New Aluminium Hull Ribs

[2divers]

I see that AB has an newer version of their ribs with the Aluminium hulls verse the fiberglass... Anybody out there have any experience 1st hand or otherwise with these? Seems like it might take a beating better than fiberglass?

2divers

[Captain Dan]

I have a 9.5 Foot AB with the aluminum hull. I have to say its great so far. It's much more durable and only weighs 95 lbs and about 115 with all my customizations. I built a custom bow seat for to hold the battery, fuel tank and stereo and panel for the bilge pump, courtesy lights, and nav lights so its just like a console dinghy but its light. I'd highly recommend one. It still rips along at about 23 mph with my 15 hp Honda. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Bash]

I had an Aquapro aluminum RIB. The one problem was that you couldn't apply a copper-based bottom paint to the hull. This is fine if the boat spends its evening in the davits, but otherwise.....

[Captain Dan]

Vivid makes an antifouling paint for aluminum that I was thinking of using:

Pettit Marine Paints - Browse Catalog

Any thoughts?

[ColdEH]

Anyone have any trouble with the tubes falling off of the aluminum hull ?? I think one company puts the tubes on with a rope in a channel of the hull.

Regards

[newboat]

Alum seems like the way to go to me also-not alot of them-AB and Aquapro I guess-seem to be hard to find in U.S. -I'd be interested in people's experiences with them also

[Mark Johnson]

I just looked at the AB bare "aluminum" 9' 1" RIB... VS AB light weight "fiberglass" VL @ 9' 6". The fiberglass one was nicer, had a flat section in the floor, and had a very DRY looking up swept bow, but it weighed about 100 pounds. The bare aluminum hull version was much less Ved, (very little bow rise), so would presumably be wetter, and had no flat section in the floor. (It looked like good performance on You Tube). The trick was that this aluminum model, in 9' 1" was ONLY 68 POUNDS! Looked like the cat's meow for small multihullers, where weight is such an issue.

Over past years, PAINTED aluminum floor models (various brands), were reputed to separate from the tubes, when the paint to hull bond failed. I have no idea if the layer of corrosion that would form on bare aluminum, would cause a failure of the glue bond or not? Time will tell.

They must be available, I just saw one out front of a dealer's shop in Oriental, NC.

Mark

[ColdEH]

Im thinking of aluminum for my next tender, my last one, a 9 foot west marine RIB ......got blisters , i did leave it in the water a lot. I even epoxied the bottom but still got blisters, so I think maybe aluminum will fare better.

Regards