Zodiac Pro Open 650 - Any Good?

IanPhillips · 26 April 2003, 15:55

Am considering a Zodiac Pro Open 650 with Suzuki 140Hp 4 stroke. Only expect fairly light usage - apart from the very occasional channel hop on a good day (poole - cherbourg).

What fuel consumption is likely from this 4 stroke? One dealer has recommended Evinrude 150 Ficht, which he says is as economical and quiet as 4 stroke - but I have doubts on that particular score.

Comments appreciated.

Cheers
Ian

TIM · 26 April 2003, 17:53

I cant comment on the ocean pro,

If it a the ficht is 2001 and on it good motor no problems, if its before that dont touch it with a bardge pole, this is the motor that gave Evinrude fichts a bad name in the early days......

matiboy · 26 April 2003, 21:47

http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1939

Jono Garton · 18 May 2003, 08:30

Ian

Have you looked in to the pro 650 further?

I,ve been looking at various second hand boats, but now looking at a new one with twin 90hp four strokes.

zod550 · 18 May 2003, 15:42

I own the pro 550 and have had a # of problems. the floor collasped under the back seat as well as the tubes needing replacement with in 4 yrs( pvc went sticky). besides that i like the boat. had a 24 inch engin bracket made and the boat rides much better. as for the 2 engins i would go with the suzuki 140 for the quiteness as well as not having too mess with oil. now that bombardier are selling off their recreational product line parts and service may be a problem with the evinrude. I took out a pro 150 and it rode very nice but dont go for less then 140 hp. If you are going to be rough on this boat i would avoid the pro 650. Chris

Jono Garton · 18 May 2003, 18:11

Hi Chris

Problem with the suzuki is the dealer is two hours away from me and the the blokes a job nockey (polymarine).

The idea of the twin 90's is for introducing people to twin engines before they go onto Cranchis, Fairlines etc

I looked at twin 75's but there the same weight as the 90's

How were Zodiac with your problems? Did they get them fixed under warranty?

zod550 · 19 May 2003, 16:16

When the floor section collasped Zodiac declined to look at it as i was the second owner( bought the boat 1 year old) and they felt it was abused. the problem was clearly the the plywood was not scuffed properly and the fiberglass pull off. I have had to reglass the frt anchor well, inside the console and the other battery compartment under the rear seat because of this. I had 2 different dealers agree that it was a workmanship issue but Zodiac was still not interested. In regards to the tubeset i fought with them for 6 months and finally got a tubeset which i paid approx. 1/3 for. I would not buy another Zodiac except for the commercial type ie hurricane.

Alan · 19 May 2003, 16:37

Jahno,

Give John Harvey at TL Harvey a bell if you do decide to go for a Zodiac. He's based in the beautiful Darlaston area of the West Midlands

but is a decent guy and can usually do a competitive deal. (& he's a Zodiac dealer).

No experience of Zodiacs personally but they look very leisure orientated so would the stand up to the continual use in a training environment?

HTH,
Alan

DM · 19 May 2003, 16:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Alan
He's based in the beautiful Darlaston area of the West Midlands

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some of us like 90ft tall piles of scrap cars and after you've battled through the scrap yard, Harveys is an oasis of boats and engines. Darlo makes Beirut look chic but in all my visits to Harveys, I've only been shot at once.

DM

LURCHER · 19 May 2003, 18:00

Fantastoic engine that starts 1st time every time uses little fuel and quite too . 29miles 27ltr last Sunday .
Out today in Force 5 over Chi bar just fantastic.
Outanabouts new Humber even better !

Jono Garton · 19 May 2003, 19:37

Hi Alan

Have allready spoken to John harvey, I agree he's a top guy.

dykkeren · 20 May 2003, 22:39

Hi

Before I bought my Bombard Explorer DB 7.30 I spendt some time looking at different RIB type boats.

Things I consideret was strenght of the glassfiber hull and how its reinforced.

From Zodiac, the explorer DB 7.30 is the onlu hull where they have built it strong enough to cruise in norwegian conditions, with som payload in the boat. The småller modells are not even near it regarding strengt in the hull construction.

And I also looked at the pro series from zodiac, but when compared it's looked not strong enough to take on heavy sea and som wind speed up to 30 kts.

Know I have testet my bombard at wave height up to 4 m, 30kts of wind, combind with an excellent engine from yamaha, the F225, its easy to handle in tough sea.

The engine makes sure of the right power for any condition is aviable, enough top speed for waves below 0.5m height.

Jørgen