Why do Rib's not age well?

blinddog · 28 November 2007, 17:26

I 've been thinking of buying a new boat for a while now, not sure about a RIB or Hard boat.
The trouble i see is you pay big bucks for a new RIB, and in a couple of years they look like they are 10 years old, as all our local ones get faded tubes and just look generally scruffy.
Is there any RIB'S out their which actually age well?
The UV light doesnt seem to affect hard boats the same.
Any ideas anyone?

JIY · 28 November 2007, 17:32

Look at the tubes on a 5+ year old Tornado. They look like new, are not affected by UV so will not have faded, will show no scuffs, nor any worn patches. This is because Tornado tubes were fabricated from polyeurothane (not to be mistaken with PVC), which wear extremely well. The downside to polyeurothane tubes is that they are more difficult to manufacture, so are more expensive to buy and are also harder to repair.

Alas buying a new Tornado is not a viable option in the UK (Tornados are now produced in China), but the tubes on XS ribs (son of Tornado!) are made from PU.

Having said all this, hypalon can be almost restored to its former glory with a bit of TLC and also some elbow grease!

Trolli · 28 November 2007, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinddog

and in a couple of years they look like they are 10 years old, as all our local ones get faded tubes and just look generally scruffy.

This is what makes them look "harder". I like this style.

Nasher · 28 November 2007, 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trolli

This is what makes them look "harder". I like this style.

Agreed

Nasher.

Tony · 28 November 2007, 18:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinddog

I 've been thinking of buying a new boat for a while now, not sure about a RIB or Hard boat.
The trouble i see is you pay big bucks for a new RIB, and in a couple of years they look like they are 10 years old, as all our local ones get faded tubes and just look generally scruffy.
Is there any RIB'S out their which actually age well?
The UV light doesnt seem to affect hard boats the same.
Any ideas anyone?

Have to disagree
with proper care,cleaning and covering up after use, they should keep like new for many years.
My Scorpion is over 3 years old, and looks like new...

Biggles · 28 November 2007, 19:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

Have to disagree
with proper care,cleaning and covering up after use, they should keep like new for many years.
My Scorpion is over 3 years old, and looks like new...

And it only takes a couple of hours work on mine and its back looking like brand new.

In a lot of cases its got to be down to the use the boat gets and the care it gets from the owner. And being a RIB if it really does look tatty a new set of tubes can be put on a 20 year old boat and its back looking like new. Can't do that with a hard boat.

Carl · 28 November 2007, 19:31

thats true,but then they hevent got tubes in the first place to go tatty. so when you replace the only thing that ages a dingy ie toobes,i take it the grp is looking lovely,now what is a hard boat made of

blinddog · 28 November 2007, 21:52

I intend to use a RIB all year round, so how much does a say 6m RIB cost to retube?

Stoo · 28 November 2007, 21:56

When I bought my Zodiac Hurricane 10+ years ago, I was going to buy one with orange tubes for visability. The dealer talked me out of it, pointing out that over time, the orange would fade and start to look pink! He suggested "grey on grey". I took his advice and my boat looks pretty much like it did the day I got it.

I believe it is UV light that does most of the damage and I keep my boat tarped whenever possible and I think that really helps...

Biggles · 28 November 2007, 23:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl

thats true,but then they hevent got tubes in the first place to go tatty. so when you replace the only thing that ages a dingy ie toobes,i take it the grp is looking lovely,now what is a hard boat made of

But surely a hard boat that has had twenty years hard use like a RIB can't have new sides put on it to give it a new lease of life.

I personally wouldn't let any boat age prematurely. I couldn't afford to do so. So its purely an academic question to me.

If it looks like a bag a of crap its probably because it hasn't been looked after. Whether its a RIB, a hard boat, or a car.

As they say, first impressions count.

Look elsewhere if your not happy with what your looking at. Your standards are obviously higher than the sellers.

K&S · 29 November 2007, 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by JIY

Alas buying a new Tornado is not a viable option in the UK (Tornados are now produced in China), but the tubes on XS ribs (son of Tornado!) are made from PU.

Hi, we have just spec'd our new boat from XS (Barnet marine) and the advice we were given was;

Orange boats fade, grey boats will tend to show the glue as it tends to turn brown over time and blue seems to be the best for holding its coulour.

This all goes against what i believed before buying the boat, i thought that blue would be the quickest to show its age. Fingers crossed the advice is correct.

As to a Hard boat showing its age our Hardy pilot could look ancient if neglected for even short periods.

The advantage in a rib ( we hope ) is that it is much eaier to maintain and if Kept covered im sure this will help reduce the effects of uv and leaves in winter.

Im sure the ease of storage, 'towability' , and less storm bound days will far outway the hard boat although the cabin will be greatly missed but it did give me a great excuse to go buy some shiny new waterproofs

Roll on delivery .....

Will get back to you in a few years with an update

JIY · 29 November 2007, 11:37

K&S, I think that BM's advice was good, given that my last Tornado had blue tubes, I still see it regularly and the tubes still look like new.

Oh, and my new XS850 due on January also has blue tubes! (It will be on display at LBS in January).

Chris · 29 November 2007, 14:31

http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?...ight=danny+boy

These blue tubes aer 11 years old now and are certainly bearing up pretty well.

Chris

K&S · 29 November 2007, 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by JIY

K&S, I think that BM's advice was good, given that my last Tornado had blue tubes, I still see it regularly and the tubes still look like new.

Oh, and my new XS850 due on January also has blue tubes! (It will be on display at LBS in January).

Thats great to hear, ours has been spec'd blue with orange tube top patches - Irn - Bru colours as the kids pointed out

I wish youu well with your boat JIY. The 850 looks very impressive from what i've seen on the website. Just out of curiosity what are you sticking on the back .....

blinddog · 29 November 2007, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by K&S

Thats great to hear, ours has been spec'd blue with orange tube top patches - Irn - Bru colours as the kids pointed out

I wish youu well with your boat JIY. The 850 looks very impressive from what i've seen on the website. Just out of curiosity what are you sticking on the back .....

They'll no kin wit Irn Bru and Buckie is doon sooth.
gaZ

walruz · 29 November 2007, 20:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinddog

They'll no kin wit Irn Bru and Buckie is doon sooth.
gaZ

Aktually I ken whit it is jist fine.

(All right I'm an ex pat from Ayrshire)

LOL

Ian

JIY · 29 November 2007, 20:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by K&S

Thats great to hear, ours has been spec'd blue with orange tube top patches - Irn - Bru colours as the kids pointed out

I wish youu well with your boat JIY. The 850 looks very impressive from what i've seen on the website. Just out of curiosity what are you sticking on the back .....

Twin 200 Verados, the new 4 cylinder models which should be more economical than the 6s and will also be about 150kg lighter.

blinddog · 29 November 2007, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by walruz

Aktually I ken whit it is jist fine.

(All right I'm an ex pat from Ayrshire)

LOL

Ian

Me and my Big Gub, thought this might happen.

gaZ

Tomas · 03 December 2007, 11:57

I get more UV here in the Virgin Islands before breakfast during the month of December than UK gets all day all year long (not mind you based on scientific measurement but you get my drift) I'm 17 degrees North of the Equator. My 4.7 SeaRider is approaching ten years of service and is covered only 1/3 of the time. The tubes are of course Gray with the heavy stakes and triple bow skin and while the orange FRP deck and console have faded somewhat, the tubes are undamaged. Do they look new? No but if I were to dab some makeup on them they probably would. Someone said that they've used a floor polish, Futura, but I don't know about any of that. I suppose that one of these years I will go out some bright morning and discover that my tubes have finally been cooked. I guess however that is some time off yet and if I divide the original cost of the vessel by the number of hours spent at sea, to say nothing of adding back the great fun I've had....the SeaRider was a great deal.

Generally speaking, in my opinion, a ten year old boat looks like a ten year old boat but...and this is a big but....a well maintained boat of any age is recognized as a well maintained boat. Hey...I don't look like I did ten years ago either and let's not get into the maintenance issues there......

Tomas

codprawn · 03 December 2007, 14:22

Just because you are close to the Equator doesn't always mean very high UV but obviously far worse than the UK - in fact the southern hemisphere is much worse than the North. Even the Falklands gets high UV as does NZ. Also altitude makes a hell of a difference.

As to blue tubes it all depends what colour blue. The brighter the colour the worse the UV damage. My tubes are alpine blue - very bright and bloody terrible for fading in the little sun that we have.

A pal of mine runs the local Dynorod franchise(drain cleaning) - the dayglo orange vans last about 6 months before they need repainting so now they have changed the colour scheme to have a grey roof.