Refurbish or buy

[Chilternskipper]

So , with my very limited knowledge / experience , should I upgrade ( retube and or upgrade engine ) a 6m Solent rib with 10 year old tubes and an Evinrude 90 or sell and buy a younger model ?
tubes are ok with a few slow leaks , engine good if lacking a little grunt with small children now teenagers
Im guessing 30k plus to buy something a few years old ( less selling current boat )versus 20k for a general refurb , tubes / engine including flogging the old engine

[spartacus]

No experience of Solent RIBs, but if it's a good hull, then it's not uncommon to retube. It's expensive to do, but the boat is good for at least 15 years minimum afterwards. Ribcraft and Deltas look like new after a retube, so consider them as hold their value.

Your 90 Evinrude will be a little lack lustre on a 6m and probably won't achieve much selling on its own. Checked, so Solent 6m is rated for 150hp which is what I'd put on and would change the handling of your RIB for the better.

Pull together a budget. I think it's only worth refurbishing a boat if you have an infinity with it, love the handling, sea keeping, because if needs retubed you can guarantee it needs rewired and rerigged after putting on a new engine. Then there's the deck hardware, console, seating to consider.

[Chilternskipper]

Many thanks , really helpful
You’re right re budget ( sigh )

[Searider]

We did this with our then 15 year old Scorpion 6.5m.
Put a few hundred a month away for 2 years for new tubes. They were about £4500 IIRC. probably a little more now.

Looked for a good deal on a low hours 1 year old 150hp. When the deal came up we took it.
Cost to change was about £5000 I think.
You don't need to drop £13k on a brand new engine. Any newer boat you buy won't have a new engine either!

So, our refurb cost was more like £10k than £20k.

If you like the boat then it's worth putting some money into.

If you fancy a change - then get a different boat.

[Searider]

90hp Evinrude e-tec with good service history probably worth £2k?

[nugent]

Firm believer in refurbishment

This lovely vessel,came from that orang drift wood

[nugent]

This was bad

But a simple retube and power up grade should b within £9:-11k

[Chilternskipper]

Sage advice many thanks

[Chilternskipper]

Yup methinks about right

[Chilternskipper]

Good thoughts many thanks , will keep eyes open for a decent engine

[Tim M]

Solent were not well made boats. I had a 6.9 and it was a total pig - suffered with all of the usual Solent faults - leaking fuel tank, console and seating delaminating from the deck and cracks in the transom. Mine was only three years old and hadn’t yet suffered with a rotten deck (seems they didn’t bother using marine ply most of the time). If going down the refurb route give the boat a really good look over to make sure it’s not suffering with any of the above - all perfectly repairable but if you have to start taking the deck off as well it might be significantly less faf and expense to buy something else. I should add mine came (from new) with a 140. Hull was rated to take 225 so replaced the engine with a 225; after the transom started to fall apart Solent said the boat wasn’t built for that despite being CE plated for it. If you increase the power you might want to be a little conservative with what you put on the back!

[Chilternskipper]

Thanks , sorry to hear you suffered with your Solent , mine so far a great boat with very few problems
No doubt famous last words and will disappear into the Irish Sea in the summer !
Good advice re engine power

[Chilternskipper]

Originally Posted by nugent

Attachment 128695Attachment 128696


Firm believer in refurbishment

This lovely vessel,came from that orang drift wood

Blimey , top job looks great