Help!!

[JWMBM3]

I live on Puget Sound slightly north of Seattle, WA. I am looking to buy my first RIB. I am planning on using it for fishing, crabbing, diving, camping, and cruising around with family/friends.

I am initially thinking of either a Zodiac Pro 650, or a Nautica RIB 24 Widebody. Does anyone have any experience with either that they can share with me? We will have 8-10 people with heavy loads at times. How much power should I be looking at?

Thank you all for your thoughts!!!!!

[jyasaki]

Max power the hull is rated at. No looking back and wishing that way. What do you consider heavy load?

I have no personal experience with either you mentioned, but someone will probably be along shortly who has.

jky

[paul holder]

get the biggest rib you can afford and handle .rib craft are good
if for diving tubes on
the water
if speed tubes off the water line.
make sure the hull goes right to the front so there aint air under the bows
get the bigest engines you can afford & have 2
have seperate fuel tanks
look for the dot ratting ie can it go off shore & how far
ribs are like land rovers they aint pritty but do the job

[JWMBM3]

A heavy load would be roughly 9-10 people with fishing and camping gear.

Would a 150HP on a 21 ft RIB be insufficient in terms of power for a load like that?

[paul holder]

have a look at a meadium v hull
now look at the weight
people=1000kg
engine=200kg
gear=300kg
fuel=200kg
boat=250kg
total=2000kg apx talk to engine supplier to size the propto suit

[Poly]

paul - I think you are being optimistic with the boat weight. Although the fuel is possibly a bit OTT. Thats about 250 L of fuel. I think with 10 people on a 6m rib it is going to be a bit crampt for any long distance trip (esspecially if they are averaging nearly 16 stone each).

[Poly]

Originally Posted by JWMBM3

A heavy load would be roughly 9-10 people with fishing and camping gear.

Would a 150HP on a 21 ft RIB be insufficient in terms of power for a load like that?

depends on how fast you want to go? the other issue to consider is how fast you want to go when lightly loaded.

[SeaSkills]

Originally Posted by JWMBM3

A heavy load would be roughly 9-10 people with fishing and camping gear.

Would a 150HP on a 21 ft RIB be insufficient in terms of power for a load like that?

A friend of mine had a 150 on a 6.5m boat and he could take a group of 8 divers and all of their equipment and the boat was starting to feel quite sluggish when fully loaded (still OK though)

Personally, I would look at a slightly bigger engine with 10 people and a heavy load, and possibly a 4-blade prop to help the boat onto the plane

Think carefully about your boat setup and the load distribution too, with those sort of weights. You need to make sure that you can keep enough weight forward

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Polwart

paul - I think you are being optimistic with the boat weight. Although the fuel is possibly a bit OTT. Thats about 250 L of fuel. I think with 10 people on a 6m rib it is going to be a bit crampt for any long distance trip (esspecially if they are averaging nearly 16 stone each).

Not really. My 18' Polaris has a 50 US gallon tank. To the power question, 6 divers and gear is about all I can manage without seriously impacting planing and speed. I'm running an F-115 Yamaha.

10 people and gear is definitely going to be cozy.

I stand by my max engine power per hull rating (though I think the CG loses the requirement for that figure for right around that length and larger.)

150 might be a bit shy on power if you load per your plans.


jky

[Poly]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Not really. My 18' Polaris has a 50 US gallon tank.

So about 150 kg when it is FULL to the brim.

[jyasaki]

Sorry; I thought you were commenting on tank size (though I never did the conversion anyway.)

jky