What boat do i need?
Have now decided to continue the boating with a RIB(having board approval at home) and will now list some "specs" an would be grateful for comments from members of this grate forum.
Target usage of the rib:
Most of the time will be boating with rather small crew(single or 1 pasanger), day trips 20-40 nm and back. As prefer to "sail" to the outer archipelago, sea state can change during the day so that's why seaworthiness/ possibility to proceed with reasonable good speed in chop is important. In fact, thats the reason for choosing a RIB in the first place.
Wave jumping. September onwards possible to have occasionally very nice waves over here also(nothing like north sea) but sometimes its fun to just play around with the waves.
Family picnic/day trips. In good weather also the kids will sometimes join and they won't sit on the tubes....So seating can be a combination of Jockey an "porn sets"/sofa. I am prepared to install new seats.
Boat and Engine:
Don't need the really hard core stuff so engine power should be between 90 hp and 125. Like old 2 stroke, but on the other hand, fuel is not cheap so for me a "fishing" engine would be ok like a Towatsoo 90 tldi, but considering any option( traditional, optimax....). Don't want to be under powered so for this engine size guess 5.40 to 5.80 is the correct boat size. Engine might be bought separately, in fact that's preferred but not a must.
Condition?
Not a new one. Having a heated( but Small) garage so not afraid of GRP jobs, however don't fancy to start with a deck job...but anyting might be considered at the correct price. Tubes, should be hypalon and re tubing here is not an option as expect to be very expensive( small market/high price)
Other issues:
Need to have proper documents, if a rather fresh boat need to find the CE marks on boat and engine(or other way of proofing its ok). Our custom takes everything by the book so VAT issues might occurs( for me) for ex work boats, but now staring to check this in dept. I have a dream....the 750 kg limit... regarding the trailer but that's flexible.
What are my own thoughts so far (please remember having very limited experience on ribs although the sea is not a new element)?:
SR 5.4 well reputed boats, 90hp should be fine(light engine, not 4stroke). Disadvantage is the internal space, I wonder what is maximum seating people have achieved to put on a SR 5.4? Price tags seams to be 5-7 k sterling for boats in reasonable shape and 2 st engines. Without engines 2 k less? Flooding hull is for me a disadvantage(worried about rotten deck inside)
Humber 5.5( destroyer). Spotted one a on Boatsand....(Think its a 5.5).... an nice looking dive version at 6K, would need to re build the seating setup. Engine a merc 125, maybe its the 2+2 cylinder version that has mixed revies on the net, thirsty and maybe not so reliable, issues in the low/midrange revs before all cylinders sets in. Have not seen much comment here on Humber 5.5 range boats, how ar they at sea and what about build quality?
Delta 5.5 Like the looks of the hull on this boat. 2 one spotted on the net, one on e bay( the one with optimax 75), maybe its too little for this hull? Guess its sea worthy but can be hard to find cheep/good ones.
Tornado. Good boats but little worried about original tubes(not hypalon?)+ chinese production?
Others: Ribeye 5.60. Found a blue one( guess its 199? with a 90 Yam 2st. Good seating arrangements for my needs( 4 jokey+suicide bench), but how about the sea going
capacity/build quality?
Thanks for reading....and comments.
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fun on a boat is inversely proportional to size...sort of anyway
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