How difficult is it to get a RIB commercially coded?

[IamSam]

I think I already know the answer to this, but please entertain and educate me!

There are very few RIBs available for charter anywhere in the southwest, those that are are upwards of £250 a day (most £450+) and are very new/in great condition.

I want to buy a 6-7.5 meter RIB and keep it in the water during the summer months. Nothing special, something costing maybe £20-35k. I live in the Cotswolds with and have in-laws near Plymouth, but family life won't let me get out on the water that often.

As I would only be able to use it for 20-25 days a year, renting it out seems like a great way to offset some of the costs. I don't want to make a profit, but a grand or two a year to help with maintenance/mooring costs makes the idea of owning a RIB 120 miles from home more palatable to the wifey.

I'm guessing there is a reason we don't see armada's of 12 year old 4m RIBs up for daily rental for sub £120? How tough are the commercial coding requirements?

I guess shared ownership would be another option, but I like the idea of being in charge of the calendar and having more freedom to use the boat when I want to.

[Obsidian]

Hiya, I am in Plymouth so if I can help out let me know

As for chartering a RIB out to others I looked into this and RIB.net helped to convince me it was a terrible idea. Have a search

Here is the thread I started on the same topic....

https://www.rib.net/forum/f30/rib-hi...ors-84106.html

[paulbrown22]

Agreed, especially if you only want to do it on the side to raise a little bit of money for mooring/etc., the amount of aggro and pain of having others use your boat isn't worth it, and the costs for coding/damage/additional maintenance/cleaning/insurance/etc. will highly likely wipe out the profit! Especially if you're that far away from where the boat would be located and can't easily do jobs/handovers/checks yourself, I wouldn't bother.

Do you have an option to store a boat on a trailer at home, thereby negating the major marina cost, and only berthing it for days/weeks when you plan to use it?

[Orwell boy]

Heres a nice coded option
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324699820...UAAOSwB4Je9f8q
dont think i would want to let it out to the odd holidaymaker though !

[ShinyShoe]

OK.

Lets assume you have a free of charge RIB, fully meeting the coding requirement, insured and on a mooring. You only need it 25 days a year. Your logic is to rent it out the other days

You say you can only use it 25 days. Will those be the same 25 days your customers want it? What defines your 25 days - weekend, weather, summer holidays? Guess when most people want to rent?

Lets assume for some reason you want to use a rib on Mondays and Tuesdays and so could always make it available at weekends. What happens if the guy who hires it on Sunday decides to use the prop as a depth gauge the day before you are due to go out.

Who will issue the RIB out? Receive it back? What happens if they are late... do you have to sit and wait?

Lets assume you've got a grand plan for all that. Lets get back to the boat.

Coding works in a zone approach etc. So if you want to be able to cross the channel on code, it needs a load of kit. Liferafts etc, that in reality youd probably never add to your own RIB. Reducing the spec will make the range your customers can go less which makes you less desirable.

I suspect there is a market for small 4-5m RIBs around the dinghy sailing venues for parents who don't own a RIB but want to provide on the water support (they are often on the water 6 hours solid so a friendly RIB with food and dry gloves etc is well received). But I suspect you wont cover your costs... or they would just buy a rib and sell it on in a couple of years...

[Poly]

Originally Posted by IamSam

I'm guessing there is a reason we don't see armada's of 12 year old 4m RIBs up for daily rental for sub £120?

several at that scale:
- the numbers don't add up; if you can afford £120/d + fuel etc you can probably afford a cheap boat and a lot of people can store a 4m boat at home for free; the SIB market has probably killed the potential for this even more
- 12 year old boats (and engines!) need maintained and don't earn money when "off the water" - same reason there are not many places hiring old cars
- there are a small number of places with small fleets of hire boats with small engines to appeal to the curious one-off renters who won't be going far.
- would you hand me the keys to your pride and joy 4m rib for £120? Can I tow a ring with it, beach it, and all the other stuff people will want to do?
- I'm sure that insuring bareboat charter is a total PITA

How tough are the commercial coding requirements?

they aren't that ridiculous, but outside categorised waters then fitting it all on a 4m rib isn't going to leave much room for passengers! And increasingly coding agencies are expecting to see seats for passengers - so that's potentially 2/3 people of a small boat! or makes other styles of boat more practical.

I guess shared ownership would be another option, but I like the idea of being in charge of the calendar and having more freedom to use the boat when I want to.

for what you suggest its probably a much more logical solution (although I'd guess most people here with 100% ownership don't actually use in >25 days a year - I certainly don't). There are share schemes that have fleets of boats so you stand a good chance of getting a boat on any day you want one - although they aren't really targeting the minimum budget - more the minimal hassle owner.

[Miss Guided]

Dear Sam

I have no idea about the economics of chartering. You asked about coding specifically. Try this initially or phone the RYA.

https://www.rya.org.uk/e-news/up-to-...ing-mca-coding

MGx