First RIB, maiden voyage, first impressions...

AncientMariner · 23 March 2009, 01:14

Hello all!
Got my first RIB last Saturday. A Valiant VG 400 with Mariner 30 EFI.
Today we went for a small cruise, me, the wife and 2 friends with a child.
Cruised for about one hour up river Tejo. Total cargo was 340 kg.
At WOT we reached 20 knts. I have no idea what fuel consumption was, I gess maybe 4 liters.
This was my very first experience so, everything, from laying the rib on the water to tilting the engine was new.
I have a few questions that may seem 'basic' but ...
1. the engine has manual tilt but no handle to allow for tilting while sitting at the controls. Am I suposed to change tilt while in water?
2. When in idle and stopped, some smoke comes out of the back of the engine thru a small hole. Is this normal?
3. For the total weight pulled is the max speed at a normal value?
Thanks!

Hugo Oliveira

biffer · 23 March 2009, 09:24

yes to all

yoyo · 23 March 2009, 10:27

I think that the engine size is about as small as you can go with this rib. Its performance will be much better with less load i.e. one or two persons on board. Were you in the correct rev range at WOT? a different prop may help.

willfinch36 · 23 March 2009, 13:46

gonna put up some pics of your new RIB ?

AncientMariner · 24 March 2009, 14:19

Hello Willfinch36,

Here are some pictures:
http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?p=287464#post287464

Bloody camera failed on the 1st trip :-(

Cheers
Hugo