first rib?

snowsports1 · 06 September 2010, 20:47

Hi, probably a really common question but i am considering my first rib.

it needs to go in a double garage, suit 2 adults and 2 kids and be powerful enough to use safely at sea. i will tow to south of france etc to use on holidays. fishing, water skiiing etc.

Thinking about a good 2nd hand 4 to 5m rib with 50-70HP engine. any suggestions to steer me in the right direction!! anything to look out for?

CJL · 07 September 2010, 22:04

Searider 5.4 with anything from 60hp upwards.

Max... · 07 September 2010, 22:35

I don't think you will get a 5.4 in a double garage without some very creative manouvering. Hate to be biased but a 4.7m Searider would be spot on and is the choice I made when looking for pretty much exactly the same criteria as you. Difficult to find compared to a 5.4m though. Have a search on the forum though as there are loads of previous topics on this subject.

yoyo · 08 September 2010, 08:22

snowsports. You have a PM.

snowsports1 · 08 September 2010, 08:26

thanks for the replys, my garage is 5.5m long internal. can you get a removable front on some trailers i believe?

9D280 · 08 September 2010, 09:28

Snowsports,

Firstly, Welcome to Ribnet!

This is an interesting equation - you say your garage is 5.5m long. There are trailers with removable drawbars, but unless you want a huge faff every time you take it anywhwere, it's probably best to look at the whole rig:

- What is your tow vehicle? if it is a big heavy thing, you could go unbraked up to 750Kg, which instantly shortens the distance from winch post to Hitch by about 0.5m, BUT, a 4- stroke outboard will eat into that weight allowance, and also do you want to future proof against a smaller car? (in both cases pointing towards brakes). An unbraked trailer will give you about 100 extra KG to play with on the boat, but that is likely to be irrelevant if your car can only tow 600Kg unbraked.

I assume it's a double door? I have a double garage - but with two single doors, which restricts beam somewhat. (there are a lot of 5m & smaller ribs out there at >2m beam) Then of course if you have a smaller rib, you don't need the monster engine for the same performnance, again keeping the weight down & shortening hitch length by going unbraked....

So, lets assume you have to go braked. One big thing to remember is that for most boat trailers "boat length" on the spec. sheet assums a solid hull. Net result is inevitably on a rib trailer you get 200 yds of drawbar hanging out the front! (Your toobs will be approx 0.5m diameter, and the cones at the rear will likely hang out a similar distance give or take a bit too, all of which doesn't need a roller / bunk under it - so you can actually get a trailer designed for a metre(ish) shorter boat than your rib! (which is what I did).

Just for the "pot" I got what is now sold as the Humber O-Pro 2m beam, but my garage is a single door & has an extra 2o cm on yours. (you did measure to the door and not down the side wall?)

Somewhere I have a summary of rib weights / lengths etc for when I was looking to go bigger. If I can find it I'll post back with a list of anything sub 5m.

snowsports1 · 08 September 2010, 10:40

hi i am planning to tow with a range rover sport or a 3 litre diesel motorhome (to south of france in the summer) which has a towing limit of 2 tonnes.

my garage has a single double door and is a roller shutter type which doesnt obstruct the garage length of 5.5m or the height which is about 2.3m.

Realistically the boat will be occasional use for sea fishing trips, family days out. the main use will be when we are on holidays as there is a great campsite near St Tropez with free mooring.

As the kids are 3 and 5 years i dont expect to be taking it out in bad weather but that said i dont want something that is dodgy if we get caught in a freak storm. I am doing my RYA level 2 in prep as i havent any sea experience except windsurfing!!

I have seen boats like the Valiant Vanguard 520 Limited RIB with 100HP 4 stroke but am interested as to why they state "suitable for inshore fishing" would this boat not be suitable for sea use as it seems quite large and powerful?

Max... · 08 September 2010, 11:07

Again, my use/limitations were very much the same - bear in mind that if you want to use the garage for anything else you need a bit of room to move about the thing! I've gone from having a spacious double garage for odd jobs/Landy servicing etc to having 75% of it filled with a big rubber lump - only time will tell if the usage I get from the boat is worth the inconvenience. If it helps here is the info I got when posting a similar first Q:

http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36823

And this is the boat I bought:

http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37261

snowsports1 · 08 September 2010, 12:06

thanks max, have you used the boat much, done your RYA part 2 yet?

Max... · 08 September 2010, 12:46

Did the RYA PB2 a couple of weeks ago - essential and highly recommended. Due to work/time/tides/weather/access been out once in the boat since PB2 but hopeful for this weekend (used to be a windsurfer too and that's a lot easier/quicker to go out for a quick blast!).

9D280 · 08 September 2010, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowsports1

hi i am planning to tow with a range rover sport or a 3 litre diesel motorhome (to south of france in the summer) which has a towing limit of 2 tonnes.

<snip>

i dont want something that is dodgy if we get caught in a freak storm. I am doing my RYA level 2 in prep as i havent any sea experience except windsurfing!!

If you are towing with those, you are very likely to get something sub 5M that when added to trailer will top out at 750Kg. - That half metre of braked hitch may be the difference between fit / not fit!

I you are a windsurfer, i guess you'll have a reasonable awareness of the weather. Not being an expert on the St tropez climate, assuming you don't get real "random & sudden" storms, there's nothing that a bit of pre- arming yourself with the forecast couldn't cure.

Even if it does get sh!tty really quickly, a smaller rib is going to be the better place to be compared to a binliner or something similar! I hired a Rib off the west coast of Italy - nice "med" thing with a bench seat & a sunbathing cusion at the bow (useless feature in the weather we went out in!). There was a good westerly wind that day, so nice & choppy lumpy. Boat handled fine (Yam branded rib ~ 5/5.5m mark with a 40 on the back). My only complaint was sliding around on the bench seat, but then I'm used to a jockey....

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowsports1

I have seen boats like the Valiant Vanguard 520 Limited RIB with 100HP 4 stroke but am interested as to why they state "suitable for inshore fishing" would this boat not be suitable for sea use as it seems quite large and powerful?

100Hp 4- stroke is Huge on a 5.3. to put this in perspective, my current Humber (5.3m) will easily do 28 knots with a 60 2 up. It was originally sold as a North sea rescue boat with a 40.... (the whole thing full of fuel only weighs 430 KG!) If you are recovering solo, weight could also be the difference between easy & PITA.....
You'll probably find that the Valiant has not got certain features "as sold" that up it to the next CE category, but I'll leave the rib builders to expand on that.

What I'm trying to say is you don't need a rib the size of the QE2 to get home! If youre doing the course hopefully you'll get a better feel for what various boats can do. Maybe some of the Ribnetters near you might be up for a crew, again so you can get a feel for it.

The overriding thing in this case is your garage. If you park squinty, you loose a good chunk of your garage, but can fit a bigger rib in. Or you do what I did, get one that fits lengthwise, and still have half a garage to play with. Granted I'd probably have gone slightly wider beam if I had a double door.....) As for Max' comment, if it;s "conventianally" parked, there is no huge need to get tio the other side, as you can't store anything there if it's hard against the wall.....

I'll see if I can find that spreadheet of hulls tonight.

Max... · 08 September 2010, 14:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9D280

The overriding thing in this case is your garage. If you park squinty, you loose a good chunk of your garage, but can fit a bigger rib in. Or you do what I did, get one that fits lengthwise, and still have half a garage to play with. Granted I'd probably have gone slightly wider beam if I had a double door.....) As for Max' comment, if it;s "conventianally" parked, there is no huge need to get tio the other side, as you can't store anything there if it's hard against the wall.....

I'll see if I can find that spreadheet of hulls tonight.

Depends on the individual garage of course - if you have floor to ceiling fixed commerical type shelving each side, a raftered roof with storage, a freezer, work benches, electrical meter and main rear access door halfway across it all gets a bit more tricky!

georgieboy · 08 September 2010, 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowsports1

great campsite near St Tropez with free mooring.

do you have any information on this campsite ie website. its just what ive bin looking for.

9D280 · 09 September 2010, 09:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max...

Depends on the individual garage of course - if you have floor to ceiling fixed commerical type shelving each side, a raftered roof with storage, a freezer, work benches, electrical meter and main rear access door halfway across it all gets a bit more tricky!

Got the meter & the boiler "trapped", but for the once every third solstice anyone comes to look at them, I can move the boat out the way for half an hour.......

The rest (including access ladder to the roof & dirty sink) is in the other half of the garage, hence my comments on parking it "conventionally"

yoyo · 09 September 2010, 11:00

4.8m rib 2.2m wide fits into 18tf garage with up and over door nicely. It will also depend on the A frame hieght. My all round light is custom made to be removable this works very well.

snowsports1 · 09 September 2010, 11:16

My garage is empty basically and just over 5.5m long internal, i have a massive shed for all my junk!! but i dont want to park the boat diagonally though.

Valiant Vanguard 520 Limited RIB with 100HP 4 stroke, do you think this is a good option? or it sounds like it may be a bit overkill for my uses.

the campsite i mentioned is www.camping-des-mures.com if you look on google earth you can see the boat storage area next door, there are several campsites along this coastline.

snowsports1 · 09 September 2010, 11:28

thanks yoyo i just looked up the menai boats website, are you happy with your setup, anything you would change? i am going up that way 22nd september i might take a look.

Xk59D · 09 September 2010, 13:35

for reference my 5.6m avon is actually 5.9m total length with the outboard down and thats not including the 1m sticking out the front on the drawbar. so to store my 5.6m i need 6.4m minimum

what i done was go look at ribs in my local marinas on their trailers and take a tape measure with you. i would think if you have 5.5m you will be lucky to get a 4.7m boat in there given the extra little an outboard tends to stick out (even down) and the drawbar.

cheers

spartacus · 09 September 2010, 14:38

My garage is 18' long (8' wide) and my Ribcraft 4.8m (2.1m beam) just fits (20mm height clearance). Still to fit the Tohatsu 60hp engine - but I'll post pictures for reference.

Max... · 09 September 2010, 16:42

For reference my garage is 5.5m long and my Searider 4.7 on a reasonably compact trailer with 60hp on the back and the drawbar touching the garage door leaves around 1 foot clearance to walk round the engine. I don't think you will get anything over a 4.7/4.8 in without a lot of hassle...