Redbay Stormforce 8.4 Expedition

[willk]

Originally Posted by Scottish diver

......He would need to have his Whisky tastin' ticket also.

That's a fail, so. He knows the approaches to Lagavulin and Ardbeg well, but has an aversion to the product. Handy for the night watch tho...

[behavin]

we have at work a 8.4 stormforce redbay forward wheelhouse rib with a single cab seat centrally mounted in the wheelhouse with two small "shelve" corner seats with lockers underneath..(she is shown in the gallery 8.4 )
she is powered by twin f115 yamahas.
we use her for carrying mail between the islands here in scilly on a daily basis and in all but the absolute worst weather....she averages 35nm /day.
she also carrys freight (upto 1000kg) on 3 pallets or plastic bins.
I'm saying this to give you some indication of the hammering it gets ...so.....

its classed as "commerical" well its not up to our commerical standard of running :ie the 35nm /day in all weathers and weight carrying.

from day one we have had "issues" with her.
first was a damaged thread on the tank sender allowing petrol to leak out in to the hull on the trip over (now this is more down to the guys picking it up accepting it too early and not checkning for errors like this)

we have a engine well transom with a inner transom at the 1m workboat code height and this unit has been nothing but trouble.
we have had the engine transom split,crack and move under the power of the engines, the inner transom has cracked at deck level around the deck drainers.
the lockers into the transom leaked alllowing water to drain into the wire loom and down into the hull voids.
the batteries are in the stern lockers and we have had endless wiring problems and flat batteries.
the inner edges of the tubes have a half tube height "kicker" board running up the deck and this continually cracks at the joins and ends that met the wheelhouse and stern
we have had the windows leak in the wheelhouse , door fittings fall off, a section of tube come away allowing water into the wheelhouse.
the tubes had a sprung leaks but that is the nature of the work the boat does.

recently our engineers have recoverd the deck where the boxes have worn out the deck covering and were quite surprised to see plywood with large knots in...???
i thought the decks were made from marine ply which is knot free?

this sounds bad i know....but i must stress that this boat is punished on a daily basis...
the only disapointing thing really in structural terms is the endless transom problems and the plywood quality under the deck.....the rest is real wear and tear.....

funny thing is if i had the money the next time i trade my own personal rib in (6.8 ribcraft) i'd seriously consider a redbay...

the 8.4 handles brilliantly and is a fantastic sea boat...only downer is as said above it does sit very low to the water, and imo is quite narrow for a 8.4m boat

[wiLlfish]

Originally Posted by behavin

from day one we have had "issues" with her.

i recummend a kwinkwari


wiLf

[willk]

Originally Posted by behavin

funny thing is if i had the money the next time i trade my own personal rib in (6.8 ribcraft) i'd seriously consider a redbay

Is that because she has survived almost 4000 hours of 365 day service over 6 years, carrying heavy loads in all weather and you've enjoyed every minute of it?

PS: What did you guys put in the original engines that killed them?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

He has an aversion to the product.

i fear his ribnet membership may be short lived.

[gtflash]

Seem to remember a rib international review by HMS. It was less than complimenting about the expeditions handling. I gathered it was quite a different boat from the stormforce. Was issue 76 june/july07

[gtflash]

whats the hull shape and stats.... they look quite sharp at the bow

Originally Posted by Baydreamer

I have an Excalibur Wraparound with a Volvo 350hp and we cruise comfortable at 35knts and 44knts at wot.

The Excalibur hull with its high bow profile really lends itself to the short steep sea's that we have down here and can out preform the Redbay's in their own back yard.

Whereas the Redbay design is more suited to the longer wave pattern found along the North coast and Scottish Isles.

I have experience of both.

We have a friend who has a Redbay 8.4m Wraparound fitted with a 275hp who cant come close to us in bad weather and struggles to keep up with the 6m Excalibur boats.

This is why the Irish Coast Guard and Fisheries Patrol insist on Excalibur.

I'm not trying to knock the Redbay Expedition which is a lovely looking boat and has many happy customers, but try both designs before you order because there is a big difference which is why some ex Redbay people are now choosing Excalibur

Joe McCollam in Excalibur previously worked as a designer in Redbay and was responsible for many of their earlier designs.

I would be more than happy to show you around my boat if your ever in Cork.

[donegaldan]

Just for the want of submitting a post on saturday morning, -2 outside and having to rebuild a yamaha 50hp from the block up starting in half hour here's we go again.

I think people might be missing a fundamental.
Who here would put their hand in their pocket to buy a first car ?
Now it may be from Ford or Toyota, Land rover etc but who here would actually be willing to part with their money for the FIRST off the production line.
Cause i sure as hell wouldn't. I'd want reviews, ask owners, see it on top gear.....
.... cause i value my two cents.

So what we have here is - a situation
Excalibur ( Ex-Redbay Employee) producing their first cabin 8+ boat.
Redbay building them since 2005.

And i have yet to see a MAIB or an Irish CG report on a Redbay breaking up...!
If one did, please someone correct me, but i doubt anyone can...

As for the Irish Coast guard insisting on Excalibur, thats bull.
Look on the back of most Navy boats and you will see Delta and Humber.
And seeing as we irish are broke as a nation (Even the minister of Defense just bit the bullet) they can insist all they want, but Redbay they don't have two cents to rub against.
Besides Irish Coast Guard have been a customer of Redbay's for 5 years now !!!

For you all that are interested have a look at the commissioner for Irish Lights, www.cil.ie
responsible for the hydrographic studies up to 400 miles off ireland in all directions.
Responsible for Lights, Marks etc, and yep, they crane launch a 8+ cabin redbay boat right off the side of her.
Check her out on http://redbayboats.com/news/newbuilds/Granuaile.htm

Right, breakfast finished, wonder which will be more difficult, typing this rant or rebuilding the 50hp.

I do hope Cailin Baire lets us all know how the visits with both boat builders go...
Happy hunting.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by behavin

from day one we have had "issues" with her.

first was a damaged thread on the tank sender allowing petrol to leak out in to the hull on the trip over

we have a engine well transom with a inner transom at the 1m workboat code height and this unit has been nothing but trouble.

we have had the engine transom split,crack and move under the power of the engines, the inner transom has cracked at deck level around the deck drainers.

lockers into the transom leaked alllowing water to drain into the wire loom and down into the hull voids.

the batteries are in the stern lockers and we have had endless wiring problems and flat batteries.

the inner edges of the tubes have a half tube height "kicker" board running up the deck and this continually cracks at the joins and ends that met the wheelhouse and stern

we have had the windows leak in the wheelhouse

door fittings fall off

a section of tube come away allowing water into the wheelhouse.

the tubes had a sprung leaks

recently our engineers have recoverd the deck where the boxes have worn out the deck covering and were quite surprised to see plywood with large knots in i thought the decks were made from marine ply which is knot free?

the only disapointing thing really in structural terms is the endless transom problems and the plywood quality under the deck
only downer is as said above it does sit very low to the water, and imo is quite narrow for a 8.4m boat

If only Osprey produced a cabin rib then all your problems would be over

[behavin]

PS: What did you guys put in the original engines that killed them?

ha....a right pigs ear of a catalogue of errors that day..
one driver left a can on the boat, second one thought it was the overfill for when we fill up the petrol from the quay...third one (me) asked if it was petrol to which he (as he'd been filling it says "yes"....muggings pours it in the main tank.........................

90 seconds later both engines stop......

MORAL....label all cans used..

TIP.........Dont EVER EVER EVER try and feed a 4 stroke outboard on red labels finest hypochloride acid...

These two engines were the 2nd and 3rd ones as one of the originals put a piston con rod through the block..

[Baydreamer]

[YOUTUBE]

[Poly]

Donegaldan - go take your blood pressure medication, make a cup of tea, take a deep breath and get on with fixing that o/board.

Your post raises an interesting point though - would you want to be at the front of the queue for any new product of following behind as a me too - with a now trusted and debugged product? I guess it depends how much you trust the brand, the designer/builder, and whether there is any "early adopter" discount. I'm guessing that the Excalibur is using the same hull as before so actually its just a different set of 'body work'. They've been building cabin ribs for some time - this is just the first one with a hardtop.

Someone had to be the pioneer at Redbay too - otherwise there wouldn't be a fleet of hard topped cabin boats for you and willk to drool over.

Just for clarification - are you suggesting that Excalibur ribs have broken up and been the subject of MAIB reports etc? That's who your rant read - although I don't think its what you meant.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Just for clarification - are you suggesting that Excalibur ribs have broken up and been the subject of MAIB reports etc? That's who your rant read - although I don't think its what you meant.

My, he is tetchy today, I must be having an adverse effect on him...

Don't mind who his red rant - he's Posting in a Foreign Language. He meant Redbay, not Excalibur.

[willk]

Originally Posted by gtflash

Seem to remember a rib international review by HMS. It was less than complimenting about the expeditions handling. I gathered it was quite a different boat from the stormforce. Was issue 76 june/july07

Is this viewable online? If not, any chance you could raise a copy for me?

[Cork Rib]

Originally Posted by donegaldan

I think people might be missing a fundamental.
Who here would put their hand in their pocket to buy a first car ?
Now it may be from Ford or Toyota, Land rover etc but who here would actually be willing to part with their money for the FIRST off the production line.
Cause i sure as hell wouldn't. I'd want reviews, ask owners, see it on top gear.....
.... cause i value my two cents.

So what we have here is - a situation
Excalibur ( Ex-Redbay Employee) producing their first cabin 8+ boat.
Redbay building them since 2005.

And i have yet to see a MAIB or an Irish CG report on a Redbay breaking up...!
If one did, please someone correct me, but i doubt anyone can...

As for the Irish Coast guard insisting on Excalibur, thats bull.
Look on the back of most Navy boats and you will see Delta and Humber.
And seeing as we irish are broke as a nation (Even the minister of Defense just bit the bullet) they can insist all they want, but Redbay they don't have two cents to rub against.
Besides Irish Coast Guard have been a customer of Redbay's for 5 years now !!!

Sometimes, a lot of bull spews out of the mouths of those who think they know it all, and as the saying goes, in the end they know F*** all!
Excalibur have been building Ribs for many years now and to my CERTAIN knowledge have never had a hull break up on any of their boats. May'be you could point me in the direction of said MAIB report!!

Redbay may be in for a shock if as you say they build all the ICG boats, cos theres a fabulus 8m+ Excalibur here in Crosshaven which the Coasties are mad about.
To my knowledge, In the last couple of years Joe has built and supplied five (may'be 6) boats for the fisheries patrol , so the Gov't don't have any problems with his boats.

I am a proud owner of an excalibur rib and don't deny it. Redbay too, make fine boats. All I'm saying is be constructive when giving your opinions of any boat, and don't muddy the waters.

Rant over !

[donegaldan]

So guys... always interested to see what a fair auld response will throw up, and looks like it got some of ye excited !!! I posted a very simple post, but ye seem to be reading stuff i did not write.

So I'll just start off with one or two things. Everything in my last post is fact.
1. Redbay have never had a incident investigated by MAIB or CG.

2. I have never said that excalibur have ever had an incident.

3. The irish coast Guard cannot legally "Insist" on any one manufacturer. They can like them, they can purchase them, but they cannot be a sole supplier of RIBS to the government. Thats anti competitive. It's EU Law, I don't care what Crosshaven say.

4. If people actually read my posts, I said
"Look on the back of most Navy boats and you will see Delta and Humber."
I didn't say Redbay or Excalibur build most boats, i actually pointed to 2 other manufacuturers.

And besides guys.... we are starting to really hijack a thread started by Cailín Baire.
I finished off my last message with best wished to her and be interested to see how she gets on with both companies.

Actually the more this goes on, it may be interesting not just to me, but to everyone on this thread to see how she gets on and what her final decision is.
On a slightly up note.... I got a engine block completely rebuilt today and blood pressure tablets taken !!!

Enjoy.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by donegaldan

So I'll just start off with one or two things. Everything in my last post is fact.
1. Redbay have never had a incident investigated by MAIB or CG.

2. I have never said that excalibur have ever had an incident.

thats what I thought - but its a very bizzare thing to write in the middle of what seems to be a Redbay/Excalibur comparison unless you meant to imply that Excalibur had been involved in a problem. You still haven't specifically said that they also have not been investigated which leaves me thinking you are still implying that maybe they have?

So if you are trying to suggest something - come off the fence and say it. If you are actually trying to say you believe that both Redbay and Excalibur are substantial boats, with a good reputation in the irish market then I think you should say so.

[chewy]

Originally Posted by Polwart

thats what I thought - but its a very bizzare thing to write in the middle of what seems to be a Redbay/Excalibur comparison unless you meant to imply that Excalibur had been involved in a problem. You still haven't specifically said that they also have not been investigated which leaves me thinking you are still implying that maybe they have?

So if you are trying to suggest something - come off the fence and say it. If you are actually trying to say you believe that both Redbay and Excalibur are substantial boats, with a good reputation in the irish market then I think you should say so.

Don't worry Donegal, the daft Scotch lad was reading too far into your post. If you re-read it it was the parrot that actually mentioned all of the offending parts!

[Chris]

How many cabin ribs have you owned Polwart?

[willk]

Let's see, huge argument between a crowd of Paddies about the relative merits of North/South. The Scottish quickly take sides and the English call for Clarification....

fkk mee im orf!