Humber ribs

[topspeed]

Be grateful for all feedback both positive and negative on Humber ribs, made in the last 5 years or so.
Please pm me if any concerns.

[cjj216]

Can’t comment on 5 year old hulls, but my thoughts may still be of use to you.
Mine is an 11 year old Ocean Pro which are still in production.
I’ve had several Ribs to compare it against and these are my thoughts.
Humber’s background is, or used to be, more commercial based.
Their boats have a reputation for having good sea keeping abilities and the hulls themselves are well built.
They’re reasonably
priced but the attention to detail of the finished job isn’t great.
If your a commercial user this wouldn’t matter but if you’re going to be going over your new boat with a fine toothed comb then go for an Osprey.
Similar solid, robust sea keeping hulls but finished article is better (not checked current prices but this is most likely reflected in the price).
All this may have changed and Humber may have got their act together regarding finishes - others may come along to comment on this.
As with any hand made product, quality can vary from boat to boat.
You need to “snag” a new boat before you buy or, if its second hand, accept any minor niggles or be prepared to sort yourself.
I may be at my boat tomorrow, if so I’ll get some pics of what I mean by “attention to detail”

[JTURNER]

Last year, I bought the boat they built for the Southampton boat show in 2014. I would agree with the Comment above. There were little things they hadn’t done that they should have done. Eg every locker had a different key! Shocks on seats were not able to handle salt air, deck drainage relied on one bilge pump for everything. The hull is awesome, the tubes solid, the core boat is great. So over last winter I took the time and money to address these issues and I’m now happy with the result. I have redone everything, new deck, all new electrics, new seats, new steering wheel, new lights and aerial, new trailer, new all over cover etc etc. It’s now the boat I wanted, it just took time and money to get there, but now it’s awesome.

[Phil M]

I bought a destroyer 5.8 from them last summer. It was a stock boat and very heavily reduced (look at www.ribworld.com for details as there are some great reductions). I rigged the boat myself including retrofitting under deck trunking (not an easy task) so cannot comment on their riggingMy hull was reduced due to a cosmetic issue where the white hull has a slight grey fleck to it, which I really like so am happy! The hull is very solid and rides very well in rough seas (have been out in 1m+ choppy waves). It's a very dry ride and lands comfortably. The console and seats are also very solid with good gel finish. The seat pads and metalwork are all good quality and well finished. The tubes are well made and well stuck on.

There are a few down sides. Some of the smaller fittings are not the best (e,g, the front seat catch). There was insufficient sealant under the console so deck water got into the inside (it is very well attached however so not concerned about it detaching) and the humber logo on one of the tubes is peeling a little. These are all really easily rectified however and I knew what I was purchasing at the time.
I did have an issue where the transom is too long, which concerned me for a while but turned out to be a non issue. It was meant to be a 20" (long shaft) transom but measured at 21.5" so I couldn't mount the engine as they suggested. A few calls with them and they agreed that I should mount as low as possible and give it a go and if it were too high, they could shorten the transom for me. As it happened, the engine is fine mounted higher and probably performs better where it is.

All in all, the destroyer is a no nonsense, solid rib that performs really well and can handle the rough. It's well made but not as polished as some of the competition. With the discount I got, it was several thousand less than an Ribcraft 585, and so much nearer to collect. The Ribcraft may have been the nicer boat, bit I'm more than happy with the Humber and would replace like for like without question.

Phil M