4 to 5 meter Rib wanted

[BL1]

Hello
I’m a newbie on here so thanks for having me ..
I’m in the market for a new Rib but only looking at the 4 to 5 meter ones and the reason for this is I will be putting it in the water on my own or with my wife and I’m over 59
So it has to be a boat that easily goes on the trailer …
I’m also not going out in rough seas but will go out about a mile for a bit of fishing in Norfolk ..Basically fair weather boating …I’m looking at Humber and others and if anyone has heard of Storm Ribs and if they are ok …
Hope I’ve not gone on for to long …
Regards

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by BL1

Hello
I’m a newbie on here so thanks for having me ..
I’m in the market for a new Rib but only looking at the 4 to 5 meter ones and the reason for this is I will be putting it in the water on my own or with my wife and I’m over 59
So it has to be a boat that easily goes on the trailer …
I’m also not going out in rough seas but will go out about a mile for a bit of fishing in Norfolk ..Basically fair weather boating …I’m looking at Humber and others and if anyone has heard of Storm Ribs and if they are ok …
Hope I’ve not gone on for to long …
Regards

If you're in St Albans then definitely pop over to Welwyn Garden City and visit Lawrence and team at Barnet/XS RIB's. They make some great craft starting in the 4m range - I recently bought a brand new XS500 from them for our sailing club and couldn't be happier with the service and the boat!

[BL1]

Thank you …I will do that ..

[Orwell boy]

Yes definitely worthwhile to have a look at xs ,i personally bought a fantastic used 2016 4.6 metre earlier this year . They have some superb offerings in new and ex demo at the moment but all a little big for your needs maybe

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by Orwell boy

Yes definitely worthwhile to have a look at xs ,i personally bought a fantastic used 2016 4.6 metre earlier this year . They have some superb offerings in new and ex demo at the moment but all a little big for your needs maybe

Ah ha, you bought that one from them - I forget its name but that was owned by a guy who did a load of solo diving or something? I remember seeing it a year or so ago when it stopped overnight at our yacht club, conveniently just after I'd put my order in for a new XS500 and was waiting for a build slot! I had a good look over it and got straight on the phone to Laurence to ask about its age and history as it looked absolutely immaculate.

When I saw that come up this year I almost started trying to convince the yacht club to buy it, but decided to re-engine one of our other RIB's instead.

[Orwell boy]

Originally Posted by paulbrown22

Ah ha, you bought that one from them - I forget its name but that was owned by a guy who did a load of solo diving or something? I remember seeing it a year or so ago when it stopped overnight at our yacht club, conveniently just after I'd put my order in for a new XS500 and was waiting for a build slot! I had a good look over it and got straight on the phone to Laurence to ask about its age and history as it looked absolutely immaculate.

When I saw that come up this year I almost started trying to convince the yacht club to buy it, but decided to re-engine one of our other RIB's instead.

Yes ,slightly strange story for me really ,just like the original poster (59) ,i at 63 was severely worried about launching my gemini wr650 (which i still have and love ) on my own and struggling to get down to do trailer maintainance ,so my first thoughts were to get a vanclaes trailer with all the bells and whistles (disc brakes ,gyro system ,coill springs etc ) this proggressed from last years southampton boat show and by jan i was planning to collect new from the boatlife show in feb ,however i was after a 7m single axle as handling a twin for me and the mrs was a non starter .........well to cut a long story short it got to £10k ,so i had a rush of blood and thought i wont have to spend much more and i could have a small boat , .......the little 4.6 appeared on marketplace ,closer to me than barnet marine however i was still scratching my head and never got to visit ,and the guy traded it against a new xs650 i think at xs ,i went along and it was a no brainer ,all serviced twin seat added instead of single ,100 hrs ish and stored in a garage all its life ,it was a better solution than the trailer

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by Orwell boy

Yes ,slightly strange story for me really ,just like the original poster (59) ,i at 63 was severely worried about launching my gemini wr650 (which i still have and love ) on my own and struggling to get down to do trailer maintainance ,so my first thoughts were to get a vanclaes trailer with all the bells and whistles (disc brakes ,gyro system ,coill springs etc ) this proggressed from last years southampton boat show and by jan i was planning to collect new from the boatlife show in feb ,however i was after a 7m single axle as handling a twin for me and the mrs was a non starter .........well to cut a long story short it got to £10k ,so i had a rush of blood and thought i wont have to spend much more and i could have a small boat , .......the little 4.6 appeared on marketplace ,closer to me than barnet marine however i was still scratching my head and never got to visit ,and the guy traded it against a new xs650 i think at xs ,i went along and it was a no brainer ,all serviced twin seat added instead of single ,100 hrs ish and stored in a garage all its life ,it was a better solution than the trailer

Definitely a no brainer - having seen it in the flesh on the Thames I was amazed when Laurence told me it was a 2016 build, it looks brand new. Has clearly been very well looked after, and storing in a garage makes a huge difference. I hope you're enjoying it - we've certainly been adding the hours onto our new XS500 and it's been a brilliant boat in it's first 10 months with us!

[felix748R]

If you are looking for an XS500 i have one for sale at the moment. Drop me a line for more info

[BL1]

Hi paul on your xs 500 what HP do you use ?
I’m looking for a Rib and went to Barnet Marine and had a chat with Lawrence who was so helpful .

[BL1]

Interesting thread but what’s a giro on a trailer ?

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by BL1

Interesting thread but what’s a giro on a trailer ?

Posh word for big rollers that work very nicely, but come at a price! (https://vanclaes.com/en/gyro-roller-system/a-141.html)

[felix748R]

Originally Posted by BL1

Hi paul on your xs 500 what HP do you use ?
I’m looking for a Rib and went to Barnet Marine and had a chat with Lawrence who was so helpful .

Hi, Mercury 60hp. Gives around 30knots top end. So economical though.

[BL1]

Ok that’s great thank you …

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by BL1

Hi paul on your xs 500 what HP do you use ?
I’m looking for a Rib and went to Barnet Marine and had a chat with Lawrence who was so helpful .

I had the Mariner/Mercury 60hp, although I think they rate the hull for max 70hp. At the time I ordered it, the Mariner/Mercury 60hp was the same price as the Mariner/Mercury 50hp so a no brainer, or if you wanted Suzuki you only got 50hp for that price! I don't see any need for more than 60hp - that's about 28-30kn top speed which on a 5m RIB is sufficient I think.

I can absolutely recommend working with Laurence and XS though - this was for a sailing club so I was very fussy with the spec to make it as simple, foolproof and robust as possible, and they were great to work with as I iterated through 5 different specifications to get to my "perfect" spec while keeping within a sailing club budget! And what was delivered was exactly what I ordered, and has already done 120+ trouble free hours in 10 months of pretty hard club usage. Since then Laurence has also delivered a brand new Suzuki 40hp that I fitted to our other club RIB last month, and again customer service was spot on. I wouldn't hesitate to order our next safety boat from them (or indeed a personal boat once my children are old enough to have RIB's again!).

[BL1]

Very helpful thank you v much
Met Lawrence yesterday very knowledgeable…

[BL1]

And thank you for pictures ������������

[BL1]

Meant to do thumbs up not question marks