Jon.esp]

We went through the same process a year ago

We had never had a Rib of this size before only smaller tenders for yachts as we have always been sailing people.

We started of looking at Medliners and then Valiants Vangards of which there are loads down there and the Vangards seemed the most competitively priced. We were going to go to the Barcelona Boat Show and were given tickets as with so many cheap flights it is just as easy for us to go there as to London or Southampton.

However we have 13yr old twins one of which has a slight disability so we wanted a boat with a good deep V and would ride a chop well. We went to a Ribcraft trial day in Portland harbour when it was blowing a fair 5-6 and after that we reckoned that we really wanted 4 jockey seats.

This ruled out the Vangards and Medliners although we could have gone for the Valiant DR or Patrol but in the end we have ended up with an XS 600 with a Mercury Optimax 115. This is probably not perfect but it was an ex demo boat at a competitive price. It is in appearance more workboat than a lot of boats down there.

We trucked it down as groupage as I really could be bothered with trailing it and it is probably cheaper anyway. We don’t have a trailer just a cradle with dolly wheels and when we are not there it is stored in a local boatyards storage shed. We have our own mooring.

We are glad we went for the 4 jockeys as they give so much of a sense of security when there is a chop. We keep the boat in the bay of Rosas and head straight out to Cab de Creus where we swim snorkel etc etc. How some of these chaps in Ribs of similar size without Jockeys manage to hang on I am not sure. At least I feel comfortable that we aren’t going to loose the children over the side.

The tubes are dark blue which looks good but a light colour would perhaps have been more practical. We have pressure relief valves.

One problem we may have would be repairing the tubes which are polyurethane. I haven’t have to cross that bridge yet and I hope I wont have to so but if it came to that I may just truck it back to the uk I am sure that it would be very easy to get a Valiant repaired locally.

The best thing we did was to specify a custom boarding ladder. This is a full ladder not the more common telegraph pole type that many dive RIBs have.

I have been considering a Bimini but haven’t done anything about it yet. Being such a small boat unless the sun is directly overhead then it is unlikely to offer sufficient shade. Also if you are doing say 25kn into say a 20kn breeze then any Bimini is going to have to be robustly constructed unless you collapse it underway. I have looked a some on local sports fishing rigid hull boats. I would love to know how you get on.

I notice that you show you have a 7m+ Ospery. I saw a very smart Osprey when we were down there in late July. Why don’t you stick with more of the same?

Do keep the thread updated with your decisions and how you get on as I would be certainly be interested to know.

A few images attached.

[codprawn]

Those ladders look great!!!

[Seaharrier]

Jon,

Thank you for your reply.

First of all, we are really happy with our Osprey. If it wasn't about the bimini top, we would buy a viper max 6,5m with an E-tec 200 HO. But Osprey told us installing bimini's is not their cup of tea (we asked it 2 years ago for our actual one).

Towing it all over to Spain is not an easy and cheap thing. We need to tow it all over to Mallorca. That means +/- 1500 km + we need to take the ferry. Especially the ferry is very expensive with our rib.

I'm not sure about the pod seats for in Spain. I like the lay-out of the Zodiac Medline II. It seems pretty well adapted for the use in the med.

So if anyone has experience of ribs with bimini's let me know.

thank you.

[Aging Youth]

Hi Seaharrier,

As an alternative why not get a Bimini Top custom made for your Osprey. That way you get to keep your choice of craft and can have the best of both.

Regards

Kevin.

[Jon.esp]

We like the jockeys as the children feel quite secure. Quite a chop can build up around Cap de Creus with bullets whipping down of the mountains.

I agree the Medliners look nice with their retractable tables and smart open cockpit in front of the console. Also if I remember lots of little lockers to put things in. We put a cold box in the locker under the suicide seat which we fill up with lots of ice cold bottled water and some fruit and snacks.

Do they have a shower fitting with a small freshwater tank and pump as an extra? If I were buying new I would certainly try to get something like that. I was going to try and pick up a shower bag from a chandler I think they still make them.

The yard where we keep the boat said that their Stainless Fabricator could knock up something for a bimini similar to the one I have seen on a Rodman down there. I am going down in a weeks time and if I see it I will take a picture but I am not convinced it would work well on a rib.

Also I understand Plastimo sell a kit which another Ribnet Member told me about on another thread. I will look that up for you. I still feel however that a permanent Bimini on such a small boat won’t give much shade. I suspect that we will go down the route of an awning that we can rig when at anchor. Something that stows rolled into the A Frame and runs forward to the screen. It won’t look so stylish when rigged but will give us shade when at anchor.

Jon

[RibinSpain]

hi, gosh another RIB in Spain. As you probably know the ferry leaves to the Islands from Denia, Valencia or Barcelona. It is very expensive although if you look on the Iscomar or Acciona websites you may get a deal. Always worth asking as we have been a few times & just ask for a deal.

I used a car transporter to get mine down here to the mainland from UK & there are always loads of hire cars going to & from the Balearics so you may be able to hire some space. A UK company does all the trucking of the hire cars- I´ll get the name next time I see a truck - their drivers are v friendly & they even kept an eye on my boat for me as they park up by the slip.

Re bimini, I used the Plastimo pre made one. It is ok at rest or pottering about but this summer it has been v windy, so it tends to stay down. Most boats here have a custom made steel one & you can get one fabricated for c 500e. Custom built are the best & I´ve seen boats being towed with them up.

Be careful if you tow with a Spanish reg car, any trailor over 750 kg needs a separate registration & ITV, insurance etc- & that´s just the trailor as it is treated as a car. Most expats just use UK reg cars for towing. You also cannot legalise a UK trailor (Bramber for eg) for legal use on Spanish roads - Spanish law to keep them in jobs.

Hope it helps, its our first year of Ribbing here & we await some calm waters which I am assured come at the end of summer - been v choppy on most outings.

Anything else just ask.

[Jon.esp]

Thanks Rib in Spain

It was you who posted on a previous thread about your Bimini so I wont have to look it up.

Where we are up by the Pyrenees it is usually a bit blowy in the afternoon. Back in July we had a very short 4 - 6 ft chop on a couple of days aound some of the headlands. That is why we went for the 4 Jockeys although when at anchor an open cockpit would have been nice but we cant have it both ways.

I am out again the back end of next week and will take some more pictures.

Jon

[Seaharrier]

Originally Posted by Aging Youth

Hi Seaharrier,

As an alternative why not get a Bimini Top custom made for your Osprey. That way you get to keep your choice of craft and can have the best of both.

Regards

Kevin.

I must agree with you that a custom made bimini could be good ...But 2 years ago Osprey advised us not to install one. No I understand. With all the vibrations at high speed even if the bimini is closed, it would suffer a lot. Therefore if the boat is not designed for it, i don't think you can simply add one. This might be easier on a hard boat than on a rib.

Do you know a company who could make a good bimini?

Ribinspain, thank you for the info about the car and trailer in Spain. That will indeed be an other issue. We were thinking of leaving a car and trailer with Belgian licence plate in Spain. But a trailer needs to be "coded" ( technical check-up by an official organisation) every 2 years and the car every year. So the only solution would be a trailer and car with a Spanish licence plate.

[Jon.esp]

The sort of permanent Bimini with a SS tubular frame I looked at on this Rodman was attached to the console. With my console there would be limited space to make the attachment and it also begs the question is the console robust enough. It may end cracking the console or even ripping it out. That could be why Ospery weren’t keen on fitting one. I also feel it would look pretty odd on a RIB.

I reckon we may all have to accept that a permanent Bimini may not work out and settle for something more akin to an awning which can be used when pottering and at anchor.

Jon

[GuyP]

Originally Posted by Jon.esp

The sort of permanent Bimini with a SS tubular frame I looked at on this Rodman was attached to the console.
Jon

Sounds more like a T-Top (like on the Boston Whaler pic attached). Great for the driver but a pain if you ever need to trailer the boat, as you may have to take it off.

[RibinSpain]

hi, yes I agree the jockeys are best for cruising but at rest the bench would be far better - only space for 1 sunbather on the back bench. A solution is to buy a big flat donut thing & use it as a lilo - more sunbathing space at no cost & you can keep the jockeys. I´ve seen them online for 100 GBP & will pick one up on next UK visit.

Re non Spanish cars & towing the law is that over 750 kg you need separate ITV & regn for the trailor, I have a UK Bramber & it cannot be legalised in Spain. Bramber are happy with UK sales so haven´t gone for Spanish homoligation, a pain but that´s life. Anyway, I got a similar Spanish trailor made up locally & have the plaque & paperwork for that (Ficha technica). When the plaque on the copy gets a bit corroded I´m going to put that on the Bramber so it has effectively been legalised, by me of course.

The Spanish legal trailor looks like a load of pipecleaners by comparison to the Bramber so I will keep it as a spare, minus the plaque of course.

I have yet to be stopped by the police but I know someone who has - towing non Spanish trailor with Spanish car - it´s a 600e fine so be warned. The alternative if you are caught with a Belgian reg car with no tax MOT etc, ie, illegal in the home country, is impoundment. Basically, you won´t get it back.

Hope it helps, anything else just ask. Spansih love their bureaucracy & if you ask 3 people advice you willñ get 4 different answers. Above took me 2 months of chasing around to clarify.

[Jon.esp]

Guy. That’s the sort of thing. T top you called it. But just look at how it is attached. If you made it any bigger to give more shade you’ll be paragliding not wave jumping.

Also have any of you ever been stropped by any of the Spanish authorities whilst afloat? And is your boat Spanish, British or Belgium Registered?

[RibinSpain]

Our boat is UK reg & displays the SSR no q clearly front & back. The Police do patrol the harbours keeping an eye on things - incidentally they don´t wear lifejackets on their RIB, a 6m Valiant, so not a brilliant example.

We were speeding in a Nature Reserve - not knowingly of course - & were stopped by the Gov Agency boat (Media Ambiente dept). They just explained the local law which was fair enough, it´s a temporary summer thing to keep the wash down. They didn´t want to see our papers.

Round here sad to report we are the only lifejacket wearers & most boating expats don´t have the ICC. Local RYA training centres charge 400 GBP per ICC which puts most people off.

[Jon.esp]

We are also SSR as it seems both easier and cheaper. We do carry in a wallet on board various documents all of which have been laminated which include the SSR doc, ships and operators radio licences, cert of insurance and our own certificates of incompetence.

I haven’t been stopped by any authorities in Spain for many years mind you I have only had our current boat since the spring. Up until a few years back the Guarda National (at least I think it was them} used to from time to time patrol the various harbours during darkness in a small gun boat. I was told many years ago not to fall out with them which is generally sound advice regarding anybody brandishing guns. I must admit I have always been confused over the various Guarda and understand that have are will shortly amalgamated.

I have however been told that last year boats have been fined for picking up mooring laid by a local hotel in a bay with the national park despite the fact that the hotel not only gave them permission but also charged a mooring fee. There are restrictions over anchoring in certain areas which seem to change and are difficult to keep track of. We haven’t fallen foul of anything yet.

Almost 20 years back I bought a yacht in France put it under full British Reg and sailed it to Spain. This was before Spain was fully integrated into the then EEC. I put up the Q flag on entering the harbour and was immediately pulled over by the customs and instructed to go to their lay-by berth. I got out all the paperwork but the two young chaps weren’t interested in that at all. They were keen on sailing and my boat was a very racy looking ¼ ton cup boat so they just wanted to have a good look over it. I asked them about inward clearance and they said as long as I went to the Harbourmasters Office in the next couple of weeks there wouldn’t be a problem. I’m not sure it I still quite so laid back now.

I agree with you that life jackets of any sort are definitely not in fashion up in the Bay of Rosas. A rumour has it that the last life jacket sales man went bust may years ago and drowned himself out of protest. I put up a thread some weeks back with pictures of the Viglancia trying to rescue a tender I think I called it Keystone Cops. Even the Cros Roja don’t wear any and a couple of pictures to prove it. Like you we seem to be the only people in the area who do. My children have had it so well drilled into them by the school and sailing club in the UK that they simply won’t go out without them on.