Covert RIB to hard sides

I have built a dingy using 12' RIB bottom and glassed on ply sides. If interested contact me.

 

...so now you have built a fibreglass dinghy?

 

Yes. I have a fiberglass dingy.

 

photograph ? no need for hosting just post as an attachment

 

picture of dingy

 

Interesting, but I guess only really worthwhile if you pick up a rib hull cheaply.

Years ago there was a company close to where I lived at the time that used to make all aluminium "RIBs". The used big aluminium tubes welded around the periphery of an aluminium hull shaped like a conventional RIB. They were apparently popular with inshore fishermen and divers, as they were fast, virtually unsinkable and the big rounded sides made tasks like getting divers in and out of the water and hauling fishing gear over the side pretty easy. At first I thought that the idea was crazy, but once I saw the way the boats were used it seemed to make a lot of sense.

 

I think your RIB boat is very good I expected a pile of rubbish but it just looks like a regular stitch and glue .... great

 

There have been a couple posts on the forum about recycling a RIB on the cheap. I have seen a question posted about fiberglassing the original RIB tube shape or trying to fill rotted tubes with foam. Good to see an entirely different take on recycling a RIB hull sans original tubes. Looks like a nice dinghy now.

Did you price out the cost of replacement tubes for comparison? Or did you want a hard dinghy out of it from the start?

 

Price to build was 5gal resin @ $180. 12 yards matte @$100..Gelcoat $50...Marine plywood, 3/8, two sheets $100. ,,,Plus labor of 40 hrs. The purpose of this dingy was two fold, One that it be able to take waves when offshore and self bail, and it does that. Two that it hold a portable generator that I can finish work on my Bristol 29 and it looks like that will work too. I have generator in dingy and will test whether it will lay behind sailboat on line and provide power to run tools. More pictures coming of generator in dingy to show load carrying capacity. If I made directions and plans available at $10.00 would people purchase them??

 

Very nice looking and practical conversion.
In theory I would expect an increasing number of junked RIB hulls as tubes wear out and aren't replaced. However, I think the demand for plans will be limited. And how would you account for all the small differences in hulls that would be the starting points?

 

be very carfull if running the generator in the rib and using power tools on the boat ...the is similar to a narrowboat connected to a shore supply ..you could get electrocuted when getting into the dingy..The first soldier killed in the fauklands war stepped off a generator and was electrocuted when his foot touched the ground >. Take care

 

This is one thing I hav'nt done but thought about it. Every now and then a rib gets thrown away in the marina --but no I have resisted the temptation simply because I would have to make the sheet fibre glass first. Too big a job.

 

I've seen this done before, but not quite as nicely as you have done it. Congratulations on your common sense.

 

I have pictures of generator in dingy..and one w/cover to keep weather off when not in use.