what to do if you flip your rib

[Lester McCarthy]

Seriously - I have been in a Flatacraft Forces 4GT(the one with the sawn off bow) and manged a 360 degree "flip" or "rollover" and in calm sea. The cause was a Fairline 36 Turbo coming straight at me - the driver had a problem with the steering up on his flybridge, like it would'nt turn. We hit on the starboard side amidships just in front of his huge bow wave the wake was yet to come - he was flat out at 28 knots. I dived away from the boat head first over the back of the Rib just as we hit. The Rib did a complete 360 roll and remained upright full of water, the engine still at idle revs. Under the water I could see nothing but bubbles and could not determine if I was sinking or coming to the surface. I was wearing a lifejacket and fumbling to inflate the gas cylinder as it was a non auto. As I was about to inflate it I broke through the surface.

Sea state- force 1-2

[fred bolton]

Naughty Naughty where was your kill cord?????????

[fred bolton]

OOOpps perhaps you weren't driving

[jwalker]

QUOTE]Originally posted by Lester McCarthy
Seriously - I have been in a Flatacraft Forces 4GT(the one with the sawn off bow) and manged a 360 degree “flip” or “rollover” and in calm sea........ .......the surface.
Sea state- force 1-2 [/QUOTE]


So you’ve been there. Why then, didn’t you give a serious and well considered response to Ollie?

[Parks]

My commiserations at the banality of the response to your question. I swear if I see another of those damned smiley animated faces, I'll be driven to acts of mindless violence. I have no idea how to drive a RIB let alone right one after tipping it (hence my ad for qualified folk), however the first of the boats that I'm ordering comes complete with a self righting rig - a floatation bag mounted on the A frame which is automatically inflated when the gas canister mounted along side is submerged. It added about $2000 to the purchase price, but in a remote region, it may lessen the chances that we lose the whole boat in case of capsize. Don't know if I've been sold a lemon here or if they are really effective. Either way, I'm surprised to see no-one else mention it yet.

[Cookee]

Originally posted by Cookee

If you are that worried about this sort of thing - get some self righting gear - it's the only way you'll get a regular RIB of any size the right way up without a lot of muscle (or a crane) and luck.

There you go!

[Bilge Rat]

Parks

The reason no one's mentioned self righting gear is becuase not many people tend to fit it on there boats for a few good reasons, the potential of inverting a leisure rib is very slim so off set against the costs involved the leisure side of ribbing tend to avoid this sort of equipment, then there's the weight of the A frame, bag and canister to consider and the extra cost of waterproofing the engine etc, as someone mentioned before if you do manage to right the capsized boat your engine and electronics are going to be pretty stuffed anyway.

Now rescue boats and commercial safety boats do carry this kit because they have to be able to opperate in all conditions and sea states.

So have you been sold a lemon ? only you can answer that question, do you go out in conditions where your likely to turn the boat over, given that its pretty hard anyway to flip a rib.



Rat

[jools]

The camel ribs were fitted with self righting bags.....

Anyone had to use it? - in the UK!

Anyone removed it? - If so why - weight?

Cheers
Jools

[Lester McCarthy]

"The greatest danger faced by crew and passengers in a fast rescue craft, otherwise known as a rigid inflateable boat(RIB), is capsizing and death from drowning."

Report by Dr. C.J. Brooks - Sea Survival Systems

www.spatiald.wpafb.af.mil/HFM/MP-086-15.pdf

This is worth a read reference capsizing and self-righting gear fitted to Ribs.

The MCA recommend fitting reflective tape to the underneath of your hull

[Mike B]

Just spent a while working my way through this thread after getting back from holiday.

My plan is to avoid this situation at all costs however try and plan as much as possible for if it did happen (eg set of mini flares and H/H VHF in pocket). All other flares are in canesters on A frame which may still be able to be got at. I don;t think Id ever attempt to right it as I think it would just be an energy sapping failure.

One thing sprung to mind after reading Garygee's comment
"Could you still deploy the anchor"
and Wavelength's
"Contents of under seat stowage dumped itself into the sea."

My anchor locker (unless locked) would swing open and deploy both anchors. My first thought is that this may be a good thing ? Would just have to remember if someone came to tow the boat.

What do others think ? Should I keep the locker locked so the anchors wouldn't deploy?

Cheers

Mike