Leeway 630 - In heavy seas?

blimp · 04 January 2007, 08:52

Mornin' All,

First post as I only recently discovered the wonders of this place! Before anyone screams 'search', yes I have done and I'm aware of all the previous 'handbags at dawn' stuff about certain aspects of this product .... but ... I need to ask a farily specific question which hasn't been answered in previous posts.

I'm seriously considering a Leeway 630 with 115hp Mercury Optimax. I live on the south coast of Ireland and would plan to do a lot of cruising along the Cork to Baltimore route. I'd also fancy a few of the Cork to Wales / Cork to Scilly Isles trips .... so .... my question is this. To any out there that either own or have trialled a Leeway, how are they in heavy seas? Can they take it? Any risk of the tubes coming off at the nose?

I'm aware that they're particularly light and that you need less hp for performance, but this mean that the poor-weather abilities are therefore compromised? While I'm not expecting the capabilities of a Redbay Stormforce (although it would be nice), can she still take the rough stuff?

Thanks for any input

Nos4r2 · 04 January 2007, 09:39

I don't have any experience of Lee's boats but you might get the answer you're looking for if you give Doug at Stormforce a ring.
He's got one he uses for training and I very much doubt he's easy on it!

Cork Rib · 04 January 2007, 09:46

Don't know about Leeway, but joe at Excalibur Ribs in Carrigaline has a decent 6.5 for sale at the right money. www.ribs.ie It's the red & white one on the 6.5 gallery page

Jon

blimp · 04 January 2007, 10:00

Nos4r2 - thanks for that ... my plan is to sea-trial Doug's Leeway before I make a decision. I spoke with him before Christmas and he was largely very positive about the rib

Cork Rib - actually spoke with Joe yesterday. I've a lot of admiration for his craft, but the one that's for sale has quite a few years on her, and I could get a new Leeway with new engine for around the same money. If the Leeway will do what I need it to do, then I'm going to go for it. (Plus I can customise the 'look' to some degree, so I'll prob. go mad and create something really wild for buzzing the gin palaces in the Lower Harbour!)

HMJB · 04 January 2007, 10:55

Hi there - we have a Leeway 6.3, which we picked up summer 2005, we've done about 160 hours now, some in good weather and some in not so good.

In answer to your question, the boat performs in the rough better than it looks like it should, however, it really depends on the length of the wave (as with all boats I guess).

We keep ours in the solent and some of the shorter solent chop does cause a 'stuff' from time to time, however, I am sure that is down to my driving sometimes and once out of the solent in longer waves it seems to be great.

We have been out in some fairly rough weather and felt as safe as I have in any other ribs, so are pretty happy with it.

As you say I am sure a redbay etc would do better in the really rough weather, but then the costs are a great deal more.

We went for the leeway for exactly the same reasons as yourself - i.e. we could get a new boat and set it up as we wanted for a similar price to a second hand one, also benefiting from the guarantees provided on engine and hull. We went for a 115 opti, which has had a few problems, but all dealt with under guarantee as it was new and the hull seems to be holding up very well.

PM me if you have any more questions.....

vince · 04 January 2007, 13:55

We use ours in the North Sea and have been out in some really scary stuff, and no problems so far. The better my confidence gets, the more happier it seems to be. Agree with HMJB, it looks more of a sports hull, and the boat is lighter than others, but its a very forgiving ride. A 115hp will be plenty. Ours has a 135hp and the economy is fairly decent. You should have no problems with tubes as they are done by Tidel. As with all ribs, it depends on what you will use it for, but the Leeway is a good all-rounder. Take the test drive, and see for yourself, you`ll enjoy it!

codprawn · 05 January 2007, 02:18

If you are worried about tubes getting ripped off then go for the sunbed at the bows - it depends on how they are attached but normally the sunbed gives a much larger area to attach the tubes to on most ribs. As someone else said if they are Tilley's tubes you will be fine if they attach them properly.