New Rib - Any Views :-) ?

Paw_patroller · 28 April 2021, 20:38

Good evening

This is my first post, so thanks for having me. I’m looking at buying a rib in the next few weeks for use on the south coast between weekends on the Solent and 2 week holidays in Devon.

We are a family of 4 with kids at 6 and 8. I would like something that can be dry stacked and I can use for 10 years and still be in good condition to either keep longer or sell later.

Budget is 100-150k and I’d like something I can leave without having too much maintenance.

My questions are should I go for a rib eg A811 ribeye or a stinger or a scorpion. I even considered day cruisers perhaps 2 years old to get into budget eg axopar cabin?

We are a family and I’d like something to grow with us.

Really appreciate your views as I’m new to this and we’re going to buy ready for summer.

All the best

Jon Tallis · 28 April 2021, 21:05

That's a very nice problem to have!
With that budget available, have you spoken to brokers on the Solent that might have a selection of candidate boats available and let you trial?
With kids of that age I'd be giving some serious consideration to something with a cabin or at least a wheelhouse both for reasons of safety and given the UK climate you'll probably find you'll get a lot more use out of the boat unless your family are unusually hardy!
You mentioned being based in the Solent but wanting to do weeks in Devon.....have you considered how you're going to get it there? If you're going to tow then that will clearly put a maximum size and weight limit on the boat (and may steer you away from a cabin / wheelhouse boat). If you're going to truck / cruise / delivery it down then clearly the towing restriction doesn't apply.

If you need a personal shopper then I'd be delighted to assist![emoji4][emoji4]

HDAV · 28 April 2021, 21:21

How much on water experience do you have? Spent much time helming boats? Also prices are generally high right now and may not stay high for that long fine if you can afford to take a bath if you make the wrong decision 4 people a 6/7m would be high enough but yes 8m+ may be nicer and within budget.....

Sutty · 28 April 2021, 22:06

By you profile it looks like you have purchased or already made up your mind

beamishken · 28 April 2021, 22:09

With that kind of budget & family I think I'd go for something with accommodation unless you fancy watersports then open boat probably better. Some sort of weekend accommodation will open up more destinations for you and can still be towable. Probably a stretching the budget for a weekender rib but probably plenty of hard boat options about now

Paw_patroller · 28 April 2021, 22:14

Thanks for the replies guys.

I haven’t made up my mind and purchase yet, but I’m leaning towards an A811. The prime series looks like more than I need to be honest.

The question of cabin boat or wheelhouse / pilot house is a good one and I’d love to get views on this.

If I went down that route to explore the south coast could I get something that had
- 2 cabins
- could dry stack so not huge maintenance and faff
- quality boat that’s going to be in good nick in 10 years
- less than £200k

Any pointers would be helpful. Part of me just thinka that the rib route at 8m is best compromise. We use it as a day boat and just stay in hotels in evening and only use in good weather.

Am I wrong?

All the best

Paw_patroller · 28 April 2021, 22:15

Thanks so much for this. What kind of thing would you say I should look at? Our car can tow 3.5T but id be happy to leave it on south coast and in the water / dry stack
All the best

spartacus · 28 April 2021, 22:28

Welcome to the forum.

What a great position to be in. Budget is everything, but it's not just about the overall cost, but your long term aim, and what you and your family want from it.

With a young family I'd be looking for a cabin, given our undependable weather. Also gives you the option to stay on board for a night or two.

I'd also speak to some dry stack companies to get an idea for annual costs and logistics. Turning up with the boat already in the water gives you more time on the water. Half my time is spent driving to the coast, launching, retrieving, washing the boat down, then storing!

Axopar boats are in a different league, but 28 Cabin is into 11 meter territory!

There's even things like Zodiac NZo 700 that's just 7m, but has 300hp.

Paw_patroller · 28 April 2021, 22:32

This is so helpful thank you. Could you give me an idea of some names to look at within the compact 4 Beth cruiser category? I’ll speak to the dry stacks as well. I think weather protection is a good idea. Are axopar decent then? I liked the look and they look on the top end of budget so could justify if it can be locked up and left.

RickW · 29 April 2021, 06:34

I bought my first rib from new last year after a few years of prevaricating over which route to go from beach launched sib or crabber up to XO cabin boats / axopar / Sargo

In the end I went for a rib, currently drystacking in Plymouth but wanted something which is easily trailerable

I happen to live right next to the sea but the dry stack is a 30 min drive as others have said if time is precious and you are coming from a distance I cannot emphasise enough how convenient dry stacks are - especially when it comes to the other half and faffage

Maybe take a drive out to a drystack - give yourself an idea of how they work and have a look at some boats and ribs in person

Personally I really like the open sky open boat approach of a rib and we use ours year round if the crew are getting bored I can open her up and get back pronto and sod the expense!

Paw_patroller · 29 April 2021, 06:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickW

I bought my first rib from new last year after a few years of prevaricating over which route to go from beach launched sib or crabber up to XO cabin boats / axopar / Sargo

In the end I went for a rib, currently drystacking in Plymouth but wanted something which is easily trailerable

I happen to live right next to the sea but the dry stack is a 30 min drive as others have said if time is precious and you are coming from a distance I cannot emphasise enough how convenient dry stacks are - especially when it comes to the other half and faffage

Maybe take a drive out to a drystack - give yourself an idea of how they work and have a look at some boats and ribs in person

Personally I really like the open sky open boat approach of a rib and we use ours year round if the crew are getting bored I can open her up and get back pronto and sod the expense!

Thanks so much for this perspective and I’ll certainly take a trip down there. I’m going to take a look at the premier marina in Chichester where they can store up to 9m. I could not agree more with the concept of minimising faff so just calling someone and the boat is on the water will be key for me. Great his has been validated by a first hand view, thank you

Interesting that you say the costs aren’t to worry about vs an axopar or sargo. I guess to have cabins I would need to go for the axopar 37 or similar which is 12m and 5T vs 8m. What’s so much more - the fuel and storage I guess (£150 and hour vs £70 an hour fuel?). Would the main one be that you can’t dry stack a 12m so all the faff comes back into play.

I’ll take a look at the dry stacks as you say and find out how big they go. Removing faff is key!

Once my wife and I hopefully retire in a few years and we are less time poor, I think we will get something that we can invest more time in. But for now, I have to be realistic that we will only get a handful of weekends (5? Plus a couple of weeks a year).

Thanks everyone so much for views

I’ve taken away that I need to see some cabin cruisers eg axopar 37 / Sargo and check how big the dry stack can go.

All the best

John Kennett · 29 April 2021, 07:18

As an alternative to buying a boat straight off, for the minimum faff and the amount of use you’re envisaging you might be better off hiring instead. If you did that for the first year you’d get a much better idea of what’s likely to suit you.

Solent RIB Charter have a great fleet of boats and will also deliver to the southwest for your holidays.

https://www.solentribcharter.co.uk/b...boat-rib-hire/

Dry Run · 29 April 2021, 08:39

Here at KB Dry Stack, we have a number of Axopar 28's and we really like them. Most boats in the dry stack are RIB's as they seem very well suited to The Solent. Fast and vaersatile way to explore this fantastic area of coastline. If you need any hekp and advice reference purchase or storage, please feel free to give me a call.

Good luck

Steve

Pipster100 · 29 April 2021, 09:05

If you're only thinking of maybe 5 weekends a year plus a couple of weeks holiday them I'm not sure I'd be looking to drop 100-150k just yet, unless you're sure the boat you purchase is the one you want. If it turns out not to be the boat you want there's resale to consider, take a look on 'boatsandoutboards', I'd say there's a far higher demand for RIBs than cabin boats.

Have you got much experience in boats? I totally get the arguments for a cabin boat, I used to have one. If you're really into boats and want to use it in all weathers, then a cabin boat can be a great investment, but if you find you're more a fair weather boater, you may only use the cabin boat in just good weather when you don't really need the benefits of the cabin.

Cabin boats can also be harder to berth, if you're going to be doing most of the work yourself then you need to consider this, fenders, lines etc. A RIB could be argued to be easier.

You say you want the least hassle possible, totally agree, the best boat is one that puts a smile on your and your families faces and that you use and doesn't become a headache. Lets face it, we all (well most of us) want to enjoy hassle free boating, that doesn't mean we all want dry stack or boats on a pontoon etc. I keep my RIB at home, it takes 15 mins to drive to the slip which is wide and free of charge with a handy pontoon to moor to whilst I park the trailer and car. The trailer is also setup with waterproof LED lights so its a prop bag, couple of straps and I',m ready to launch. So from leaving home I can be on the water in 45 mins with car and trailer parked. If I want to use the RIB for several days in a row I just leave it on the visitors berth in the marina which means I just walk on/off each time. Generally, because of other commitments and other sports, the RIBs never in for more than 10 days at a time so always gets a full wash down after each recovery.

Think there's a lot of merit in JK's suggestion of chartering, even worth chartering one for a weekend soon to give you an idea?

RickW · 29 April 2021, 09:32

For the amount of use versus depreciation alone chartering sounds good. I know there are some boat clubs which do rib/hard boat options where you pre-book the weekends/week. Also another option

All good points Pipster/JK - reminds me I need to ask Pipster about the SS manufacturer (will email you)

Limecc · 29 April 2021, 09:49

If you are interested in reducing faff then hard-sided boat gelcoat will be far easier to keep looking nice than Hypalon and a 8.5m RIB has a LOT of the latter.

fastasfox · 29 April 2021, 22:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paw_patroller

Thanks for the replies guys.

I haven’t made up my mind and purchase yet, but I’m leaning towards an A811. The prime series looks like more than I need to be honest.

The question of cabin boat or wheelhouse / pilot house is a good one and I’d love to get views on this.

If I went down that route to explore the south coast could I get something that had
- 2 cabins
- could dry stack so not huge maintenance and faff
- quality boat that’s going to be in good nick in 10 years
- less than £200k

Any pointers would be helpful. Part of me just thinka that the rib route at 8m is best compromise. We use it as a day boat and just stay in hotels in evening and only use in good weather.

Am I wrong?

All the best

That's the boat I would choose and Ribeye are doing great business by all accounts.....what motor option will you go for?

Paw_patroller · 30 April 2021, 13:48

Hi everyone and thank you for the views and observations so far. It’s really helping my frame our mindset. If we went for the ribeye, we would go for the Yamaha 300 on the back. I need to think about running cost vs chartering:

Annual cost estimate, average over 10 years

Dry stack - £3k
Depreciation - £5k
Maintenance - £1k
Total £9k

If I can charter a boat for £600 a day, the break even looks like 2 weeks a year.

Thoughts?

All the best

Pipster100 · 30 April 2021, 14:59

The other option you've got, is look at a used RIB, save some cash, run it for a year, if you decide a RIB is for you then make the purchase on the new RIB. You could look in the 6.5m - 8m range, gain some experience and if you find your family love the RIB experience great, go ahead and purchase a new one.

There's also a high demand for RIBs, so a good one isn't really going to depreciate over a year. It just won't look quite so smart on the back of your (guessing Range Rover

) on the way to your 2 week Devon holiday, Salcombe / Dartmouth by any chance.....sorry taking the piss!!

If you're new to RIB/Boats, then a years experience in a cheaper used RIB is no bad thing, there's going to be some mistakes made (we all make them).

I know most of the time you're talking of a dry stack, but if you ever do want to tow it, and you're not that familiar with towing then a 811 is a big boat to tow.

Paw_patroller · 30 April 2021, 15:03

Thanks pipster that’s really safe advice. You are right on the RR and salcombe assumptions! Yes I won’t tow this thing it will live in a dry stack. Also, have you heard of a brand called Duchy? The cabin boat they do looks quite good and based in Falmouth. Bit pricier but has some beds.
All the best