What you look for in buying a new rib

[steve_paddock]

Hey guys,

I'm doing a bit of research for a uni project and was wondering of anyone could help out.

When you're looking to buy a new rib what are the top 3 most important aspects for you?

To spark some ideas could be: cost, trusted brand, reviews, styling, price, lead time etc

Any comments would be awesome!

Cheers

[steve_paddock]

Forgot to say, just looking at new boats here, not second hand

[spartacus]

My tuppence worth.

1/ Budget obviously dictates a lot. There's no point hankering after a top-of-the-range rib, if your budget simply won't stretch. There are ways around this, such as buying a bare-boat and rigging it yourself (electrics, engine, etc). That potentially gives you some manoeuvrability.

2/ Capability of the boat. Your location (stretch of coast you're likely to launch from) and what you want to do (sightseeing, fishing, diving), and how often you can get out during the course of the year are deciding factors too. A deep v hull and robust build are essential for UK waters in my opinion.

3/ Strength of the brand. I want a company that's trusted in the market-place, has a good selection of RIBs, good after-sales, and breadth of knowledge in the boats their building. The second-hand market is a good place to start to determine costs, condition of pre-owned boats and how they've held up after 5-10 years of use. That says a lot about the materials that are used, the overall build, and the workmanship.

[lakelandterrier]

Originally Posted by spartacus

My tuppence worth.

1/ Budget obviously dictates a lot. There's no point hankering after a top-of-the-range rib, if your budget simply won't stretch. There are ways around this, such as buying a bare-boat and rigging it yourself (electrics, engine, etc). That potentially gives you some manoeuvrability.

2/ Capability of the boat. Your location (stretch of coast you're likely to launch from) and what you want to do (sightseeing, fishing, diving), and how often you can get out during the course of the year are deciding factors too. A deep v hull and robust build are essential for UK waters in my opinion.

3/ Strength of the brand. I want a company that's trusted in the market-place, has a good selection of RIBs, good after-sales, and breadth of knowledge in the boats their building. The second-hand market is a good place to start to determine costs, condition of pre-owned boats and how they've held up after 5-10 years of use. That says a lot about the materials that are used, the overall build, and the workmanship.

+1 I think you've summed up my top 3 considerations very well and put better than I'd have.

[jeffstevens763@g]

all as said but one big one for me is being able to walk round the thing lots of boats specially with wide consoles have limited space between the tubes and the seats etc makes it difficult getting forward my pet hate OMO

[boristhebold]

What I would look for in a new rib has changed since my experience with ribs has developed, one thing is for sure I would now look a lot more closely at how the rib was built than I would have done with no experience.

That statements is probably an important one as people with no or limited expereince may have very different criteria than others with experience.

So for me the following would be things I look for now,

1. Price is always to be considered but not neceassirly the cheapest option would get my money as build quality now plays a big factor in my thinking.

2. Capability verus use, very important to consider what use is intended, no point going for a highly commercial type of boat when the use is going to be more towards leisure.

3. Form over function issues, ive seen many new nice shiny ribs around which look great but then you start to look closely and things like ergonomics are way off and sometimes safety isnt considered or losses out to clean lines. For example suicide seats not much point in my opinion, the lack of hand rails in various places which may keep console lines clean looking but don't help when you need a hand hold, limited space to walk about due to over wide consoles or seat arrangements, angled GRP steps in places on deck which just adds up to more stuff to trip on, lack of ropes along tubes, constricted access to the stern area due to overly complicated and too large a frames.

4. Build quality, I would walk away form any rib that the manufacture has over used self tappers, there are lots of examples of this. Weak bonded seats and not enough bolts used. Poor electronics and wiring fit outs, things like using a long bolt as the common ground rather than using ground bus bars and nicely done fused bus bars. Fit outs where cabling is overly tight and congested under the deck which makes later upgrades difficult.

To me quality of build and thought is my most important. Scorpion ribs which ive seen some of recently seeem to be very well built but unfortunately are just too costly to buy new for my budget.

In general many ribs builders dont seem to consider the long term ownership when they are building, they should focus more on quality and long term ownership issues like how easy to maintain, repair, fix and upgrade and build some capacity around those issues. Things like how easy to get to the bilge pump, how easy to change a fuse or upgrade electronics, how much storage available, are hand holds around deck sufficient, how easy to walk around the deck, upgrade issues.

[Mollers]

Many/most Ribnet members have a three item tick list. It consists of brand,brand and brand. Ie. as long as it's built by their favourite manufacturer, little else matters.

[two stroke mick]

All good advise provided above. My pet hate is small hatches or poorly located hatches in the console which makes quality wiring/ upgrades an impossibility. With my original Valiant seat the hatch was below the tubes. This meant that you had to lie on the tube ( on your back and stick your hand in and up into the console. All work had to be done by feel. You could not work and see at the some time.

When changing the console on that rib I considered the Ribshop console and the XS console but these had curved fronts which meant that there was a small hatch to the side of the console. I settled on a console which is similar to the Humbers which I purchased from Ribs4U. This has a substantial hatch to the front. This makes all work in the console a doddle.

I also believe that a lot of ribs suffer from very poor balance. They are too light at the bow and too heavy at the stern. This makes it difficult to cut through a head sea.

The rake of the transom in some ribs is too shallow to allow the engine to be trimmed in enough to force the bow of the rib down.

TSM

[Maximus]

I

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

+1 I think you've summed up my top 3 considerations very well and put better than I'd have.

Sound advice!
No substitute for getting afloat and trying a few Boats either...Varied Sea states a MUST.
All the major players will Sea trial a Boat for you....or I'm sure most members would be more than happy to take you out in thier particular make/model/layout when you've narrowed the Field
A good layout and equipment is also very important to spend time on to get it right for you and your needs.
Go British Try plenty...and take you're time!
Good luck and enjoy the process!

[Trimix]

1 How practical is it for its intended use.
2 Does it make me smile when I look at it.
3 Is it well designed.

[Pikey Dave]

1 Quality
2 Fit for purpose
3 Value for money

[RobinB]

Here are my three. Assuming that the rib has a good reputation for the type of water you intend to use it on.

1 Seating

2 Seating

3 Seating

Make sure that the seating is suited to your height, capable of keeping you and your crew in the boat in the worst weather you intend to use it in.

What a great position to be in, looking for a new boat !