Purchase first rib

[Dave590]

Hello rib fans,

I am looking to purchase a Highfield Ocean Master 590 with a Honda 100hp. It all looks great (new boat). General fun use with family and the odd mission with my pals. Any opions on this option from people with experience would be valued.

[willk]

Welcome to RIBnet.

MatFromPoland will be along shortly - he has a smaller version but I'm sure the info will be useful...

[Poly]

You could try PMing “chunk” he seemed happy with his (not sure which size) but isn’t a regular poster on the forum, so may not see your message.

[Orwell boy]

Run my 5.0m with a Honda 90 for 3 seasons now and cant fault it ,take a little stick on here as its Chinese but do think that people are starting to accept it is damn good value for money and gets a lot of people/families on the water for a fair price
never going to be a redbay or a ribcraft but hey for a lot of family fun at a affordable price then can,t beat them
worst downside for me was with new Honda servicing costs which seem to be extautinate and a large percentage unnescary ,but I think this is true of all new outboards ,if you havn,t quite signed yet try and negotiate a service package ,typically I bought a new landrover discovery last year and paid £500 for 5 years serviceing , I seem to pay that every year for a Honda service !! just to keep the 6 year warranty up,tell your dealer if it needs a full fluid change after 20 hours that's Hondas problem not yours ,and I am told every year it needs the impeller checking and might as well replace while its in bits (£200 labour ) after 45 hours ,when you read on some American forums they don't change till 800 hrs min (sorry rant over )
but worth trying to get some fair servicing deal ,but as I said cant fault the highfield

[Dave590]

Cheers top tips, appreciate it.

[Dave590]

Also on your 5 with a 90, top speed? Cruising?
Thanks in advance

[charliee]

It would be worth spec'ing this with Hypalon tubes - welded PVC is not the best stuff to repair

[collier]

Just to say had my 150ho evinrude g2 over a year. 5 year service period self winterising and 10 year warranty.... also loads of power both top end and to get you going ....
Is a 100 of those not worth considering??

[Orwell boy]

Originally Posted by Dave590

Also on your 5 with a 90, top speed? Cruising?
Thanks in advance

Hi Dave,probhably not the best person to ask this question as I am a bit of a creeper and spend quite a bit of time in speed limit river areas ,however I bent an ally Honda prop last year ,and when straightnd had to try the WOT in the waterski area to try and work out whether to buy new the same or tweek a little ,I was doing about 35 on the gps but I then replaced with stainless and seems a lot quicker since ,when cruising I tend to travel at about 24 which is well comfortable to be honest when I first read your post I did think the 100 may be a little light on a 590 but I,m not sure it would be far off , one interesting thing I was told by my service dealer is the Honda is at its best at 70- 100 hp as this is the Honda Jazz engine on its side (I did wonder if I was old enough for a Honda jazz ) I believe he told me its the largest volume engine produced in the world ,so hopefully they have it right by now ,what with four stroke with the v tec it makes for a very cheap day out
if you need help with highfield well worth a chat with steve at hendy marine ,he is or was the hghfield geru for the uk and he knows his onions like you would,nt believe ,he will tell you straight
just to add my pvc tubes are as good as the day I bought it

[Xk59D]

Originally Posted by collier

Just to say had my 150ho evinrude g2 over a year. 5 year service period self winterising and 10 year warranty.... also loads of power both top end and to get you going ....
Is a 100 of those not worth considering??

They don't make a 100g2......

[collier]

A good reason not to then !

[breezeblock]

Originally Posted by Orwell boy

Run my 5.0m with a Honda 90 for 3 seasons now and cant fault it ,take a little stick on here as its Chinese but do think that people are starting to accept it is damn good value for money and gets a lot of people/families on the water for a fair price
never going to be a redbay or a ribcraft but hey for a lot of family fun at a affordable price then can,t beat them
worst downside for me was with new Honda servicing costs which seem to be extautinate and a large percentage unnescary ,but I think this is true of all new outboards ,if you havn,t quite signed yet try and negotiate a service package ,typically I bought a new landrover discovery last year and paid £500 for 5 years serviceing , I seem to pay that every year for a Honda service !! just to keep the 6 year warranty up,tell your dealer if it needs a full fluid change after 20 hours that's Hondas problem not yours ,and I am told every year it needs the impeller checking and might as well replace while its in bits (£200 labour ) after 45 hours ,when you read on some American forums they don't change till 800 hrs min (sorry rant over )
but worth trying to get some fair servicing deal ,but as I said cant fault the highfield

nowt wrong with Chinese stuff I buy a lot of stuff direct from china you get good quality as well as some shocking quality stuff my only problem with the new highfield that I looked at was they're crap welding that didn't look like it had penetrated well I liked a few of there ideas like the bow roller and the cleats on the a frame

[Dave590]

First crack at any forum, this is great.
Great to get decent feedback, advice.
I will check tube material.
Happy with four stroke, I know I won’t be the fastest but it will push on and hopefully will not drain the wallet. Can’t wait to have a boat that can take me pretty much anywhere. 😁

[Dave590]

Servicing cost are bloody frustrating!

[GI-SYD]

Originally Posted by Dave590

Hello rib fans,

I am looking to purchase a Highfield Ocean Master 590 with a Honda 100hp. It all looks great (new boat). General fun use with family and the odd mission with my pals. Any opions on this option from people with experience would be valued.

Hi Dave, the Highfields are highly regarded here in Aus, they were originally made here in Australia by a company called Swift marine: https://swiftmarine.com.au/. Then Swift sold Highfield as it own brand to a company owned by some French people, and they moved production to China, but there are still quite a few Aussies working there as production management. I was told that when Zodiac went into administration, Highfield bought a lot of the machinery from the inventory. Again, this is what I was told, a fact check on all of this would be good.
The French ownership must be why you see these Highfields as standard issue tenders on Lagoons and Outremer catamarans now.

Overall, I think the Highfield OM is an excellent choice, but I support the call someone made here to get it in Hypalon.

I will be getting the Highfield Reef 460 in Hypalon, aka Club 460: https://swiftmarine.com.au/cb-460/, which is the same hull/tubes as a OM, but a deeper floor and no furniture. I will be getting an Evinrude ETEC, I just need to make up my mind about whether a 30HP or a 40HP one. The Reef 460 only weighs 115Kg!

[Orwell boy]

Hi again ,just thought I should dig out my service costs as I thought I may have exaerated a little on this (probhably cause both years it hit me hard near Christmas )and sure enough I was way high .....actual figures were £146.00 for 20 hour service , and £222.00 for 100 hour (done at about 60 ) I did drag the boat 60 miles each way last year as I did not see any need for the impeller to be replaced and my local dealer said it had to be and wanted £346 ,
I also checked my 2014 catalogue and it said 590 recommended outboard was 100hp and max was 135hp ,I am on max for the om500 @90hp
I also looked at my 2013 price list where I found extra for hypalon on om590 was £2300
hope this helps ,sorry about the exaderation on service costs ,all are main dealer by the way

[Dave590]

Once again, thanks chaps. Bloody good info, that I hadn’t found. Really appreciate feedback and your time.

[breezeblock]

Originally Posted by Dave590

Servicing cost are bloody frustrating!

do it yourself have a look at dangar Marine on youtube he does some pretty good tutorials

[MatFromPoland]

I do have 115 HP Evinrude HO on mine Highfield OM540 DL and for my family (5 people, "kids" teenagers now) will not change it to 100 HP.

But DL version is heavier I suppose.

Not sure how many people are you going to drive but personally will prefer 130 HP on OM 590. Mine boat has been 3 y row by row in Greece (1,5 month each time) and for my car it is MAX what I can tow (GVW of the trailer is 1300 kg, real weight boat on trailer 1200 kg).

If I have time machine buy the same setup but in hypalon version.
Not problem with PVC really but I prefer things like car, boat for long period. Not sure how PVC will look after 5 y. I do prefer to use this boat 10 y or more.

To be honest it is my first boat but I do have friends with boats and they often complains for some problems which I don't have.

Here you can look at my trips in EUROPE RIB.net part. Below mentioned one of them:
http://www.rib.net/forum/f53/warsaw-...0dl-68645.html

My first boat was SIB HONWAVE 3,8 + HONDA 20 HP.
Have used it in Greece also when kids were smaller.