Valiant Rib worth doing up or bin - Page 2

wolfie · 06 July 2011, 13:46

got to say this, that is my kind of heaven, love old ones like that, if you dont have it i would.

renegade · 06 July 2011, 13:51

yes if it was close to me would already be in may yard cleaned puncture fixed and looking good in no time

wolfie · 06 July 2011, 13:56

well i am further "south" than you, and have a trailer to collect, not a problem collecting and bringing back down over the border. in my opinion very much worthwhile project for over the winter months.

renegade · 06 July 2011, 14:06

to true crazy how a bit of green and dirt makes some say bin it .. with a repair a pot of two part glue and a good clean they will be saying hmmm bargain. be great fun to be had even if only a year or so use for around £500 is money well spent to me spend that on a good shoping trip or mobile phone

bobbyjoeufb · 06 July 2011, 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomer

If it was nearer I would have taken it for a project for the scouts (granted i probably would have been the one doing 99% of the work!)

Funny enough the boat orginally started life as a Scout Saftey boat and was retained by a couple of the leaders when the group folded.

Bigmuz7 · 06 July 2011, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by renegade

to true crazy how a bit of green and dirt makes some say bin it .. with a repair a pot of two part glue and a good clean they will be saying hmmm bargain. be great fun to be had even if only a year or so use for around £500 is money well spent to me spend that on a good shoping trip or mobile phone

But I thought he said the motor was humped too ?

renegade · 06 July 2011, 20:51

yeah there is no real info on the motor ? but everything can be fixed thats another thing I would enjoy tinkering with.

spartacus · 06 July 2011, 21:03

Thought I'd throw this into the mix.

Pre-Owned Boats & Engines - Pre-Owned Boats - Valiant DP 490 RIB from Wills Marine, Kingsbridge, Devon, UK

Bigmuz7 · 06 July 2011, 21:43

Dont get me wrong .. I have restored plenty of things myself .. some of them not so small either

so I am not averse to taking on a project. So happens my workshop is kitted out for some heavy tackle, and I know how much stuff that Ive had to spend in that workshop over many years to help me do my job.

I am wary for peeps in 'this' line of engineering however that if they take on a project .. sometimes its best left to people who have the 'work shop' because for those 'in the know' it all seems easy, but for the uninitiated theres a mountain to climb of knowledge and expense, and a lot of hard lessons learned along the way. It would be unfair to suggest that a repair of this type would be a walk over by any means, not that I said it was impossible, but having taken on plenty of projects over the years, the learning and cash curve can be steep.

I dont mean to berate the op either, but if he's posting a question of this type clearly he is unsure of his costings, and that can only mean one thing, most be will higher than he thought, because in my experience few problems turn out to cost you less than you thought

and then theres the issue of useage .. maybe its just me .. but I live in a salt water environment where if your kit isnt up to the job, your going to have to rely on support which,.. the way things are looking up in the North of Scotland is going to become very scarce.

I've rescued my fair share of people who have been the victims of bad luck as much as silly mistakes, and others of plain stupidy

Up a river or estuary I would say no problem , but where the OP sails you gotta have some dependability, theres a big difference .. pessimist I might be .. and just an opinion, but I'm happy with it.

Popeye1 · 06 July 2011, 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyjoeufb

Been offered a 5.4m Valiant Rib approx 1998 with a Yamaha 50 1995. RIB has sat in a field for last 4 years.

Pumped up the tanks and 3 of them hold air and the 4th one has a 1inch slash in the tank.

The control box has wires hanging out of it where the ignition key should be, control cables and steering slighty stiff but they all move. The engine looks to be complete although not in best nick and not been serviced regulary.

Trailer is non existing and pretty much scrap. Been offered the boat and engine for round about the £400 mark wondering if its worth having a go or give it a miss?

For £400 you may as well take a punt, as long as it doesn't effect the wife and kids. If you can't breath any life back into the poor old Valliant. You could always consider turning it into wellington boots. You could get a lot of wellington boots out of that old thing, especially in kids sizes and red boots are always popular. Go on, have a go. It's win win.

Popeye

Poly · 10 July 2011, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfie

well i am further "south" than you, and have a trailer to collect, not a problem collecting and bringing back down over the border. in my opinion very much worthwhile project for over the winter months.

Well that will probably add £200 at least to the cost of the project just in fuel for the trip! Not to mention food, accommodation etc...

...of course the opposite is true for the OP - if he is looking for a project and there are very few locally then the alternative will involve more expense collecting one elsewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by renegade

to true crazy how a bit of green and dirt makes some say bin it .. with a repair a pot of two part glue and a good clean they will be saying hmmm bargain. be great fun to be had even if only a year or so use for around £500 is money well spent to me spend that on a good shoping trip or mobile phone

I may be reading too much into Paul's comment - but I think what he was saying was along the lines of:

Valiant rib = PVC or PU tubes
Approx 1998 rib (and lets face it approx probably means older!) so 23 years old.
Boat has been stored outside with deflated tubes.

Therefore the tubes are probably beyond the end of their expected life.

You might be able to repair them and get a year out of them. You might be able to get 4 or 5 years if you are lucky - but don't bank on it. Any "wise" future buyer is likely to be aware of this risk and so will be factoring that into the "resale value". A retube will cost thousands. Paint is really just cosmetic (and usually regarded as a short term solution).

As for the buy it or bin it question then its simply a matter of economics:

Purchase cost of boat - £ 400.
Cost of most basic tube repair - £ 20-50.
Cost of cleaning materials - £50-100.
Cost of reupholstering the seat - £50-100.
Cost of re-rigging the engine, steering, battery etc (assume all will be screwed) - £200
Cost of basic trailer £200-400 (could be more!)
Cost of a good service on engine assuming it is in reasonable shape but needs some TLC £200
Cost of fixing the ignition switch £20-50 (although you could bodge something cheaper)

So the total is more like:

£1140-1500 than £400 and that makes a couple of major assumptions: (1) there is nothing serious wrong with the engine and (2) the tubes only need a patch to keep them going for at least a couple of years. Bearing in mind that you will spend more than you think, that the OP is not in the best location in the country for picking up bargains and will probably pay "extra" charges for shipping most stuff...

Would you spend £1500 on this boat with a running engine, old tired tubes that hold air and a serviceable trailer? Maybe. Would you want the "risk" that either the engine or tubes are not ecconomic to fix? Why bother when you can probably get something more reassuring for the same money?

The flipside is you spend £400 and quickly learn that its all dead. The console is old and tired in an unusual and faded colour so given its geographic location isn't going to fetch top dollar. If the engine is seized you would be selling for bits. The tubes and hull would be a disposal liability/hassle. You might find someone gullable enough to take on the hull if you were in the south - but is there much of a market for dead rib hulls from the lower end of the market that far north? If it doesn't cost a penny to find out, you can probably get the £300 Nasher suggests back from stripping for parts (but nothing for your time and effort). In reality it will probably cost you a £100 just to find out if the tubes and engine can be brought back to life...

boomer · 10 July 2011, 13:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyjoeufb

Funny enough the boat orginally started life as a Scout Saftey boat and was retained by a couple of the leaders when the group folded.

Are you certain about this?

Is it being sold by one of said leaders, perhaps they would be willing to donate it to another scout group instead

bobbyjoeufb · 10 July 2011, 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomer

Are you certain about this?

Is it being sold by one of said leaders, perhaps they would be willing to donate it to another scout group instead

100% used to be a Leader there myself at one point thats how I know the boat is roughly 1998.

Doubt they would donate it, they think the engine is worth money hence the £400 they want, plus the hull thrown in for free.

Ghostrider · 10 July 2011, 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyjoeufb

100% used to be a Leader there myself at one point thats how I know the boat is roughly 1998.

Doubt they would donate it, they think the engine is worth money hence the £400 they want, plus the hull thrown in for free.

Did the scout group buy it in the first place if so surely they should not profit from it and the funds go to another group.

bobbyjoeufb · 10 July 2011, 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribcrazy

Did the scout group buy it in the first place if so surely they should not profit from it and the funds go to another group.

I do not know the full details of how they now own the Rib, I have been told that when the group folded the boat was either purchased from the group or that the group owed the leaders money and ownership of the boat was transfered in liew of payment.

boomer · 10 July 2011, 19:39

Sorry for opening a bit of a storm here, I was not casting aspirations, when a group closes the District involved goes through the accounts and would have been aware of the ownership of said boat (why are htey buying X of diesel / petrol every week springs to mind). Therefore I am sure that there was some arrangement as the District by sounds of things had no use for a RIB and came to an arrangement with the leaders. My only question had been if they would donate it and to my broken heart (well not really I expected it :P ) the answer is no.

Nos4r2 · 10 July 2011, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyjoeufb

100% used to be a Leader there myself at one point thats how I know the boat is roughly 1998.

Doubt they would donate it, they think the engine is worth money hence the £400 they want, plus the hull thrown in for free.

If the engine is seized, the whole lot is worth naff all in my opinion unless you specifically need parts of it as spares. Break Out Another Thousand etc...

bobbyjoeufb · 14 July 2011, 17:49

Managed to come to a deal on the boat, so will be getting the boat deilvered soon and will see if the engine is repairable or not. Will also be looking for a cheap trailer for it.

Zagato · 09 September 2011, 12:01

Any update on this - would be interesting to see how it panned out

bobbyjoeufb · 19 October 2011, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zagato

Any update on this - would be interesting to see how it panned out

Not much has happened spent some time removing the console from the RIB and gave it a blast with a pressure washer. Actually looked better when it was covered in mud lol.

No trailer yet so RIB left in the field and outboard has been transported back to house. Hopefully get some time and good weather to see if it will start or not soon.