New guy looking for advice

[tommytwosheds]

Hi, I am looking to get myself a sib/f-rib or even a small rib but I am completely bamboozled by the overwhelming choices out there.

Perhaps if I tell you what I hope to do with my potential new craft you experts could help me?

First off I live on the North Devon coast near Bideford and would be hopefully using my boat in the Torridge estuary and Bideford Bay on calmer days.

I would like to use my boat for fun with my kids just blasting about pulling a ringo and the like,
Also to go fishing with my mates or even by myself on occasion, with a bit of cove hopping chucked in as well.

Also I want to be able to either deflate and throw in the back of my van or car with ease.
A friend of mine who is no newbie to boat owning said if I got a small rib I could let the tubes down and put the thing on my roof rack on my van how practical would that be?

Is there any where local to me I can go and look at boats myself?

Thanks for the time reading this rambling post and I would appreciate any advice at all

Tommytwosheds😁

[tommytwosheds]

Hi, I am looking to get myself a sib/f-rib or even a small rib but I am completely bamboozled by the overwhelming choices out there.

Perhaps if I tell you what I hope to do with my potential new craft you experts could help me?

First off I live on the North Devon coast near Bideford and would be hopefully using my boat in the Torridge estuary and Bideford Bay on calmer days.

I would like to use my boat for fun with my kids just blasting about pulling a ringo and the like,
Also to go fishing with my mates or even by myself on occasion, with a bit of cove hopping chucked in as well.

Also I want to be able to either deflate and throw in the back of my van or car with ease.
A friend of mine who is no newbie to boat owning said if I got a small rib I could let the tubes down and put the thing on my roof rack on my van how practical would that be?

Is there any where local to me I can go and look at boats myself?

Thanks for the time reading this rambling post and I would appreciate any advice at all

Tommytwosheds😁

[whisper]

If you can store it and have a tow bar then I would go for and Avon Searider SR4 with a 40hp on a trailer

But if not then an F Rib or something like a Bombard 3.8 would be awesome too.

It depends if you want a boat with a steering wheel and a seat or a tiller steering sib.

You'll have to look into if a sib will pull a ringo ok.

Hope this helps

[tommytwosheds]

Thanks a lot for replying,
Unfortunately storage is a slight problem but I am not to fussed about a seat and steering wheel.
I may be leaning towards a f-rib but I will see if anyone has any further advice

[Fenlander]

Welcome Tommy2S.

I agree... if you could manage a trailer you'd probably get a great small RIB to meet your needs.

However if you want it to be car/van doable boat then it has to a be a SIB or Frib. The RIBs that are small enough to get on top of a car or van are no more able than a decent size SIB and so much more nuisance to handle/store.

Yes there is a huge selection of SIBs... with the Frib sitting slightly to one side as a fairly new and not totally proven design... albeit with a loyal group of owners. Would your budget run to paying £2700 for a 3.6m Frib when for £1700 less you could get a pretty capable Honwave 380 air floor? Their advantages need to be very positive for your specific use to justify that.

So for me two most important questions... would you consider a trailer... go RIB... if not go SIB?

What is the budget and does the Frib attributes make it worth a large premium for your needs?

[tommytwosheds]

unfortunately a trailer is not really viable much to my dismay.


is the performance of the f-ribs really on the same level as a sib.

and how would a sib handle the sea around the North Devon coast?
I have a budget of around £5000/£6000

[sunsport]

i would recommend a bombard aerotec very compatent boats as long as you dont do anything stupid . the air floor means it just unrolls and blows up.solid floors are very prone to damaging either your fingers or the tubes themselves, when being put together,it also adds weight . 15 or 20hp two stroke is a good match ,i have a 20hp yam on a tiller for weekend jollies and a 30 hp yam with steering and remotes for when i am leaving it assembled on our site.performance wise the twenty horse power will tow a ring with a 14 stone adult in it ,with the thirty it will tow desperate Dan .i can mono ski behind the twenty at just over ten stone .but at thirteen stone my mate needs the thirty. if considering a aerotec as with others you should check all the taped joins especially round the transom also check the floor for leaks ,little bit off washing up liquid some water and a small sponge and you have a leak detector .the floors are very high pressure so you need a dedicated pump for these .i use a 12v bravo and can have the boat water ready in less than half an hour. transom wheels are a good investment the bigger the better the flip up type are ideal ,drag it up the beach and you will tear the bottom out off it. the aerotec weighs in at about 40kg a two stroke twenty at about 60kg making it a very portable outfit but adding the thirty and steering gear etc makes it considerably harder work pulling it over soft sand . budget at about two grand for a good one with engine and electric pump and wheels, look after it and you will see a good return on your investment.hope this helps happy boating

[Fenlander]

Only got a moment to post but...

The Fribs are certainly very very quick for a given outboard size on flat water and owners report decent performance in a chop too despite their fairly shallow V hull compared to a true RIB. I think a couple of quality issues have come up but similar has been seen on this forum with isolated (hopefully) cases on Zodiac/Bombard and Honwave.

Your budget is substantial and would easily buy a new 3.6m Frib/20hp 4-stroke outfit or a new Bombard Aerotec/20hp 4-stroke. Or how about looking at a new Zodiac Futura... they are a premium SIB at a premium price.

NB a small proviso if I bought any new SIB at the moment I'd want to inspect/collect rather than mail order to make sure it's really new and perfect.

[jeffstevens763@g]

my sib weighs 100kg mercury 365 ali floor
rib eye do the TS range 350 58 kg, 370 64 kg, 400 76 kg all take a 20 hp max engine aluminium hulled.

highfield 348 61 kg 20 hp max engine ali hulled.

you can buy side loading roof racks to carry your boat around you will get a good set up with your budget.

cheers

[Max...]

With that budget and intended use and area (likely moderate seas much of the time) I would really, *really* try and find a solution to the no trailer issue and buy the exact boat Whisper indicated.

If not and it has to go up/down each time then it has to be airfloor and the only SIB that comes anywhere close to a RIB and would do the job as others have mentioned and so many of us who have tried many SIB's come back to is the good old Aerotec with a 25. I cannot in all fairness say I have tried a Frib but looked into them in depth and in many ways to me it seems the worst of all worlds in a very expensive, perhaps quality lacking package rather than combining the best elements and has a very flat hull compared to the BAT which will slam pretty badly.

Whatever you buy the *vast* majority of people never get it right for their needs first time and end up selling on - with this in mind I would definitely not go new despite your budget - you will lose a fortune come sale time. Buy big brand boat/engine, see how you get on and if not right you can sell at no loss - if perfect you can keep it or still sell and buy the same brand new set up.

Have you read the sticky "Which SIB?" in the SIB/inflatables section?

[Fenlander]

>>>Whatever you buy the *vast* majority of people never get it right for their needs first time and end up selling on - with this in mind I would definitely not go new despite your budget - you will lose a fortune come sale time.

Tommy 2S... Max is right to add caution re a substantial new purchase. One of the kids was ill last night and I was a bit distracted and perhaps read your OP incorrectly. With your large budget and confident statement of how/where you'd use this boat I assumed you were an experienced smallcraft user... perhaps a lapsed SIB owner returning to ownership. But now I wonder if you are new to boating or new to SIBs??

If so then I agree with Max... get a decent used outfit as near as possible to what you think you need and see after a season if you want to swap out to refine the type exactly to your needs. In this situation buying an outfit with an outboard that will suit a variety of SIBs is a great advantage so you can hang onto that and just swap the SIB at minimal or no cost.

Many of us on here try and find a bargain used SIB/outboard outfit close to £1500 and then there is no loss selling on if it's not quite right. With your budget you could raise that to £2000-£2500 for a very nice not very old setup and still the risk of loss would be tiny compared with buying new and wanting to swap.

One thing to consider... the way you would operate this boat how heavy an engine can you handle in comfort?

Also important... how many folks do you want in the boat?

[9D280]

Aye,

the engine lugging bit could be significant. I used to haul a 1971 vintage 2 cyl premix (i.e nothing to it!) 20Hp down a path to hang on the back of an 11' Dory. The best we came up with was either a balloon tyred sack barrow or a big lump of timber and two of us carrying it. On paper it wasnlt that heavy, but outboards are remarkably awkward things to lift.

Re. the inflating / deflating thing as already said air floor is likely the way to go. Also get yourself an electric pump or you'll end up never going out because you'll spend half your day building / dissassembling the boat.

To put it in perspective my Rib used to annoy Mrs 9d "because of all the faffing to get it afloat & recover it". (and this is a rib on a roller trailer!) So, after much head scratching and rebuilding of trailer lighting & method of strapping it down, I can now go from road legal to "start engine" in under 10 mins. (likewise coming out if I don't flush the engine - i.e I've been in fresh water like Loch Lomond) It now slightly annoys me when I go out with friends and I see the faffing with the lighting board etc!

The other option I suppose - if you have a half decent budget is there somewhere close to you a trailer could be stored? (e.g local boat club / container rentals / caravan storage / friend with space & you pay in beer kind of thing)


The only thing that is certain is that whatever you buy will show you fairly quickly how you actually use / want to use it, which like most of us on here will mean a swap of some description.

[tommytwosheds]

Thanks for all your replays you have helped a bit.

I am new to sibling but not a complete novice on the water, hence why I am here for advice (I know enough to know I know bugger all).

I would like to carry 3 adult men or my three kids and Mrs at least, With others on occasion.

I do think I like the look of the zodiac futura other than the expense are there any draw backs?

In regards to second hand kits would it be wise to buy a used sib and a new engine?
carrying the engine should not be to much of a problem as I have good access to the water any other ideas would be welcome.
Thanks again for your time

[Max...]

Three blokes you are going to need 3.4/3.5m absolute minimum and a 25hp. Did you check the sticky? (Just to avoid repeating all that is in there ). If there are three kids and a woman + you then a SR4 would be useless really and you would need a bigger RIB ideally if you did solve the trailer/storage issue. It depends on the kids ages too as to how safe they will be/confident you will be in them holding on for dear life and if they can sit on the tubes safely.

I think the Futura like virtually all SIBs has a pretty flat bottom so in any sort of chop it will slam and your kids/wife will not be happy. Aerotec/25 would be better but a SIB is not a RIB and they are light and jumpy and will not cut through waves/chop like a RIB but a BAT will do it better than other SIB's. Regardless with kids on board you have to choose your days/conditions carefully anyway. Buy secondhand all round as advised. A package is nearly always cheaper, comes with goodies and usually a better risk re' engine history.

[wiLlfish]

Originally Posted by tommytwosheds

storage is a slight problem

yew shud chaynj yor naim

tommythreesheds shud doo itt.

[Fenlander]

>>>3 adult men or my three kids and Mrs at least, With others on occasion

At least! With others! Wonder how old the kids are? Is that 3 blokes plus helm?

That's quite a lot of folks.

I'd be thinking of a 4m-ish SIB like the Honwave or Quicksilver or a Futura. No personal experience of a Futura but I think their speed tubes break up a chop better than a normal flat floor.

I just think the Aerotec may be too narrow to fit that amount of people.

Edit: I think this Futura belongs to a forum member...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ_PgaTnqdU

[Gaz101]

Whatever you get please be careful on the taw/toridge bar

But the rivers are quite shelterd

I was out from appledoor on Sunday river very flat but the swell on the bar

Was enough to get some air below my rib 7.5m diesel ( heavy)

Gaz

[tommytwosheds]

Cheers gaz, yea I know about the bar and if I am going out in an inflatable I would pick my days to venture out in to the sea proper.

I am thinking a Bombard aerotec or what ever it is called sounds like the one for me, Is it worth getting a commando or is the extra farting about not worth the extra performance?

3 blokes would be total also my kids are only small ranging from 2 - 8 so it probably sounds worse than it really is.

I think really I am after a rib proper will have to see what I can find out about storing one some where maybe Instow yacht club?

[Max...]

Originally Posted by wiLlfish

yew shud chaynj yor naim

tommythreesheds shud doo itt.

Tommy, all you can get on here is advice from many based on experience. No one can pick the ideal boat for you but really if storage/trailer options are out then you are limited. If going out with three blokes then you have plenty of muscle to shift a heavy boat and gear but if it's you and the kids then you might struggle. A 4m SIB and 25 or 30 really is better on a trailer and then you're better off with a RIB.

I'd just look around for a nice used 3.4/3.8m + 25hp outfit to try, and see how you take to boating then go from there.

[jeffstevens763@g]

Good advice from max I kept my rib on a farm £200 for the year a rib on a roller trailer single handed launch easy but there's never the ideal boat so you have to be clear on what you want of it before parting with the well earned cash