Hello from Wales - lookinf for newbie information

[newbie]

Wow - what a wealth of information on this site, I have been reading posts with interest.

Finally convinced the wife that we need a boat and more importantly she kindoff agrees. I have had to compromise from looking at stringrays to ribs.

Rightly or wrongly i seem to be settling on a Honwave air-v- floor 3.8 metres - family of 4 with a 20HP motor.

Never had a boat before, so looking for advise on motor boat courses, the boat in question, wet suits and other equipement my local chandler has lots to offer so OK. should you buy new or second hand

I guess any pointers or pointers to links will always be gratefully received

[rossymtb]

Are you planning on using a trailer or packing away each time into the boot?

Have a look into the Powerboat level 2 course
and vhf courses
Powerboating » Plas Menai

Where about in wales are you planing on using your sib?

Remember you need to first get 3rd party insurance (min)
register the boat with a local harbour master or council
Alot of the time you also have to pay the launch fee

[newbie]

thanks, really helpful information ...

plan to use in Anglesey we have a holiday caravan there

was going to post some seperate threads on insurance/ courses, etc but really helpful pointers.

not sure about towing or packing away - spoken to people who has similar to the Honwave and they keep it on the caravan site and pack it away. Car is suitable for towing 2 tonnes so can do either.

Site has a private lauch area so will reduce those fees.

key is a boat that is suitable, tolerable and safe for someone who has never had a boat before

[rossymtb]

Mine is a 3.8m with a 25hp 2 stroke, Fast enough with 5 people to be on the scary side and will pull/tow people on a kneeboard/donut.

Started of keeping it in the boot but with this size of engine its not lightweight and fast become a chore blowing it and packing away all the time (plus i have been told it can damage them up and down all the time)

I now keep the boat on the trailer and will fold it all away at the end of the season and keep it in the house. In terms of towing i was very unsure about it first of but my car pulls the boat and loads of camping gear fine only being a 1400cc

Boat weighs in at 76kg
engine no more than 80kg again at a guess
Trailer 150kg max
other accessories 100kg

406kg max really so not a heavy load to be towing.

Launching from a beach is easy enough to do alone,
(preparation is the key to being successful in my eyes)

Since the boat is light i tend to unhitch it and walk/fast push the boat into the water on the trailer, and since i prepared my self with a rope attached to the bow of the boat onto the rear of the trailer i simply pull the trailer back out and it slowly beaches the boat safely (instead of the boat floating off)

Recovering is pretty simple aswell,

Beach the boat gently as to not damage the underside. ( anchor it up just incase)
Push trailer deep enough into the water, pull boat onto trailer (attach boat to trailer via a quick clip on the front like a stainless climbing carabina)
then either if its easy enough pull the trailer and boat out by myself or attach a long rope onto the front of the trailer and back of the car (keeping the car well away from sloppy sand/water) and drive forward/ get out shorten rope/drive forward/get out attach trailer to car

sounds hard but its not and pretty quick at it now to. obviously more people could make it easier.

Launching from a decent slip way i always use a rope as my trailer needs to go deep.

[rossymtb]

Obviously that's the way i have found which works best for me but you may find other ways.


Sorry about my bad writing skills. Im a male and find it hard to type and thinking about what im saying at the same time

[Dan Gurney]

Someone will be along in a minute to tell you that if it's got an air floor then its a SIB (soft inflateable boat) rather than a RIB (Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat).

What is it that particularly appeals about the air floor? If you are keeping it at the camp site and you are launching from a slip than a small RIB would give you a few more options in terms of weather. Flat bottomed boats can be a bit of a chore in any kind of sea (waves).