https://photos.app.goo.gl/sSAJvFP4XsHTWdYl1
Early start on Sunday morning forced by high tide at 0630 and very shallow approach to Dumbarton harbour.
Weather forecast was for South/South Easterly at circa 15-20 mph winds. This was upgraded by Belfast Coastguard to Force 5 occassional 6 in the afternoon, only really noticed the roughness on exit of Loch Fyne and particularly between Gourock and Langbank on the home straight.
Tracey and I are building up for a summer on the west cost including a planned trip to St Kilda, so spending time getting to know our boat and our/its limitations.
In choppy water the Pascoe SR7 performs really well, at 35 knots it simply skims over the top of the waves and the ride remains very comfortable.
Fuel economy on our new Mercury Verado 200HP is fantastic. We averaged 1.2 litre per mile at 35 knots and were doing an average of 27 litres per hour for most of the day.
At 4500 RPM we were gtting 49 knots. Very enjoyable and still 1500 RPM's to go
aRIBaderci has a 220ltr tank, and the foredeck easily accommodates another 100ltrs. We've sourced a 30hp 2 stroke aux and are building up our supply of other items for the boat (some camping gear, bivvy bags, stove, PLBs, spare VHF and spare mobile phone).
Next burst of good weather we plan to head to Sanda island off the Mull and maybe sneek a look of Rathlin Island.
http://www.rib.net/forum/images/smilies/whistling.gif
After all the hassles at the start we are absolutely loving our rib.