humber rib, advice please!

[nick mc]

i am on the vere of buying a new rib a humber assault 4.5m i will be using my current engine on it which is a merc 50 elpto.

does anyone know of any problems i may encounter with this rib or should i just relax and count the days till it arrives.

thanks in advance
nick

[gingercoastie]

I have no experience of this exact model, but after 1 year with my Humber I suggest you sit back and count the days until the boat is ready.

[Alex Brown]

We took on two brand new Humber Assault 4.7m ribs beginning of this year at Neyland Yacht Club - they're propelled by 40 4-stroke Suzuki's, are great fun to operate, and very easy to handle amongst lots of dinghies both at speed and crawling around at low speed. We've had to change the props on both boats cos of some over revving, since that, we're now seeing the boats get upto 29knots with 2 people up, 2 marker buoys anchors and chain etc....

The 4.5 with a 50 on the back will be like a little rocket

If these 2 boats are anything to go by, your best bet is to wait for your new toy to arrive

-Alex

[arn.george]

5m Humber ocean pro with 40hp yamaha - had it up to 30knots with 2 up. Fanatastic handling - very smooth ride and rarely get wet even in big swells!
Alex

[woot]

Took delivery of my 5m Assault in December and have been very pleased, I went for a Humber because I spent years diving from them and seeing how seaworthy and rugged they were. If you want a rugged confidence inspiring boat you will be very pleased.

[Jari Hjerppe]

Hi!

I received my 5m Assault early this year and so far I've been very pleased and happy with it.

Jari

[GaryD]

Nick, you ordered it yet?

[Rupert Bear]

I got a 5.3m Assault last year. I reckon that if I was starting again I would either get the Destroyer or a Tornado to get a higher bow and slightly more height on the tubes.
Not that I am unhappy with the Assault, just looking at other options in hindsight cos of the prevailing conditions here (I get wet a lot!)
I am too far away to see all the various types and the boats are mostly old models around here so I ordered mine without seeing the curent model and basing my choice on experience of the Attack.

[Jackwabbit]

We picked up our 5.5m Assault back in January; this is being used for our clubs diving.
Although Humber advertise this size boat as a 7-diver boat with a 70HP engine, we are using it to carry only 6 divers. The first problem I had was Humber didn’t even supply a high viz bag to cover the prop, and they didn’t even have one to purchase. Bearing in mind this is a requirement by law & we were getting the complete package from them, I wasn’t too pleased about having to tow the boat 250 miles without one. On picking up the boat they said the gear change is a little stiff but it will loosen up with use. The second time out the gear cable snapped, Humber expected me to tow the boat another 250 miles to get the cable changed or send the old cable back to them to change. 4 weeks later the new cable arrived (good job I went locally to get a new cable while waiting)
On putting the new cable back into the binding that carries all the cables, it was s stiff again it wouldn’t be long before another one would snap.
The way Humber route the cables is obviously not the best, & the only way the remote cables would operate freely was to take them out of all the binding.
Although I told Humber what the boat was intended to be used for they supplied it with a prop that was over sized to carry 6 divers, the centre console was not as far forward as we would have liked because there is no room to kit up with the bottle rack. Ok so I didn’t ask for the console to be put right at the front of the boat, but only because all the information sent to me by Humber was stating that the console was as far to the front as possible leaving maximum deck space. Also because they have been building RIB’s for a long time for diving purposes I thought they would know best.
On the water with 6 divers on board it does ship a lot of water over the bow, if the sea gets a little rough, and the bungs in the airtight hull are very loose & keep falling out.
All in all not over impressed with Humber & I think next time we are looking at getting a new dive boat, we will go for a Tornado or X-S RIB, mainly because of the higher bow & they are a lot closer to us than Humber.

[Rupert Bear]

I had problems with routing the outboard control cables as well but can't blame Humber as I did it myself
The first set got really stiff after 6 months and even at the start were none too free moving. I replaced and re routed them fortnight ago with supreme grade ones and now they are operable with one pinky
The main problem is lack of space to get good route in a small console with the fuel tank in the way but using the better cables and with a bit of care this can be worked around.
The other problem is the play in a 6 month old steering cable, so much so that I am saving my pennies for hydraulic before it gets that bad that I can't steer straight
I could fit 6 divers on board but took the decision never to take more than 4 simply to stop the kit getting broke as fat Ba*****d divers stomped all over it, a problem on a lot of club boats where everybody gets crammed on.
The bow is a bit low on the assault and they do ship some water, especially in a seaway that is on the quarter.