Squashing a Searider!!! (apologies to RW!)

George8910 · 21 October 2004, 15:59

Following the splendid advice offered on ribnet I have been searching for a searider 4.7 to fit in a garage - these seem to be rare beasts however - by contrast 5.4s seem to be more plentiful...

and so (as baldrick might say) is it a cunning plan to mildly deflate a 5.4 so it would fit in a garage, width is fine, or is this simply crazy desparate talk by a landlubber??

Regards
George

Nick Hearne · 21 October 2004, 16:06

Sound like a cunning plan to me, if it fits & you get a bigger boat! Which all make good sense!

SimpleSimon · 21 October 2004, 16:19

5.4 much better handling - you can't go wrong

will take you 5 mins to inflate

codprawn · 21 October 2004, 16:31

What about the trailer???

George8910 · 21 October 2004, 16:35

Good point - I was thinking about a folding/detachable draw bar...

Bilge Rat · 21 October 2004, 16:38

George.... my 4.7 fits nicely into my garage width wise and the height of the standard sized garage door, i even had my A frame made to measure with folding arials etc so its still just scraps in :-)

A close friend of mine has a 5.4 searider and we've tried getting his in my garage, firstly we found the turning circle a lot more, as i have to fit the boat between two houses we dont have a great deal of turning space before it has to fit into the garage, secondly the draw bar and the extra lenght makes it much longer than 5.4 metres, altold its nearer to 6 + metres, also he has a higher A frame and fixed ariels, in the end we gave up as we started hitting walls and denting things.

Ribcraft advertise the 4.8 as still being able to fit into a standard sized garge, so if your garage is a standard size this is max your'll get into it without significant alterations to the garage.

Altering a garage isn't such a bad idea, i've seen one with a big hole cut out of the door which allows the draw bar to stick out when the door is shut, i've also seen a garage with a hole cut through the back wall into the garden, the boats rolled in and the draw bar slips through the hole into the garden.
Both not idea but a damn site more secure than leaving your boat out or somewhere else, remember your biggest security aspect is that know one knows its in there.

Biggles · 21 October 2004, 16:44

Good idea the internal length of my garage is 5 metres.

I even toyed with putting the boat in nose first and knocking a few bricks out at the back of the garage. I've got a small leant shed behind the garage for the lawnmower and this would have hidden it. I haven't told her indoors, I'd have to do it when she was at work and keep the old bricks for when I move.

I have since got my hands on a 4 meter Sea Rider and have found this to be quite a seaworthy boat. I shall keep it for a while and see how it goes.

Like you I'd like a 4.7 meter boat but as you say they are rare as Rocking Horse S__t.

Best of luck. If you do get one keep us posted with some pics.

George8910 · 21 October 2004, 16:44

Thanks Bilge

It's possible the garage could be modified - would the hull still be too long even with deflated tubes - discounting trailer length?

George

George8910 · 21 October 2004, 16:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biggles

Good idea the internal length of my garage is 5 metres.

Like you I'd like a 4.7 meter boat but as you say they are rare as Rocking Horse S__t.

Best of luck. If you do get one keep us posted with some pics.

Thanks Biggles
I checked with Avon and they will retube a 5.4 to original spec with warranty for under £3k - it's probably cheaper to extend the garage than buy a ribcraft!

Bilge Rat · 21 October 2004, 16:58

George

Not to sure it all depends on the actual lenght of the interior of your garage measured against the total lenght of the boat on the trailer, also remember the height of the consol on top of the boat, if the garage is fairly high then you wont have a problem, mine has canoes, wood and god only knows what else strapped up inside the roof space and the boat only just fits in.

Biggles if you do knock a hole through the back it might be worth doing it properly and putting in a lintle, this way you might save the back wall sagging, all depends on the construction of course.....remember though guys garages were designed for cars, your trying to fit a boat on a trailer into it.

So when i went to look at my boat i took the exact measurments of my garage with me and measured the boat, the previous owner thought i was nuts but it meant i'd bought something i knew i could store at home easilly.

Bilge Rat · 21 October 2004, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biggles

Like you I'd like a 4.7 meter boat but as you say they are rare as Rocking Horse S__t.

Funny enough i was going to sell mine on but decided in the end i liked it far to much and spent some money putting a new engine on it instead.

Biggles · 21 October 2004, 17:51

Bilge Rat,

My initial idea was to get a 4.7 metre boat but seeing as I couldn't find one I settled for the 4 metre. As I said I am quite happy with it for now.

Not only did I have to take the length of the garage in to consideration other factors are starting to rear their ugly head. Cost being the main one. On a 4.7 metre boat I bet you realistically need at least a 70 HP engine, and to keep the weight down a 2 stroke one at that.

Because I use my boat a lot fuel costs figure quite high. its amazing how far you can go on a little RIB in three hours and how much fuel that uses. I want to be able to afford to keep using my boat and not worry about how much fuel I've used. I don't want to start boat fishing to save fuel, I get sea sick then.

You never know what next season shall bring though.

What I must say though is that I am impressed with the Sea Rider and unless I can find somewhere cheap on the South Coast to leave a 6 metre boat then I probably won't be upgrading in a hurry.

Robert1 · 21 October 2004, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilge Rat

Both not idea but a damn site more secure than leaving your boat out or somewhere else, remember your biggest security aspect is that know one knows its in there.

If theres a drawbar sticking out of a hole in a garage door, surely its pretty obvious theres something going on?

Biggles · 21 October 2004, 22:27

Maybe its got a little bit of cam netting hanging over it !!!

Bilge Rat · 22 October 2004, 08:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert1

If theres a drawbar sticking out of a hole in a garage door, surely its pretty obvious theres something going on?

Agreed but it was the only way he could get the boat to fit into the garage with the door shut, still less obvious than a rib sitting on your drive though and remember you can make the garage as secure as you want.

Bilge Rat · 22 October 2004, 08:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biggles

Bilge Rat,

My initial idea was to get a 4.7 metre boat but seeing as I couldn't find one I settled for the 4 metre. As I said I am quite happy with it for now.

Not only did I have to take the length of the garage in to consideration other factors are starting to rear their ugly head. Cost being the main one. On a 4.7 metre boat I bet you realistically need at least a 70 HP engine, and to keep the weight down a 2 stroke one at that.

Because I use my boat a lot fuel costs figure quite high. its amazing how far you can go on a little RIB in three hours and how much fuel that uses. I want to be able to afford to keep using my boat and not worry about how much fuel I've used. I don't want to start boat fishing to save fuel, I get sea sick then.
.

Biggles a few other members of the forum including Lord Davies have the 4 metre boat and are very impressed with it.

I fitted a 60hp four stroke onto mine as the last engine finally dies on me for good, my main aim was reliability not top end speed, thankfully though i've gained more top end speed now, better fuel economy and the boat and engine are now reliable, last weekend i was out with two of us aboard and 55 litres of petrol, the boat performed comfortably at 31-32 knots, we covered 40 nm and i used 20 litres of petrol in total.
The only way to have increased my top end speed would have gone for a 2 stroke 70hp as you say, but this would have cost me more to run.

One of the biggest problems faced by smaller boats if where to store the fuel, we all know they are capable in the right conditions of going a long way, but the problem of carrying enough fuel still remains, add underfloor tanks and you start to run up the initial costs, plus the issues of maintenace come to mind.

dodl · 22 October 2004, 08:35

Hello,

Biggles, you don't need 70HP on the 4,7. Mine goes with the 50HP Engine and a wrong prop (i need much more pitch) exactly 27knots. I hope to get even more with 2-3" more pitch.

cu
martin

Bilge Rat · 22 October 2004, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by dodl

Hello,

Biggles, you don't need 70HP on the 4,7. Mine goes with the 50HP Engine and a wrong prop (i need much more pitch) exactly 27knots. I hope to get even more with 2-3" more pitch.

cu
martin

Dodl...... i used to run a 50hp 2 stroke on my 4.7 with a 19" pitch prop, obviously this was a lot oversized for the engine but because the boat is very light made the combination work quite well, one up full of fuel i could pull 29knots on a good day.......now i've gone up to the 60hp 4 stroke which is a lot heavier engine and i can get 32 knots with two people up and full of fuel, not tried it yet on my own and suspect it wont make much difference really.
The new engine runs great with a 13" pitch running at 5600 revs.

dodl · 22 October 2004, 10:41

Well, that's funny...

I have a 11" (!) Prop on my 50HP (in fact it's a 46HP, since the 50 are measured at the flywheel) and get 27knots according to our GPS. Going from 11" to 19" would only bring 2 knots? Did you get on plane with a 19"? I thought of 13", maybe14".

Currently my engine overrevvs badly @ WOT. 6000rpm, regardless if i'm alone or with 3 Passengers. I hoped to get 30-32knots with my engine and the right prop

cu
martin

Bilge Rat · 22 October 2004, 14:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by dodl

Well, that's funny...

I have a 11" (!) Prop on my 50HP (in fact it's a 46HP, since the 50 are measured at the flywheel) and get 27knots according to our GPS. Going from 11" to 19" would only bring 2 knots? Did you get on plane with a 19"? I thought of 13", maybe14".

Currently my engine overrevvs badly @ WOT. 6000rpm, regardless if i'm alone or with 3 Passengers. I hoped to get 30-32knots with my engine and the right prop

cu
martin

Dodl
Over reving your engine will ultimately kill it, the 19" struggled to get on the plane with 3 or more people aboard but i rearly had more than two aboard and it acted fine, i never tried any other prop as the boat and engine came with this size, i do know though that steel developments had a real problem trying to replace it, it wasn't the pitch but more the diameter they had problems with, now my Yam is running a 13 inch pitch which i first thought would be far to small, but this seems to perform well so i'll probably keep it for a while and see how it goes.

To get this kind of speed from your 50 is very good and i'd probably be sticking to what you have and be happy with it.