Advantages of a RIB over a powerboat?

Superjetjim · 27 December 2010, 21:43

I recently purchased my first boat (Picton Royale 185 with Mercury 150 V6) we visited the Solent at the back end the season and noticed most people now had RIBs and power boats are few and far between. The old man even commented 'We've bought the wrong thing son!'

Question I have is 'why' one over the other?? What are the pros/cons?

PeterM · 27 December 2010, 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superjetjim

I recently purchased my first boat (Picton Royale 185 with Mercury 150 V6) we visited the Solent at the back end the season and noticed most people now had RIBs and power boats are few and far between. The old man even commented 'We've bought the wrong thing son!'

Question I have is 'why' one over the other?? What are the pros/cons?

1- its really hard to really fully sink a RIB
2- you can have a deeper V and thereby a smoother ride with a RIB hull/tubes
3- the tubes take energy by deforming when they hit stuff/ the water
4- you can bounce off stuff better !

Just a few thoughts for starters...

piranha580 · 27 December 2010, 22:31

My last 4 boats have been 'hard boats' if you want to call them that and I only just purchased my first new rib.. All of the above points are what turned me to a rib
They're usually lighter too.. Which means better fuel economy.. Quicker take off.. Faster top end.. No need to over power a rib either with a huge engine like you have to on a rigid boat! They're like the 4x4 of the sea!! 

willk · 27 December 2010, 22:35

If you ask the shower on www.boatmad.com (aka The Darkside) the same question, you'll get a whole different answer...

Maybe

piranha580 · 27 December 2010, 22:41

I'm a convert anyway.. I'm sure they'd come around with some persuasion!! 

willk · 27 December 2010, 22:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by piranha580

I'm sure they'd come around with some persuasion!! 

Yeah, just after the Taliban take Holy Communion

HUMBER P4VWL · 28 December 2010, 00:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

If you ask the shower on www.boatmad.com (aka The Darkside) the same question, you'll get a whole different answer...

Maybe

love the link!

martini · 28 December 2010, 00:09

I didn't bother clicking the link before!

chewy · 28 December 2010, 09:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

If you ask the shower on www.boatmad.com (aka The Darkside) the same question, you'll get a whole different answer...

Maybe

Naughty Willk!

GJ0KYZ · 28 December 2010, 09:56

The main disadvantage of a rib is that most don't have a cabin. My previous boat was an Orkney 23 and that had a cabin and two vee berths up front. The cabin meant my warrf would come out when it was choppy or raining safe in the knowledge she wouldn't get her hair mussed. Last year she came out in the rib twice.

However, the problem with the Orkney, and the reason I sold it, was that it had a flat hull aft and used to land very heavily is anything above a F3. My rib can handle much rougher condx and more importantly can maintain a higher speed. For instance, the other day when Martini II and I came back from France it was a good F5. We were able to keep up a speed of 20-25kts; in those seas the Orkney would be down to 7-10kts, i.e., it would have taken twice as long to get home. Ribs mean less time spent at sea in rough conditions and for that reason alone I think they're safer than comparable rigid boats.

Poly · 28 December 2010, 09:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

The main disadvantage of a rib is that most don't have a cabin. My previous boat was an Orkney 23 and that had a cabin and two vee berths up front. The cabin meant my warrf would come out when it was choppy or raining safe in the knowledge she wouldn't get her hair mussed. Last year she came out in the rib twice

Of course some people would rewrite that as a "positive"!

willk · 28 December 2010, 10:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

Naughty Willk!

Whoops! Freudian slip, I meant www.boatmad.com, obviously

willk · 28 December 2010, 10:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

Of course some people would rewrite that as a "positive"!

My thoughts exactly

chewy · 28 December 2010, 12:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superjetjim

Question I have is 'why' one over the other?? What are the pros/cons?

Pros for a RIB are you get to use rib.net, cons for a hard boat are you have to use boatmad.com

Carl · 28 December 2010, 12:30

really?

Hightower · 28 December 2010, 13:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl

really?

Chewy went fishing and has had his first nibble

Carl · 28 December 2010, 13:22

not really mate,im bored at work,and thought i could have some fun. if you really want to try fishing, about the pros and cons try asking the peeps that went for a swim outside pompey harbour yesterday,after they fell out. glad they are ok though. anyway hows your heating

Hightower · 28 December 2010, 13:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl

. if you really want to try fishing, about the pros and cons try asking the peeps that went for a swim outside pompey harbour yesterday,after they fell out. glad they are ok though.

Well if they'd waited a couple of days they could have helped GAFIRS raise some coffers and joined in their New Years Day Charity swim

I'll see you there!

Cookee · 29 December 2010, 09:18

Just to dispel some myths here:

"you can have a deeper V and thereby a smoother ride with a RIB hull/tubes" - Actually a very high percentage of RIBs were copied from hard boats, and there is no reason why the "Vee" should be any deeper on a RIB.

"They're usually lighter too.." - No reason for them to be lighter - in fact if you've ever picked up a set of tubes they are a lot heavier than the deck of a hard boat!

It is very easy to make a hard boat unsinkable like Dory's etc, when I raced Phantom 18's we had buoyancy bags fitted and when we stuffed it at 70mph it came up nice and level.

I think the main reason that people go for RIBs is that they are perceived as much safer especially by "the crew", they are also more resistant to the occasional knock, but the tubes actually reduce space on board and in cases where the tubes don't touch the water there is no added stability at rest either.

Richard Selman · 29 December 2010, 12:39

You also have to question the ability of the tubes to absorb wave impact.

In "The Transactions of the Royal Institution of Naval Architechs" vol 151 part A1 2009 there is a paper "Sea-keeping Characteristics of a Model RIB in Head Seas" in which the authors looked at the effect of tube pressure on sea-keeping.

Their concluding line is: "The generally held view that the tube pressure significantly affects a RIB's motion appears to be false".

I believe that the inference to be taken is that it does not matter if the tube is hard and further that it would not matter if it were not inflated at all.

I pass a lot of offshore supply vessels each day in Aberdeen harbour and it is interesting to note that where once they almost exclusively used RIBs as fast rescue craft (FRCs), almost all of them now use V-hulled hard boats with solid foam fendering - more room to work and a lot more tolerant of being rubbed against a platform leg or supply vessel hull.

Even if there is a benefit for small RIBs it mush get vanishingly small on bigger RIBs where the tube size is proportionately smaller - even more so when the tubes are tapered.

I think that the main benefits are for coming along side other vessels in open seas (especially dinghies) and for small boat diving (when you would not have a dive platform).

It also helps when you have screwed up the manovering in your garage and the side of the boat is pressed against the door.....!

Richard