New here / My project / Long

[Cgill]

Greetings! I have been lurking for some time. I have found some great info here. Thank you! I am located in the US. (Minneapolis) My winter project is an ex Coast Guard 1989 Avon SR6. If interested, here is a quick recap:

Condition when acquired- Grey hull, original gray Avon tubes. Hull had a few gouges in it and a lot of grey spray paint cover up, tube needed several thousand $$ in repairs to get them working. (My local/only inflatable boat shop gets $100 an hour USD)
1st steps: removed old tube. Grinded off all of the glue on the flange. Sanded the hull down 3 or 4 times with progressivly lighter grit.

Sanded off the original texture/nonslip coating on deck and center console. This material was very messy and hard as hell when sanding.

Body filler was used to fill any/all of the gouges and scratches. Sanded again, followed up by two coats primer and two coats of Interlux yellow paint.

Deck- I originally wanted the feux teak deck system. The price was around $1200 for materials. Out of my budget.

I decided to use Durabak. It is an industrial non slip used for just about everything, including truck bed liners. Cost $220 for 2 gallons. It has rubber chunks in it and goes on with stipple type rollers. Turned out far better than I could have imagined! Did I mention I went with yellow?

Tube: received quotes from multiple manufacturers for a new set. I went with Henshaw’s, Chris was, and is extremely helpful! Tube is navy blue, pressure relief valves, standard rub strake rather than the Avon style flat patches. Tube is on a ship to the states right now.

Projects left – Install tube, buy outboard, (thinking of a single 150 – 200 optimax) and figure out what to do for an A frame.

I will have pictures of all of these steps that I would like to share.

All of this is just laying the ground work for all of the questions I am sure to have for all of you in the coming months!

Best regards,

Christopher

[Rogue Wave]

The Avon's are great boats ....I love em, They will repay every penny you spend on em as they are as tough as old boots. Getting new tubes was a good move. They aren't m,any boats as safe as them in a rough sea either. look forward to the pics

150 Opti will be more than uou need I figure a 200 might be a bit unsafe as the Avons do tend to chine at the end of the speedo

oh welcome by the way!

[ribraff]

Hi CGill and welcome to the forum, i have used the durabak on a sea-rider which i refurbished, it's an excellent product even though it stinks when applying, it lasts very well and as a good resistance to petrol and oil too.
I would go with Rogue on the power side of things, mine got very twitchy over 40 Knots.

[Cgill]

Thanks for the comments and the welcome. I have been thinking about the outboard question a great deal, becasuse its cold here and there is nothing else to do!

150 hp has been my idea all along, after all, the capacity plate on mine has a maximum HP of twin 75's. Double that and I arrive at 150. Very scientific.

The 200 hp optimax thought came about because of a Greenpeace ship that has a SR6 with that exact engine.

You might ask yourself, if greenpeace jumped off a cliff would I follow?

Anyway, very sound advise, thank you. I have been very impressed with the level of saftey minded advice on this board.

[codprawn]

Just remember most 200hp engines are based on the same block as the 150 so the weight is about the same - extra 50hp for the same weight - no contest!!!!

[Rogue Wave]

That's incorrect info with reference to your Optimax choice! The 200 block is the same as the 225 and is considerably heavier and bigger than the 135/150/175 block.

I have seen several over engined Sea Riders and most of them have had a sturdy reinforcing plate and struts fitted to the boat's deck and transom to allow this to happen.

I dunno if it makes a differnce to you petrol guzzling boys over there but there is a considerable difference in fuel burn also betwen the 150 and 200

[Neville]

I used to have one of these boats and as i remember the transom was designed for twins. I had a pair of yam 85's on the back , and was going to put a VRO 150 evinrude on. As i remember i had to play about with the transom, so it may be an idea to check transom heights etc, or email AVON over here to see what information they have.

The 6m avon was a fantastic boat, with the seakeeping abilities similar to the Arctics and the Atlantics. They were originally designed for use as recovery boats in the North Sea oilfields.

Good luck!

[Cgill]

Neville, thank you for the positive words! You bring up a good point. In all of the literature it says the SR6 was designed for twins, so I was concerned about the same thing.

I talked to Avon about it. They said I should go with an extra long shaft. That translates to the 25 inch shaft. The transom happens to be 25 inches, which is I believe right on for a long shaft. ie that plate lines up with the bottom of the transom/hull.

That was, or rather is one of the big questions I have about the boat. We shall see. Does anyone have any experiance with this?

[Rogue Wave]

A pair of three pot yammie twins would be a very good thing on that boat! I love Opti's but I think the three pot yammies are the best two strokes around

[Neville]

Its a shame i cant remember exactly what i did with mine. In the end i did have a problem, i cant remember what the shaft length was that i used. I think i sold the boat after that with no motor. I would go with Avons sugestion. Neville

[EdwardH]

This sounds like a great project Christopher - I'm looking fwd to seeing the photos... and hope the thaw comes soon...

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

That's incorrect info with reference to your Optimax choice! The 200 block is the same as the 225 and is considerably heavier and bigger than the 135/150/175 block.

I have seen several over engined Sea Riders and most of them have had a sturdy reinforcing plate and struts fitted to the boat's deck and transom to allow this to happen.

I dunno if it makes a differnce to you petrol guzzling boys over there but there is a considerable difference in fuel burn also betwen the 150 and 200

I wasn't on about the opti in particular - was speaking generally - obviously you need to check the spec first!!!

[Paul Beaurain]

Hello Chris

We all have ribs in common - its good that you have found rib.net and are making progress with your Avon refurb. What we dont have in common is the geography of where we go boating.

What type of water and weather conditions do you have - you mentioned the cold - does this restrict boating?

PB

[Rogue Wave]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I wasn't on about the opti in particular - was speaking generally

I wasn't actually having a go at you on that - just clearing up any obsfucation over Cgills Optimax choice!

Are you going to poofhelly on the 28th!

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

I wasn't actually having a go at you on that - just clearing up any obsfucation over Cgills Optimax choice!

Are you going to poofhelly on the 28th!

That's ok then!!!


Why should I want to go to North Wales? - the accent would kill me!!!!

Seriously though the South coast is easier to get to for people from south wales!!!

[Jono]

Originally Posted by codprawn

That's ok then!!!


...- the accent would kill me!!!!

...

#

And that ain't all...

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Jono

#

And that ain't all...

Bloody Gogs!!!

[eupa]

"Greetings! I have been lurking for some time. I have found some great info here. Thank you! I am located in the US. (Minneapolis) My winter project is an ex Coast Guard 1989 Avon SR6. If interested, here is a quick recap: "

First of all ,welome Chris.Good project- but there aint no sea near Minneapolis.
Lots of lakes and a big one futher north. To be a true ribber, you must have access to the Atlantic, or at least the English Channel. No ribber worth his hyperlon tubes can be called a ribber unless he has faced at least 5 m high waves and has at least 150 hp on the back....
Good choice Henshaws.Good people- however would advise you use a pro to stick them on the boat as that is a real art- and if you get that wrong ... well you probably got yourself a submarine at the same time. Keep us posted on project. Before and after photos would be great.

jonathan

[narked]

Originally Posted by codprawn

That's ok then!!!


Why should I want to go to North Wales? - the accent would kill me!!!!

Seriously though the South coast is easier to get to for people from south wales!!!

Yeah, why is it so bloody difficult to get to anywhere in Wales from anywhere else in Wales? From Aberystwyth it's a pain in the backside to get anywhere. And aye, 'tis difficult understanding those gogs.

[Cgill]

Its true, no sea in sight! We do have Lake Superior. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world. (And one of the nastiest bodies of water when the weather turns) I am looking forward to venturing out on it after the thaw.

We brings me to our weather. This past weekend it hit -34 degrees Celsius north of my home. By January small towns will be built on the lakes for ice fishing. So rather than my boat, I will be out there in my Jeep!

Lake Superior’s bays freeze over, and the big lake will completely freeze over once every 20 years. Those would be the very cold winters!!!

I now have about 40 photos of the SR6 project at different stages. I will pick a few and post them in a new thread today.

Best regards,

Christopher