Who makes them?

[spynappels]

This post is going to be a bit of a puzzler as I have no photos as yet, but can anyone tell me who made the grey ribs used by special forces? I guess I'm talking of the type seen in the Film "Clear and Present Danger" with the blunt bow. I'm not even sure of the length but estimate it to be about 5m. The inflation valves are made by Honeywell Defense, as are the safety valves.
The tubes are very tough and have 5 chambers and have attachment points and rings all the way along the inside and outside as well as 4 sets of handles. Two grab ropes run down each side of the RIB, one inboard and one outboard.
I'd be specifically interested in the size of engine this RIB could take and any other info would be greatly appreciated.

The reason is that a friend of mine has one and I borrowed it for a couple of weeks to mess about in. It has a 25HP Mercury Bigfoot 4 stroke attached which pushes it along ok but is really pretty underpowered as I found on Monday when facing wind against tide at the entrance to Carlingford Lough. Not terribly frightening, but my wife was not very impressed that she got a little damp.

Thanks for all your help (hopefully!).

Stefan

[donutsina911]

brave man playing in carlingford lough in a special forces inflatable..

[Mollers]

The SBS use Atlantic 23's with 2x250 Mercs.

[spynappels]

Originally Posted by donutsina911

brave man playing in carlingford lough in a special forces inflatable..

True, but they'd take one look at me and laugh their arses off at my less than special handling. Got some funny look from the guys on our resident coastal patrol vessel though!

I reckoned it probably needed a bigger engine but its a big jump from 25hp to
2 x 250hp. Not sure what an Atlantic 23 looks like, but this RIB is quite old.

[donutsina911]

Originally Posted by Mollers

The SBS use Atlantic 23's with 2x250 Mercs.

really?!

The ribs coming from the punchy end of poole are Arctic 28's - Atlantics are from the RNLI college.

[jackcastoff]

could it be an early Tornado 4.9 ? The mod had quite a few of these. They were common in the 90'2 along with the 5.4 m Seariders. Quite a small boat for its size (if that makes sense!)

[Jimmy_Beam]

This one is mine and similar to the info you described. However I don't know it its what you were in. Twin 70's

[Turbodiesel]

Originally Posted by Mollers

The SBS use Atlantic 23's with 2x250 Mercs.

Not quite right, Artic 28's have the twin 250EFI mercurys.

Artic 24's have twin 200Efi mercury,

Artic 22's are all being refitted at the min, Suzukis coming off and twin Mariner 115 opti's going on.