New Member / New RIB Fit-out

WOPALX · 21 January 2013, 08:14

Hi,

Have been lurking for a while and figured I should join since the new toy is on it's way.

Have finally pulled the pin and bought a RIB, main use is to take the kids for runs in the harbour to explore beaches, do some fishing, tow the kids on tubes and as a tender for our 38" yacht when we go cruising several times each year.

So it's a real multipurpose boat

As it will need to be towed behind our yacht I did not go for a really large RIB, rather a Grand Goldenline G380EF (new but older shape to the current one) and will be fitting up a new 40HP Mercury outboard.

I was lucky to be able to change the console for a larger one to allow me to install an A67 Plotter/Sonar, VHF and Fusion Stereo as I like my gadgets

Any advise on fitting out RIB's?

The new boat is basically an empty shell and I'll be doing the fit-out myself over the coming weeks. Will hang and connect the motor myself but have the dealer pre-commission / check & test before the first launch.

Cheers & look forward to learning heaps from those more experienced than myself.

Stuart

WOPALX · 24 January 2013, 23:53

RIB home from the brokers ready for fit out.

Trailer needed some adjusting to fit the boat so that was task #1.

WOPALX · 24 January 2013, 23:58

First evenings work of fitting out.

Mounted gauges (still waiting on the trim gauge), controls, A67 display and roughed in hole for Fusion stereo. Neighbours would have complained if I'd kept cutting so still need to cut holes for the VHF and switch panel.

Also mounted the fuel filler fitting and the VHF antenna.

Heaps more to do over the weekend.

WOPALX · 29 January 2013, 00:24

A busy weekend.

Finished mounting all the instruments, lights, console and battery.

Test fitted the fuel tank.

Hung the motor onto the transom & fitted the speedo pickup and transducer for the sounder.

80% of the cabling, just need to connect the bilge pump and a locker light for the aft locker.

WOPALX · 29 January 2013, 00:26

Some more pictures from the weekends work.

treerat · 29 January 2013, 09:53

Looks like you're having fun. Good set of pics telling the story unfold.

Good luck

WOPALX · 29 January 2013, 11:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by treerat

Looks like you're having fun. Good set of pics telling the story unfold.

Good luck

Thanks, it's my first powerboat fitout so learning heaps.

It's fun knowing where all the stuff runs and how it bolts together, will make trouble shooting issues later much easier.

Ran the main cables to the engine tonight and ascertained the fuel gauge won't read correctly, needs some adjustment to the sender unit. Might change the power source for the sender from ignition to constant 12v so it always reads when power is switched on.

WOPALX · 30 January 2013, 21:42

Pretty much finished the fit out last night.

All that remains is to run some additional cable protecting plastic tubing, put another few bolts to hold the console in place and apply the boat name and rego numbers (after it's had a good wash).

dobra## · 30 January 2013, 22:33

Love the console. Well done, I am very jealous.
Look forward to seeing the pics of it in the water.

WOPALX · 30 January 2013, 23:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobra##

Love the console. Well done, I am very jealous.
Look forward to seeing the pics of it in the water.

Thanks, console was certainly the decision maker for me.

I wanted all the gadgets and in the 3.8 - 4m range of RIB's there was nothing that would allow me to flush mount the toys. The dealer here was happy enough to swap the standard console with the one I got from a larger boat in the range, fits everything and looks great while still leaving room to move around the boat.

Just need to get a trim gauge at some stage, will mean I'll need to move the hour meter from the dash but that's not a big issue IMHO.

Assuming all goes well with the outboard commissioning Saturday morning by the Outboard guy's the RIB will have it's virgin splash down Saturday afternoon

dobra## · 30 January 2013, 23:14

Good luck for sat then. Bet the weather there is very much better than here.

9D280 · 31 January 2013, 11:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by WOPALX

Just need to get a trim gauge at some stage, will mean I'll need to move the hour meter from the dash but that's not a big issue IMHO.

Does your plotter talk NMEA2K? You can get NMEA trim senders for (I think) most engines now. Then you can put a bar graph up the side of or a "trim angle" number in the corner of your plotter screen?

My costings for cooling pressure & temp NMEA senders for my museum put the senders about the same cost as an analogue gauge..... (UK prices!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by WOPALX

Thanks, it's my first powerboat fitout so learning heaps.

It's fun knowing where all the stuff runs and how it bolts together, will make trouble shooting issues later much easier.

Ran the main cables to the engine tonight and ascertained the fuel gauge won't read correctly, needs some adjustment to the sender unit. Might change the power source for the sender from ignition to constant 12v so it always reads when power is switched on.

Cool. Absolutely agree on the troubleshooting.

Be wary of a permanet feed for the sender - all you need is to forget to switch off the power one afternoon as you BBQ on the beach......

Nice boat. Not many make that uneasy mix of "flash" tender / beach boat & "working" rib like you have managed.

Edit - One Q - if you are towing behind your yacht, have you upgraded the towing eye or have a harness that also fixes to other strong points kind of thing?

WOPALX · 31 January 2013, 22:06

The A67 does have NMEA2K and I did consider adding a backbone to the boat, but as the outboard does not output any NMEA data I decided to wait.

But I will ask my outboard guy if a NMEA sender is available, that would certainly work as well / if not better than a dedicated gauge.

I plan on having an electrical engineer who specialises in automotive piggyback control systems see if he can piggyback the RPM / Speed signals from the engine and convert them to NMEA protocol .... he's bit of a wizard with automative control systems (tuned my old turbo BMW 335) so I'm sure he could do it, it's just a time/cost thing. Then again we could maybe develop a product for people with older engines wanting digital gauges.

Worked out the fuel gauge was not correctly installed (my error), fixed it up and she works well, reads 50% when there is 20L in the tank and 100% when its full with 40L.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9D280

Does your plotter talk NMEA2K? You can get NMEA trim senders for (I think) most engines now. Then you can put a bar graph up the side of or a "trim angle" number in the corner of your plotter screen?

My costings for cooling pressure & temp NMEA senders for my museum put the senders about the same cost as an analogue gauge..... (UK prices!)

Cool. Absolutely agree on the troubleshooting.

Be wary of a permanet feed for the sender - all you need is to forget to switch off the power one afternoon as you BBQ on the beach......

Nice boat. Not many make that uneasy mix of "flash" tender / beach boat & "working" rib like you have managed.

Edit - One Q - if you are towing behind your yacht, have you upgraded the towing eye or have a harness that also fixes to other strong points kind of thing?

ncp · 01 February 2013, 04:43

Looking good. You move quick.

WOPALX · 01 February 2013, 20:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9D280

One Q - if you are towing behind your yacht, have you upgraded the towing eye or have a harness that also fixes to other strong points kind of thing?

Mostly the RIB will be towed when we are inshore, so fairly smooth water so I don't expect an issue.

In these instances I will connect the tow line via a loop or an eye and the rope, which is fixed to two towing eyes on tube sides and moves free in the towing line loop as a "bridle". See 1st picture I pilfered from the web.

If the weather is bad, we are sailing or we are going around the heads to get into another area, I will use a longer bridle where the ends pass the bow tow rings through, go under the bottom, and are fixed to the transom directly.

I started to make these up last night out of 8mm anchor rhode, but I don't think it's heavy enough so will get some heavier rope next week, maybe some 12mm or similar.

willk · 01 February 2013, 22:00

Personally, I'd tow from the bow eye but fit some sort of damping on the towing warp - there are a few options. I suppose it depends what speed you plan to tow at to some extent and how heavily the RIB is laid up...

WOPALX · 02 February 2013, 01:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

Personally, I'd tow from the bow eye but fit some sort of damping on the towing warp - there are a few options. I suppose it depends what speed you plan to tow at to some extent and how heavily the RIB is laid up...

The hull is 170kg, 72kg for the motor, 40L of fuel + safety gear and electronics etc so I'd say the thing will be around 325kg fully ladened.

The rib will tend to seesaw if towed from the bow eye, especially in any seaway. Also it puts a lot of pressure on a single point of attachment.

For short runs around the harbour it would be fine as we tend to rarely exceed 6 knots under power.

But for any decent run, or while sailing I'd be concerned, especially if the wind is up and we are sailing at 9+ knots.

Also I'm sailing a reasonable sized yacht with the wife and 3 kids, they are not overly experienced yet so if I can avoid any potential issues with the RIB and focus on sailing it makes it less stressful for myself.

WOPALX · 02 February 2013, 02:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncp

Looking good. You move quick.

Quicker than the outboard guys....

Dropped the RIB to them this morning for the commissioning of the motor etc. All good, a few things I'd not done quite to spec but basically fully functional. Given I had no manuals, and this was my first outboard / boat fit out I was happy

Motor started 1st go which was great to hear

Shame though that the f**king thing would not turn off

There is a problem with the remote control unit as it refuses to stop the engine, even the kill switch won't turn it off. Only way to shut the thing off is to pull the leads off the spark plugs

So being a Saturday they will sort the issue on Monday, so launch delayed which is rather disappointing

Other minor issue the tacho isn't showing the RPM (but it needs to have the # of pulses set) and the electronic choke is not playing fair.

Minor niggles in the scheme of things, just disappointing that I did not think to drop it off on Friday to give them an extra day to iron out any issues

WOPALX · 05 February 2013, 04:24

Update from the outboard guys.

There was a wire that was not plugged into the harness (internally) so they have sorted that and she starts and stops & the electronic choke works now as well.

They worked out the Tacho is dodgy so waiting on a new one to arrive tomorrow before I can pick the boat up.

On a side note I have found a product called the EMU-1 which is due for release shortly. It will convert analogue signals to NMEA200 so thus will enable me to have all my information displayed on the A67 display!

9D280 · 05 February 2013, 09:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by WOPALX

On a side note I have found a product called the EMU-1 which is due for release shortly. It will convert analogue signals to NMEA200 so thus will enable me to have all my information displayed on the A67 display!

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of.

I have what was a sinlge NMEA "branch" to my GPS puck, am about to muck about with the Ts to turn it into a backbone and get a couple of Lowrance "plug'n'play" sensors to allow me to see what's happening uner my 1980-ish Cowl.....