Narwhal Ribs

Mike B · 02 June 2003, 11:22

Hi,

I'm looking at a 5.2m Narwhal.

Does anyone have any experience of this model or make ?

Has any one got a link to their website, I can't find any details anywhere.

Cheers

Mike

Bilge Rat · 02 June 2003, 11:57

Hi Mike, i've not had any real experience of Narwhal but be careful if you do look at one as i've heard some real horror stories about build quality especially older boats.

No offence meant to Narwhal owners !!!

Richard

gingercoastie · 02 June 2003, 11:59

Hi,

Rib International had a review of the Narwhal 5.2 in their April 2003 issue. They posted www.viking_life.com as the web address and vikingsth@viking_life as the e-mail address

Jason Norman · 02 June 2003, 12:17

Mike

My first RIB was a Narwhal what a crock of ?

didnt last more than two years, the tubes were made of hypatex and fell apart and the hull was disformed in the end i dumped it!

probably better now but not impressed then

Jelly · 02 June 2003, 12:58

Mike
about 8 yrs ago RYA SW region had a 4m? as their regional support boat.
It was not a great boat in my humble opinion, very wet, no space.
Jelly

Alex Brown · 02 June 2003, 13:22

I had a Narwhal 5m rib... it wasn't new - I'd guess just on or over the 10 year old mark.

About 5mins after buying it, the fabric joining the tube to the hull on the port side came off.... cost a fair bit to fix.

About 6 months on, after I discovered other sections coming off, re-glued etc.... whole family out on river, heard a crack, and the starboard side gave which resulted in water pouring in from the bow

Basically, all the stuff I'd fixed was sound (luckily so), but the previous jobs were dodgy. I think the hull was sound, albeit a bit flat towards the back which didn't make a soft ride.

I have no idea what the new Narwhals are like, and have since sold it, and invested in a new Humber.

-Alex

Mike B · 02 June 2003, 13:30

Thanks all.

I will go and have a look but it sounds like one to be avoided.

Cheers

Mike

Bilge Rat · 02 June 2003, 14:31

Heard a great story a while back about a 5 metre Narwahl and a bunch of scouts that managed to rip the transom of the starboard side tube and nearly lost the engine, the tube deflated and the baffles one side had previously blow so the whole boat listed madly and started to sink to one side and it was only the swift intervention of a second rib that saved the day, all crew and kit were removed quickly and they managed to tow and then drag the Narwhal on to a beach, remove the engine and tow the wreck back to base. Would i buy a Narwhal :-)

Ok so in all seriousness the boat was well old and probably didn't have to much left in her, but to have a transom fall off would alarm me especially if i was miles out to sea at the time with no immediate back up.

Hey wana ask Charles about breaking boats

seem to recall he's broke one once.

R

Charles · 02 June 2003, 15:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Bilge Rat

Hey wana ask Charles about breaking boats seem to recall he's broke one once.

R

OI! I did not break the boat - it could not take the pace!!

Storm · 03 June 2003, 08:35

Narwhal Web site www.Nasty-Ribs.com

Keith Hart · 03 June 2003, 09:10

There is a Narwhal rib for sale on the RibNet 'Ribs for Sale' section. It's the last one on the section. I think it has been there for some time.

Keith Hart

Bilge Rat · 03 June 2003, 09:53

I looked at a Narwhal rib having the engine serviced last night at my local marine mechanics, the sponson was comming away from the hull and the consoul and seat rocked around when pulled about, it did have a nice clean Mariner on it though that looked pretty new to me still Narwhal dont make engines do they !!!

R

Westy · 03 June 2003, 10:08

Do NOT buy a Narwhal. I bought a new one last year. The ride is very harsh and the accessories are very badly made. After four months, the gel coat had bubbled. Viking were unable to deal with any warranty issues and I had to get a solicitor involved to stop the boat being sent back to Spain for examination.
After four months of haggling, I eventually got a new boat which I promptly sold.
Maybe it wasn't Viking's fault but as UK agents, they have no ability to make a decision and certainly did not fight my cause and I ended up out of pocket.
When I sold it, I bought a Coastline which is a much better boat IMHO.

Mike B · 03 June 2003, 16:50

I spoke to a friend who did a bit of digging .(NB don’t know how correct it is so don’t quote me).
In brief Narwhal was owned by “Mr Narwhal” and “Mr X” they had a bit of a bust up and “Mr X” became “Mr Valiant”. Shortly after the build quality of Narwhal took a bit of nosedive.

Anyway I went to look at the boat last night and it is in very good nick and obviously has been looked after, with no structural damage (that I could find) and very few cosmetic scratches. Its on a very near new roller coaster trailer and has a very well looked after and serviced Suzuki 55. It has a good selection of kit – GPS / FF / VHF etc and is of the pre Narwhal split era.

I took it for a spin and it seemed perfectly upto anything I would ask it to do.

Anyway to cut a long story short subject to completion of a bank transfer I now own it. I don’t want anyone to think that I didn’t value their opinion, but I have made my decision and I will have to stick with it. You may all get the chance to say I told you so. …… (but hopefully not).

I don’t intend to push the boat to the limit and potentially, as it is my first RIB, I will be looking to change it in the not too distant future, so hopefully it will last that long.

I also want to stress that it also had nothing to do with the other half’s comments of “I like the colour” and “It looks much less utilitarian than the Humber”.

Incidentally the vendor had had quite a bit of interest and the sale went down to a coin toss between me and another buyer who test drove the boat at same time as me.

Again thank you all for your comments and I will keep you informed and maybe post some pics when it arrives on Saturday – I’m off to update my profile.

Cheers

Mike

Bilge Rat · 04 June 2003, 08:56

Hi Mike

Glad you found the boat you like and as they say at the end of the day its your money and you have to make those choices, seems as if you've had a fairly good deal as i bought a boat earlier this year without any kit included at all as i thought it better to spend my entire boat budget on getting the best and most boat i could afford and then adding bits slowly as i went along, problem is i want it all now and dont have the paitents to wait !! remember though that a VHF new costs about £200 + an arial will cost around £60 ish and a good GPS plotter about £600 add that up and your talking about £860 + just for a couple of bits so when you look at say a 4k boat thats got all those bits and all the sundry items most begginers take for granted, does it mean the boats only actually worth about 2k if you were to take everything off !! suppose its like selling a car and saying if i throw in the cd player, mats and a tank of petrol the cars worth £500 more than the book price.....do boats have a book price ?......is there a glasses guide for used boat prices ? suspect theres the beggining of another thread.

Good luck and have fun

Richard