solas appoved hull design

[Daniel TD5]

when out with the boys last saturday wayne asked why i had no drain plug
at the back of my boat i have a self bailer but no hull drain plug for the hull

when i got home i checked the vailant owners book and it said to drain the hull some times. i have no drain plug so i checked the sales booklet and the vailant 450v as a solas appoved hull design and can not sink with all the tubes
deflated is this right or would the engine pull the boat under seem good if it would stay afloat if so why don,t all makers fit solas appoved hulls

[Richard B]

All RIBs are supposed to be fully buoyant without tubes fitted. There's a fairly well known picture of a RIB with no tubes being powered along the sea - it looks a bit silly though. Unfortunately the picture possibly isn't as well known as I think because I can't find a copy of it...

[Alan]

IIRC its in Dag Pikes "Inflatables" book and is of a Flatacraft or Delta hull.

[simmons0]

Sounds odd not to have one. Mine did.

Is there anyway to get the water out of the hull without one?

[DGR]

If there is water in the hull and no way to get it out, then this will reduce your buoyancy. If the manual says to occasionally drain the hull, does it not say how you're expected to do it?

Sounds weird...

D...

[swginn]

You sure you don't have a draining plug Daniel?

My last rib a Valiant V490 (just slightly longer than yours but with the same standard spec) was SOLAS approved. It had a draining plug(actually more like a screw than a plug) just at the very bottom of the transom. I'll post a pic but the quality won't be very good as it a cropped image.

Anyway, before somebody didn't close the anchor hatch properly and the boat took in a fair amount of water as the anchor locker was not sealed from the rest of the hull (major design flaw!!). Top speed was reduced by 3-4 kts and it sat noticably lower in the water and took longer and more power to plane. Drained the boat and she was back on form again. If you definitely don't have one I suggest you have one fitted or keep your anchor locker closed!!

[Daniel TD5]

just checked no plug

owners book said

hull drain plug should be periodically removed to empty any water between deck and hull, in semi-rigid craft

but the owners book cover all models and my one is the only listed solas appoved hull in the sales book. when i got it it hand small self tapper srews
with it and the packet said for use with sealed hull only they were only 8mm
long so may be the hull is completey sealed

[Richard B]

Who fitted the corner feet thingies for the cool box?

[simmons0]

I should think that by now your lugging around a huge ammout of water in the hull. I'd give the dealer a call and ask if its meant to have a drain plug.

I have never found a boat hull that does not fill with water and with holes the the deck all over the place for console, seats, coolbox i expect your boat will be full of water by now.

[Daniel TD5]

the dealer fitted the cool box the rest came fitted from valiant it would seem
strange that vailant which is ISO9000 2002 would forget a drain plug
but the first service is due friday so i will ask them

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by Daniel TD5

the dealer fitted the cool box

Did he do a SOLAS approved fitting of it? How long are the screws?

Originally Posted by Daniel TD5

vailant which is ISO9000 2002 would forget a drain plug

ISO9000 is just a piece of paper framed and on the wall in their office reception! It just means that on inspection day(s), the assessors found that "quality" systems were documented and in place. Doesn't stop cockups happening!

[Daniel TD5]

Richard B

the cool box was fitted by the dealer and is a valiant part the fitting kit is allso a valiant part. the screws are no more than 8mm and the spare pack
of screw that came with the boat said for use with solas type hulls only the bow locker is not part of the hull and has loads of screws the seat base
is fixed with self tapper screws i can only think the screws don,t enter
the sealed hull then no need for a drain plug as for ISO 2002 part to
i agree its only a QA system but name one other maker that has it. i get
the guy at work from the ISO and the LPC and its very hard work to get a pass from them each time with no minor comments as for the drain plug they
may have miss it i will find out

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by Daniel TD5

Richard B

the cool box was fitted by the dealer and is a valiant part the fitting kit is allso a valiant part. the screws are no more than 8mm

Cool! (geddit?!?)

Originally Posted by Daniel TD5

as for ISO 2002 part to
i agree its only a QA system but name one other maker that has it. ..

OK, to the best of my knowledge Avon also hold the same quality standard. The reason that you never pass without a minor discrepancy is that the assessors are paid PER INSPECTION!

[Daniel TD5]

the last visit cost £700.00 pounds for the day + expenses plus the revist cost a other £700.00 for three hours back to my plug less boat
i will ask the dealer friday as its as its service do you think it being sealed is a problem the boat is kept in a garage which must be hot so if any water get in it must dry out over time

yes avon do have ISO 9000 and a BS standard top marks to them

[Manos]

The rescure WATERCRAFT 5mtr RIB we have is SOLAS approved (as well as BV, Lloyds, ABS and Hellenic) and has no drain plug. The reason is that the hull is filled with poliurathane and just have self bailer 12 cm in diameter. The boat has 4 certificates from the above agencies.

See attached photo taken just now

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by Manos

The reason is that the hull is filled with poliurathane

Ahah.. The answer perhaps?

[Daniel TD5]

manos

how could they ban you. top bloke

so the hull is made then filled with foam and left to set so any water ingrest
would be very small and would come though the screws but all of the deck
fitting have very short screws so i don,t think they would go into the hull space as all deck fittings seem to have loads more screws than needed to fix in place so they all must be very short

so as phil daves said

there are a few small RIB owners here on the East Coast - well, I'm quite small but the others are fat b***ards cos they spend more time eating on our cruises than ribbing

i can eat lots more with out fear of sinking

[Manos]

Perhaps Richard since this is a PROPER rescue SOLAS approved Category A RIB same as those that they have on ships type R15-04. The certificate says Material of assisting boyance foam poluerathane. Obviously there is no under deck storage what so ever.
The maximum number of passengers permited to be onboar at any one time during motoring is SIX, unlike other 5 mtr RIBs where they can carry up to 10 and over.

The data after last inspection for certificate May 2004 has as follows:

Construction Code: R-1504 (rescue boat)
Construction Material: Fibreglass applied by hand in layers
Dimentions: LOA 5.12 mtrs
Beam 1.92 mtrs
Hight 1.00 mtrs
Number of passengers: 6
Material of assiting boyancy: POLYURATHANE FOAM
Volume of assisting boyancy: 0.398 cbm
Boat weight (with supplies): 410 kgs
Hoist: 3 point
Weight during trials: S.W.L 3 tonnes
Engine: Make JOHNSON
Type: SRPLB-40BHP
Serial Number: G04282818

Hope this helps

PS: Cheers Daniel. Always trying to help (when and if I can)

[Richard B]

Can I make a little suggestion, which may be bordering on paranoia... weigh the rig.

Why? Because I'm told that some double-skinned foam filled dories used to suffer from absorbing water in the foam between the inner and outer hulls. Mind you, I would hope that in 2004 an ISO registered, Lloyds certified, blah, blah company would use a non-absorbent foam.

[Daniel TD5]

checking the certs that came with the boat

i found the boat conforms to ISO6185 and
international marine certification institute cert number SUPIND009

allso ce0609
plus iso/cd8666 3.497m3 which i think is the foam filler can,t tell as its not in
english

as the boats only 5 weeks old and i have never had to use the self bailer much i don,t think i have had the volume of water flow ing over the deck to fill it up yet so if i weigh it it won,t tell me much