Vanguard Marine ?

[islandflyer]

Did a site search but couldn't come up with anything regarding Vanguard Marine. Any opinions on them or experience with them? They are built in Portugal, looking at the larger Fulmar series.

Presentación - Vanguard Marine

Thanks

[willk]

Nice boat - I can see how it would appeal for your operations. I seem to remember that Vanguard and Valiant are/were connected - maybe Vanguard management hived off from Valiant? (who are Brunswick Marine).
Someone here will know! If you order one, I'd advise you to have the seatfront grab handles raised a bit or someone will get VERY agitated...

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by willk

......... If you order one, I'd advise you to have the seatfront grab handles raised a bit or someone will get VERY agitated...

Speaking of which, how do they compare to Baltics?

[islandflyer]

There's a 12m Fulmar....can't quite get Andre to build me a 12m Baltic! Love the Parker Baltic 1000 but those 2m would help rough weather substantially.

[willk]

Redbay Boats have a tried and tested 12m hull. It's very beamy and would take 3 rows of seats. With twin or triple outboards in an open configuration, it would be a superb all seas boat. They have some nice moulds for bow steps and stern anchoring:

Redbay

[A.C.]

As another option - I have had the pleasure of driving this Ring Powercraft 12m which at the time had twin 300hp Suzukis on the back. Fantastic hull and I was getting 60mph which I thought was very good for such a big boat with a heavy cabin fitted. They also manufacture a 13m and have been selling a fair few to Iceland for whale watching tours and Scandinavia for high speed RIB rides.

[Poly]

Willk is correct Vanguard is what used to be the commercial side of Valliant, I think the two companies are entirely independent now. There wasn't a huge amount of information about the old Valliant PT range before (which there evolved from) but the one big boat I saw impressed me, especially for the price point. You will have an interesting dilemma when picking tube materials...

[islandflyer]

Originally Posted by Poly

You will have an interesting dilemma when picking tube materials...

Can you expand? I asked for hypalon and they quoted PU and NH tubes, which I assumed were PVC/polyurethane and Hypalon?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by islandflyer

Can you expand? I asked for hypalon and they quoted PU and NH tubes, which I assumed were PVC and Hypalon?

You'd need to check exactly with them but I think they offer:

PVC (confusingly I think they use(d) a brand called hypatex)
Hypalon (I think that will be the NH)
Polyurethane (this is not the same as pvc)

They may even offer all three in multiple weights too!

The hypalon tubes are standard glued construction. The pu and pvc tubes will be welded. On here you won't find too much info on PU tubes. Tornado, Valliant and XS all offer PU tubes (as the "normal" option in most cases). People who have PU tubes generally seem very happy, welded PU tubes hold air so well you can go years between topping up the air. US military tests reported PU was harder wearing (to abrasion) than hypalon - that may or may not be relevant to your use. It does seem to have acceptance for commercial type use in the USA.

PU is harder to patch (but still possible), but you have to balance that against a material which is welded and so less likely to have a manufacturing issue.

I have no idea about the relative uv resistance of PU, but heat and glued seams don't play well together so you might see a benefit.

The old guard here like their hypalon tubes, of course most have never owned anything else and half think that PU and PVC are the same thing or that PU is a new and unproven technology. bigmuz and SeaSkills both owned valiant PU boats and spoke positively about them.

I'm not sure once you've factored in the hull cost, electronics, seating, engines and shipping that the tube material will make you a significant cost difference?

[two stroke mick]

Just to note most valiant ribs were sold with pvc tubes not pu. My own boat has pvc tubes and they seem to be in good shape however I wash my rib with fresh water after every use and the boat is stored in a shed. My boat is nine yrs .
old

[Poly]

Originally Posted by two stroke mick

Just to note most valiant ribs were sold with pvc tubes not pu. My own boat has pvc tubes and they seem to be in good shape however I wash my rib with fresh water after every use and the boat is stored in a shed. My boat is nine yrs .
old

TSM - that's right (probably both by volume of sales and range of product) the Leisure range were usually PVC. Their (I think it was DR range?) targeted at divers, rescue boats etc and commercial (PT?) boats were PU. It was those product lines that went on to be the foundations of Vanguard, with Valliant still selling to the Leisure user.

[islandflyer]

Did some quick research and it looks like we'd use Orca 866 hypalon (Etna red). It is a bit more expensive, but not in the big scheme of things. Seems easier to field repair than PU.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by islandflyer

Did some quick research and it looks like we'd use Orca 866 hypalon (Etna red). It is a bit more expensive, but not in the big scheme of things. Seems easier to field repair than PU.

Are you set on red? Is it a corporate colour thing? I only ask as red is just about the worst colour for UV fading.

[islandflyer]

Corporate image

[GRAHAM SOMERS]

The Company is owned by the original owner of Valiant which was sold out to the Brunswick Group. They are totally independent and are building RIBs from 3m to 12M in PVC, PU and Hypalon. They also produce SOLAS RIBS and have a retubing Department, able to offer all RIB tubes for all makes in the 3 Fabric options with very competitive pricing on PVC and PU as they thermoweld the seams. Company was at SEAWORK Show in Southampton recently but if you require any further information please let me know.