French Humber!

[antoine]

Hello,

It's my first post on Ribnet.

I'm french, so i hoppe you will understand me...

I have a Narwhal 520 HD + Tohatsu 90 TLDI.

I sell it, and i'm buying a Humber destroyer 600 (cat CE B), with 140 HP Suzuki.

The boat will have:
- double rear bench
- large console (not an humber one, but an american one Carolina Skiff)
- leaning post Narwhal
- under deck fuel tank 90 ltrs...

I am fishing very often, and i prefer this seats instead of jockey seats.

It should be a pleasure if some of you can give me information on how to fit the engine, and all they find useful for a little french that will have soon an english boat!

I will come near Cowes during the next spring i hoppe.

I live in Normandy, and espacially in Coutainville, not far from the Channel Islands.

If you want, you can come to visit the french RIBNET forum on

http://www.pneuboat.com/

Antoine

[codprawn]

Welcome to the first Frenchman on this site. I am sure that your English is better than my French.

Humbers are great sea boats and the Suzuki is a great engine. Having said that you already have quite a nice boat by the sound of it. What do you think of the tohatsu 90tldi? Many people would be interested in your experience with it.

You say you are coming over to Cowes - do you mean for RIBEX???

http://www.ribexhibitions.co.uk/

[whiteminiman]

Si jamais t'as des difficultés de traduction... ecris le en francais et je le traduirai. Mais ca m'apparait que t'as bien maitrisé l'anglais.

Bonjour et bienvenu

(I was just saying hello, and if he has any translation problems, write it in French and I'll translate)

Ciao,

WMM (le Rosbif)

[antoine]

The Tohatsu 90 is a very good engine.

No smoke ( it's the opposite of Sir Winston Churchill... French joke!)
Low level of consomation, Between 8 and 12 ltrs per Hour
Still perfect start
Only 142 KG

A little more noise if you compare it with a four Stroke.

No problem after 150 Hours of using.

Antoine

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Humbers are great sea boats

Some Humbers are great boats. Possibly

[antoine]

Some Humbers are great boats. Possibly

Can you explain what do you mean, Stephen?

Antoine

[Nos4r2]

I think you need to read some of Stephen's posts about his boat Antoine. He might explode if he tries to write it all down at once!

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by antoine

Some Humbers are great boats. Possibly

Can you explain what do you mean, Stephen?

Antoine

I meant that I would never describe my Humber as great given the problems I have had with the tubes, unless it was "greatly irritating"! My moaning is well documented elsewhere on RIBnet but it may be better not to read it in case it makes you paranoid about your tubes exploding every second outing which is what mine do.

To put your mind at rest I gather they have changed the design since mine was built (now incorporates wear patches) so hopefully you'll have no problems...

If you haven't bought it yet then make sure you get pressure relief valves fitted in the tubes, mine hasn't and its a constant worry (though nothing to do with the current problems)

I also didn't think Humber did any underfloor fuel tanks but maybe this has changed? it wasn't an option when I looked at a new one before I bought the exploding orange.

[antoine]

Stephen,

I think i understand what you mean.

My boat will have 5 pressure release valves.

Is it a way NOT to have the same difficulties your talking about?

PLEASE SAY YES!!!!!!!

Antoine

[codprawn]

I know Stephen has had loads of problems with his Humber but they are NOT all like that. They are one of the biggest builders of RIBs are are usually considered to be very tough boats. Our local diving club has 2 of them - they get a load of very rough use and are about 15 yrs old and still going strong.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I know Stephen has had loads of problems with his Humber but they are NOT all like that. They are one of the biggest builders of RIBs are are usually considered to be very tough boats. Our local diving club has 2 of them - they get a load of very rough use and are about 15 yrs old and still going strong.

I know of an old one here too and the old ones are better made than the new ones.... I'd swap mine any day for one here that is six years older and has been used as a commercial dive boat all its life! Its in superb condition and much better made.

Antoine from the experiences I have had with mine I would say 2 things are weak points:

1. Pressure relief valves - you already have that - I think some of the problems may be due to the fact that the tubes cannot safely be left fully inflated.

2. Take a close look at the underside of the tubes at the rear, this is where my problems are - and make sure they are very well reinforced with heavy duty wear patches. If this had been done to my boat from new, as standard, I am almost sure I would have had none of the problems that I have been suffering, so all the grief has been for the sake of a couple of hundred quid on the price of the boat. Wear patches are apparently now standard on Destroyers - but I don't know how big they are, if I ever got another RIB of any make, I'd be wanting something that covered ALL the seam area on the bottom half of the tube (the seams where the cone end is bonded in to the tube) for peace of mind.

There is a third way which I am going to do, which is get one of these

[antoine]

Thank you Stephen, i will look after that.

If you except this difficulties, did you enjoy with this boat?

Antoine

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by antoine

Thank you Stephen, i will look after that.

If you except this difficulties, did you enjoy with this boat?

Antoine

Absolutely love it when it works especially since I fitted an extra double jockey seat (also got it from Humber) which gives passenger capacity and some dry storage underneath for cameras and stuff.

When it works it's brilliant and I love it but I probably (without exaggerating) spend more time patching it than I do using it! I've no experience of other RIBs to compare with but it seems stable, easy to handle, easy to launch and recover, fairly forgiving in rough conditions, no nasty handling vices (or at least none that I have discovered) does about 39kt flat out (only getting about 35 at the moment though) and cruises nicely at about 30 at 4000rpm with 115hp on the back. I love it when it works - yesterday was fantastic even if I did get home needing ANOTHER repair job - but in my opinion it was spoiled by silly little corners being cut when it was made, to save just a few quid. Whether they still do that I don't know, but if I ever got another boat from Humber I'd want to go to the factory and look closely at it before I took delivery and make sure all the bits were finished to my satisfaction. If you do that, the basic boat design seems excellent to me.

The other thing I forgot to mention AND IT IS A REALLY SILLY OMISSION is that there is no drain bung fitted to mine at the lowest point of the bilge at the back so you cannot drain all the water out. The best you can do is leave the trunk down which leaves about 3 or 4 inches of water in the bilge (and under the floor). Make sure a drain bung is fitted so you can leave it out when the boat is out of the water and keep it nice and dry.

I should also say that IF I could take mine to Henshaws or Paul Tilley and have it completely retubed by a professional, incorporating relief valves, wear patches etc on to a brand new set of tubes, then I would, and I'd keep the boat and save a lot of money. But I can't so I won't and if I've got to spend a lot of money it has to be on a new boat and it has to be indestructable, which is why it has to be the plastic Mac, because you can't break a wheelie bin unless you drive over the top of it and the Mac is made of wheelie bin plastic

[le_forban29]

Antoine, that's quite bit of a RIB you're getting there, good for you ; are you going to go and collect it in the UK or have it imported by somebody else?