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The Bombard 600 DB Explorer is a pretty sea-friendly boat. I have been fishing with this boat on the Atlantic in the Florida Keys for the past seven years in winds of up to 15 knots and seas of up to one meter. It will navigate higher waves but with less speed. The boat is quite dry and a pleasure to drive. It travels well on a trailer and is also easy to get in and out of the water.
My Bombard 600 DB is a 2006 former Montreal Firefighter Rescue boat which I acquired in 2015. It was in good overall shape but lost some air due to some faulty air valves. These were replaced but were difficult to find.
The boat was initially powered by two 50HP outboard motors which had been removed. I installed a 115HP Etec wich is good but if I were to repower I would go for a 150HP.
Finally, if you decide to make an offer on the boat that you are interested in buying be sure to carefully examine the underbelly of the tubes close to the stern. If the patch that secures the tube to the hull detaches itself even just a bit, water will gush into the boat at a rate that will surprise you big time, particularly if the boat is going fast. If this happens repairs will be long and tedious because water will have infiltrated between the patch and the tube into the boat and epairs can only be done when everything is dry and free of glue debris.
This situation is sure to happen if the RIB is driven at high speed while the tubes are underinflated. When the boat goes fast, the bow rises and the stern part of the tubes goes slightly underwater at an angle of about 15º. This angle increases the water pressure on the underbelly of the tubes at the precise point where the patches are attached, creating a dynamic where one part is softer than the other because of the thickness difference. If the tubes are properly inflated this dynamic is minimized but still present. If the tubes are underinflated, the pressure on the thinner part of the tubes will eventually unglue the patch.
Having said that, I'm of the opinion that the Bombard DB 600 is quite the RIB and I'm happy with mine.
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