WEEKDAY RIB trips - Page 2

Spud · 16 August 2002, 10:47

I have to say a big thankyou to everyone who's replied to my post. Obviously i've found the right site and people to guide me through my early Ribbing days.

Thanks Brian, Pepper, Mike and Alan for bothering to help a newcomer so readily, i feel welcome already. I've took on board all your advice and will be in contact with you all soon. I realised that trying out different boats till i found one i liked was a good idea but had no idea how to do that as i did'nt know anyone with a Rib. I will be taking some courses too guys as its pretty clear that even though no qualifications are required a little knowledge is essential for safety and financial reasons, large rocks spring to mind! I'm off on a family holiday Saturday and am back on the 27th, sunny Spain here we come!!
So once again thanks for the tips and i look forward to meeting you guys soon!

thewavehumper · 16 August 2002, 14:20

Spud,

If you can find your way to Southampton, you are welcome to try my boats. I'll even let you drive my favourite, my Avon SR47.

When you go on Brians boat, prpepare to be Amazed , the big Scorpions just seem to eat the waves.

I have retrieved an old thread, called new here, which has a lot of good advice. before you get your boats contact the MCA and The RNLI and get all the safety stuff they have and read it. Afetr you have your boat contact the RNLI and ask them if you can have a free sea check. It's friendly , thorough and educational and after wards you get a free laminated safety booklet that's excellent and educational

First two bit's of advice always wear you life jacket and kill cord and make sure your passengers do.

Guys

I could have used some good advice when I started out Ribbng, ( possibly a few people on the Round Ireland Challenge may feel I still do) fortunately my son is very experienced and I got a lot from him.

But I didn't discover RIb net until after buying my first RIB. Fortunatley it was Tumbling Dice my Avon so I'd bought a good boat anyway.

There is no substitute for experience, so if I start a thread collecting advice for new starters and we all contribute maybe John K could make it a section of Rib.net

One last thing for JohnK, thanks for creating RIB.NET I think it's a wonderful gift to the Rib community and I am grateful to you. big time

wavelength · 16 August 2002, 20:15

Mike
Going back to the first page of this thread and the bit about the fuel guage fitted to your humber-all I can say is that I have one on mine and the expressions about the usefulness of chocolate fireguards spring to mind! Perhaps not right sender unit for the guage eh?

Mike C · 18 August 2002, 10:19

Dave,

Yes I take your point. I always think fuel gauges are more an art form than a scientific instrument..... Something that needs interpretation!
It will take a few fills and re-fills before I can 'interpret' this one properly. On my last boat it tended to read empty except when it was very full. I have a feeling this boat will be the other way around! All I can say for sure is that it reads 'empty' when it's empty and 'full' when it’s full. Its the bit in the middle that's still a mystery at the moment

I'm hoping to take it for a longish run on Wednesday, but this is going to take a while to come to conclusions! Probably a good idea to check the ACTUAL range BEFORE I go to Cherbourg though!

Mike C

Alan · 18 August 2002, 11:26

Mike,

It might be worth checking whether your mercruiser diesel will drive the "smartgauges" you get with Optimax outboards. IIRC the newer electronically managed diesels can also drive them. Gives you fuel consumption per hour, mile, range etc. Either that or fit a flowscan fuel computer gives lph and total consumed. Fuel senders on RIBS always are a bit of a disaster - often due to the shape of the tanks (long and shallow). The best senders I've seen are the "WEMA" range - as fitted to Scorpions!

Cheers,
Alan

jools · 19 August 2002, 10:22

I have the "WEMA" guage fitted to my Ribcraft.

Seems to do a good job - it has a set of LED's to display the lever rather than a neadle. - But mines never been down less than half!

Because the tank is a V shape - its in the hull does this mean that as the fuel gets to the bottom of the tank the guage goes down faster?

I always fill my tank after a trip - I reckon I have a range of about 100nm with plenty in reserve - 63nm on the Thames trip took 50l. So if I reckon on using 1l per nm using the Trip function on the GPS then I should be safe!!

Ribald · 19 August 2002, 14:09

Jools, have you tried running your RIB at night - the LED's will do a good job of blinding you

. Keep a bit of duck tape handy to shield the gauge

I have found that my gauge is quite accurate down to half tank and then, who knows!! When running lowish on fuel in a good sea the red ones only are on

wavelength · 19 August 2002, 19:03

Glad to hear its not just me that has the useless guage then. The tank is in the front pod and is a regular shaped lump of plastic-I just assumed they had put the wrong sender unit in for the set up.The home calibrated bit of wood/stick thing that I keep in the pod next to the tank seems to work ok but its a bit of a b*gger to read at 30knots on a rough day

!!!!!!

Mike C · 20 August 2002, 20:18

I don't know what all this fuss about fuel gauges is all about. Put the fuel in and start the engine. When it goes quiet you’re empty!

OK, ‘haven’t progressed much since my last posting but after filling up at a Yarmouth fuel barge before my trip last week, I set the GPS trip and noted the engine hours. Today I filled up right to the brim by cans and coaxed in 30 litres. The gauge still read pretty well full. According to the hour meter, I had put on 2.6 hours, that includes ticking over while mooring etc, and 10 or 15 minutes of fresh water flushing the next day. That equals 11.5 litres per hour (2.5galls per hour) in mixed usage. The GPS mileage is a bit less impressive but as I say, I’m running in quite slowly and there was a lot of standing still. The GPS mileage was 25NM, which is 1.15 litres per mile. It’s a small sample. I’ll know more after tomorrow…..

Have fun,

Mike C

Martin Firth · 26 August 2002, 19:05

Mike, I have had my new 6.6m rib with 1.7 mercruiser diesel for only 3 weeks . It is well and truly run-in having done 58.5 hrs at an average consumption of only 7.9 litres per hour! I must add that less than 4hrs have been in harbour speed limits and many hours have been stop/start skiing, i.e not exactly trying to keep the consumption down. This should interest doubters who were questionning manufacturers claimed figures a couple of months ago! I am absolutely delighted (as are my kids) with my engine, hence the high number of hours run so far. I hope you get the same satisfaction and economy from yours. I haven't been cross channel yet but would be very keen to join any convoys that are being planned. Happy cruising,
Martin

Mike C · 26 August 2002, 21:30

Thanks Martin,

I have to say, I seem to be getting very good figures too, but if yours is run in, then all the more accurate! My consumption estimates have got a little complicated as I have a fuel leak! The fuel sender at the top of the tank is oozing out fuel at a very fast rate. It's only doing it when the tank is full, but it lost several litres, (estimate) overnight last week! New one in the post I am told!
Before I discovered the problem, I did a trip up the tidal Thames last week from Mortlake, (near Kew) to Gravesend, a total of around 70 miles return according to the GPS. However, it was a good deal further than that over water as apart from the last mile or two, the tide was against me all the way to Gravesend..... and then all the way back again as well! The engine clock showed 5.75 hours had been added and I used 55 - 60 litres to re-fill the tank to the brim.... (and trace the leak!). That comes out at around 10 litres per hour, (leak and all). It was of course only at 8 knots for a small part of the journey and even in the unrestricted part of the Thames I kept to about 20 Knots max... but even so. I am really looking forward to doing a long journey at a sensible cruising speed.
Incidentally what is your top speed and what size prop are you using?
Love to have you join a cross channel trip! Can you make a mid-week?

Mike C

Martin Firth · 11 September 2002, 21:48

Mike, late reply as infrequent net user and can't stay off the water. Over 95 hrs now and same figures. The prop is the standard prop ( i don't know exactly what size) with the alpha leg and tops is 40 knots trimmed up (at 4500 RPM) and still 37 knots with a fully loaded boat. Apart from the slight turbo lag the pull from a standstill is still up to pulling out a 13 stone mono-skier without any difficulty. Regards mid-week trips, not possible at present due to work commitments, but there may be opportunity during future school hols. Incidentally 'sailed' to channel isles last week (long-planned trip)- 11 hrs Needles to Alderney - pretty straight forward navigation, weather permitting of course. I imagine a steady 2 1/2 - 3 hr rib ride depending on the seastate and how much duty free on board!
Hope you've fixed the leak, Martin.