New member from the Northeast

bobfather · 22 July 2018, 17:38

Hi, I'm a happily retired chap from the Redcar area who has enjoyed rib pleasure boating for the past 6 years and I have twice done the Caledonia using Caley Cruisers boats. I have an open solid bottomed 3.6m rib with a Honda BF20 outboard. These days I mostly launch onto Derwent Water using a small launch trailer.

I intent to register with C&RT so that I can launch onto the Tees at the Tees Barrage.

I used to launch onto Windermere via the jetty at Fallbarrow camp site, Brownness but that option is no longer available to me. I was wondering if you knowledgeable folk could suggest somewhere to launch small ribs on Windermere.

BrotherNature · 23 July 2018, 08:21

Hello bobfather welcome, live in Middlesbrough but lived Redcar a couple years too.
I'll hopefully be registering this week for the Tees, I'm only about 2.5 miles tow from the slip.
Cant help regarding Windermere but have you tried Ullswater? £4.50/day launch from Park foot camp site.

Fenlander · 23 July 2018, 08:53

Hello and welcome to the forum from me too. We did the Caley Cruisers trip too but back 30yrs ago. Great fun but it did rain loads!

Is you boat a GRP hull RIB or a wood/alloy floor inflatable with blow up keel?

David

bobfather · 23 July 2018, 10:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrotherNature

Hello bobfather welcome, live in Middlesbrough but lived Redcar a couple years too.
I'll hopefully be registering this week for the Tees, I'm only about 2.5 miles tow from the slip.
Cant help regarding Windermere but have you tried Ullswater? £4.50/day launch from Park foot camp site.

Parkfoot is definitely one I'll be using. I have a son living in Penrith so it's very convenient to use his drive as a stopping off point or for sleepovers so that I can enjoy several trips. I wish they'd build a jetty at Pooley Bridge so that people could tie up and visit the village. It's a great lake and nice and long so there's plenty to see. Inn on the Lake at Glenriddinghas a public jetty for meals and snacks.

bobfather · 23 July 2018, 10:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fenlander

Hello and welcome to the forum from me too. We did the Caley Cruisers trip too but back 30yrs ago. Great fun but it did rain loads!

Is you boat a GRP hull RIB or a wood/alloy floor inflatable with blow up keel?

David

Hi David, my first Caley Cruisers trip was interesting on the westward journey, when cruising we managed to stay ahead of the rain but every lock allowed the rain to catch us up, it became a challenge to see if we could get far enough ahead but we never made it. The second trip was 5 yeas ago, great weather for the whole week. I'd go more often but it is a bit pricey for my pocket. My boat is a 3.8m four chamber inflatable with a good deep keel and a solid aluminium floor. The floor makes the boat heavy so I don't benefit from ease of transport that most small RIBs have, that said it does vastly improve rigidity and allows the boat to register on more lakes, Kielder for example, RIBs are only permitted there if they have solid floors

Fenlander · 23 July 2018, 11:13

Ahh I wondered re RIB vs SIB. To help avoid confusion if you have queries you would be said to have a SIB not RIB and get the best response in the "Inflatable boats - SIBs and folding RIBs section"

Yes Caley are expensive. For the 6 berth we had back then (to comfortably sleep 4) it would have been £5000 for our two week holiday period we've just taken this year. I prefer under half that for a great waterside cottage and using our own 3.8m inflatable.

bobfather · 23 July 2018, 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fenlander

Ahh I wondered re RIB vs SIB. To help avoid confusion if you have queries you would be said to have a SIB not RIB and get the best response in the "Inflatable boats - SIBs and folding RIBs section"

Aha, interesting. I assumed the rigid floor made it a RIB, I stand corrected. I had a RIB before this boat, it was a rare beast and very difficult to build and launch. It was called CARgoCRAFT, I think they only made them for a few years

Fenlander · 23 July 2018, 12:02

Cargocraft… the RIB with detachable tubes so you could roof rack it. Never seen one in the flesh. Quite a good idea. Did it take ages to attach the tubes... tied on?

bobfather · 23 July 2018, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fenlander

Cargocraft… the RIB with detachable tubes so you could roof rack it. Never seen one in the flesh. Quite a good idea. Did it take ages to attach the tubes... tied on?

The hull converted into a roof box so that the tubes an ancillary equipment could store inside. The problem was that it was a 2 berth boat (falsely advertised as a 4 berth) but the hull was so heavy that it took 4 people to get it onto the roof. Concept was good but it failed to be practical

Fenlander · 23 July 2018, 12:40

>>> it was a 2 berth boat (falsely advertised as a 4 berth) but the hull was so heavy that it took 4 people to get it onto the roof.

Ahh interesting... classic design phase fail!