RIB sportscrusier market survey

[hmattos]

Interesting to have another look at the marlet three years on!
We build RIBs in the UK from 4 to 10 metres - see www.explorermarine.co.uk - and yes the market is very difficult at present. Since the UK was the leader in larger RIBs, we have now a plentiful supply of older boats which can be recycled with new tubes as the old become tired or damaged. The new market has largely collapsed, with new build being very much reduced - some say by as much as 80%. Several builders have laid off staff - ourselves included, and even the overseas builders from lower cost countries are reducing staff numbers. Time will tell whether there is a change of market in a few years - declaration of wealth is falling out of fashion - when we have the chance to review it when there is an economic upturn.
Regards
HM

[brian eiland]

Thanks for that really frank accessment Hmattos.

Meanwhile some might be interested in these discussions of the Ideal Tender going on at 'Passagemaker Under Power Forum' under their archives:
http://lists.samurai.com/pipermail/p...l/subject.html

[PUP] The Best Tender DIANNE BOSTON
[PUP] The Best Tender John Marshall
[PUP] the perfect dinghy Lyle Blank
[PUP] the perfect dinghy Ron Rogers
[PUP] The Ultimate Dinghy David Schramm

...a number of these folks are speaking from first hand experience

[Verytricky]

Originally Posted by intrepid71

I am curious about the appeal of RIBs as stand alone pleasure craft. It seems to me that these boats are carrying around tubes of air that take up a lot of useful space and detract from the aesthetics of the vessel. Obviously for a tender or even a coast guard rescue boat, where pulling alongside a larger vessel in a seaway is a likely occurance, the inflatable tubes are a first class fendering system. Otherwise, I dont really see what the advantage is.

Are you John Fuller in disguise?

[Verytricky]

There is always this specific 34 foot rib that will do very nicely......

[powerabout]

I thought ribs were only popular in Europe coz thats what the drug dealers use?

In the states the trips are longer so they use big cats and mono's

Hence the size of those 2 industry segments in those two countries.

( Yes I agree the tubes waste a huge amount of space and remove any gunwhale storage)

[jonr]

Other than a nice bumper and perhaps looks, what is the advantage of a RIB?

Less rock resistant than an inflatable and less cut and sun resistant than a hard hull.

[Verytricky]

I hate ribs, and would prolly never own one. BUT - this one would provide additional stability al rest and low speeds, and remove the need for a fender!

Also - it is build by Bananashark - so it would be properly put together - something I have not seen on other ribs.

They do wiring with waterproof wire and heatshrinkglue fittings and such like. They rewired a particularly bad area of my race boat that I had redone twice a year, and so far it has lasted THREE YEARS, or six times longer than previous jobs. They also redid the rear of my bladerunner - a complete change in the rear steps on the tunnels, and the job stuck together with all the abuse I put the boat through.

[powerabout]

We forgot to mention ribs are dangerous
more people have been ejected frm ribs than any other design as when the tube gets compresses it fires back so if your sitting on it you get fired off it and the same thing happens to the hull as follows....
My guess is a wave on one side compresses the tube and when it expanded back it gave the twisting force that once the rib was in the air spun it over...
Bouncy castle syndrome?
(PS I'm Not Jon Fuller either but I do know who he is)

[Obsession]

How many chambers in the tube of a boat like this? If multichambered it could do away with the need for soggy (after a while) flotation foam in similar recreational performance boats which is always such a pain to deal with after a number of years, yet nice to know she won't sink to the bottom if something bad happens.

(I love the look of that Verytricky! If I were a bit richer at the moment ... !!!)