High performance RIBs vs conventional RIBs

[John Kennett]

I am not a racer, and most of my own experience has been cruising in more conventional, slower boats (mainly a 7m 165hp diesel Ribtec, absolute top speed 35 knots).

I have seen what high performance RIBs can do though, and there is no doubt in my mind that they can perform well in heavy seas, especially given a good pilot at the controls. At their best they are well balanced and driven hard so that they fly flat and level, hardly touching each wave (and not bouncing around the sky!).

For those of you with Phantom Evo's, SportRibs, Revengers, Bananasharks and the like here's a question:

How fundamental is speed to these boats' seakeeping? This sort of driving style demands a great deal of commitment and concentration which is OK for short blasts, or for dedicated racers, but is not necessarily what you want all the time.

For more leisurely cruising, say 80 to 100 miles a day at 30 knots in a variety of conditions, would they still be a good choice?

John

[Cookee]

Funny you should say that John but we are working on a leisure version of the race boat in between doing other stuff. As with any boat they behave quite differently at changing speeds just like a car or motorbike.

The BananaShark is just like any other hull, it behaves just like any other at slower speeds. Of course it depends on how the boat is set up - propellors inboards, outboards, COG etc, but basically it would not require any more effort / concentration to drive a race boat at 35 mph than any other leisure boat.

Hope that answers your question!

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Cookee
The BananaShark is just like any other hull

Not many manufacturers are as honest as that

Will the leisure version have the same hard nose? If this is as effective at lower speeds, do you see any advantages in fully tubed RIBs at all?

John

[Cookee]

I suppose I should know better than make comments like that around you lot! - What I MEANT to say was that the hull will behave more like any other hull in so far as that it will require less effort and concentration the slower you go!

The leisure boat will have the same hard nose as that is part of the "look" of the boat. As I said on another thread hard boats have managed quite well for many years without tubes around the bow. The fact is that if you look at the design of the BananaShark, you will see that an inflatable nose would make no differance as to the seakeeping at all, and whilst some ribs are designed with the soft nose as part of the boat, the BananaShark was not and stands as she is at any speed.

To try and cut a long story short(er) some ribs COULD have tapered tubes or small hard noses like the BananaShark but not all - whilst I would love to give examples of this I'm sure there must be owners of boats out there who wish they had a bigger nose!

Sorry for rambling and I hope all the above makes sense!

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally posted by Cookee

Sorry for rambling and I hope all the above makes sense!

What are you on about????

[kitten]

Very good point JK. Ask those who saw us going to plymouth for the ribnet meet. The weater was a bit snotty and speeds were low, Brian in Cyanide crunched the waves with a large heavy boat.
The two smaller ribs stayed in contact with the water and had a rough but not uncomfortable ride.
We had two options
1,stay with them and be just about on the plane, or
2, get on top of it and take the odd hard landing.

Point is that you make your choice as to what you want. As it was we took a few waves over the bows and got a bit wet, shame, at no time were we in any danger nor were any of the others.
But if like most people the boat was for fun and sunny days would we have gone out in those conditions?

[thewavehumper]

There are some rather unflattering pictures of me over on Boatmad, which certainly confirm that I am Clinnically obese. I bounced around in Cookees boat and it was really comfortable.

I was not aware of much transmission through my spine at all