RIB history

[houser]

Can anyone please point me to a place to read up on a bit of history on RIBs?
It would appear that much of it's youngish history is in the U.K.
I asked this question in an another thread and Andre mentioned Tony Lee-Elliot which I have obviously heard of and read some things about.
A search on this forum for the name "Tony" gave nothing..funny to have a place like this and not one single mention of his name...A Google search did not reveal much either..I must be missing something...
Ah well, just genuinely interested...

Up here in Scandinavia there seems to be a degree of conservatism on the use of ribs..and they have also partially got a bad name from kids playing with toy versions of these things.(like I would assume in many countries)..the larger open RIbs go under the name "Elephant's Pessary"...;-)
I would assume that one of the reasons for the rib to have been invented in the U.K. would be because of the fact that if you go to sea in the U.K. it's offshore or nothing..right?
Or was it a military thing?
Lifeboat thing?
I have a friend that has fond memories from going to college in the U.K. 69-71 and he remembers "little huts on each and every beach with boats that seemed like early ribs ..with guys that would hold on for dear life and ride out into bad weather.." that kinda thing..
Anyone know exactly where and when the RIB was born and by who?
Curious as ever...

[thewavehumper]

I believe they were actually invented but Avon, in conjuction with Atlantic College. I think they first found a market in the military, but I am not sure.

Tony Lee elliot writes an article on the Hot ribs website and you might be able to contact him through that and he also used to manufacture Ribs under the Flatacraft Name (bloody good they were too)


Also Halmatic have been making them for a long time so they may have some info, likewise the press office of the RNLI
www.hotribs.com
www.avoninflatables.com I think

[Aging Youth]

Try looking for a book titled

Rigid Inflatable Boats by Dag Pike (Author) Sorry do not know ISBN number.

I found it a very good read if a little outdated by modern building techniques.

Happy hunting

[Mike B]

Dag Pike Book ISBN 0713638818

I got it from Amazon - not sure if they deliver out to you or if you have a local equivilent.

Cheers

Mike

[tsunami]

Remember doing a bit of research on this when I was at college studying Naval Architecture. As far as I can remember Atlantic College did a lot of the original development work of Ribs in the early 1970's for the RNLI (hence the Atlantic 21 name). Horsepower was limited at the time and boats were generally fitted with a single 50hp if i remember correctly.
I'm fairly sure that the RNLI or Royal Institute of Naval Architects published an extensive paper on the development and design of Ribs about 10+ years ago!! Although a lot of the information in it was rubbish!!

[houser]

Originally posted by Mike B
Dag Pike Book ISBN 0713638818

I got it from Amazon - not sure if they deliver out to you or if you have a local equivilent.

Cheers

Mike

Yep, ordered it too from Amazon, sounds like a good starting point.
thanx very much for the tip!

[houser]

After a bit of research, here is one claim to the beginnings of pre-rib inflatable boating if anyone cares:

quote from Zodiac:
Zodiac engineer Pierre Debroutelle decided to launch out into new product areas and designed the prototype for a 2-seat inflatable kayak in 1934. At the time, the company had no idea that it was opening its doors to a civil market that would literally explode with the advent of the leisure society. In 1937, having followed his research with interest, the Aéronavale (Naval Air Service) asked Debroutelle to tackle the problem of transporting torpedoes and bombs. The rudimentary craft developed by Debroutelle was the true ancestor of the modern inflatable boat

[houser]

It would appear that arguably the RIB was invented by
Rear Admiral Desmond Hoare at Atlantic College, South Wales.

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/atlanti...ervicesSET.htm

but there is also before that the mention of the "X5"
http://www.lymeregis.com/lifeboat/#early_history

those would be my RIB history findings in a nutshell.
/endsearch