Typhoon RIBs

[blinkerfluid]

Found these on CL, does anyone know anything about typhoon ribs sold by best choice marine?

Rigid Hull Inflatable RIB

I'm sure they're made in china, and I know you get what you pay for, but they're really cheap. You can get a 9' aluminum rib for $1800 in PVC or $2800 for a Hypalon one. I tried googling but can't find anything at all other than the best choice website.

Their phone number is based out of Seattle, so I thought I might try to track them down for a look, though they have no physical address so they may not go for that. Just thought I'd ask here to see if anyone had heard of them before.

[MarkJ]

Ribs aren't what you would call high tech... Of course the Chinese should be able to make them better and more cheaply than many other countries, incl the countries that churn ABs and Caribs out...

[JPA Cate]

The kicker is in the quality of hypalon used or pvc. It can be very frustrating to try to find it out, too. The hypalon Gemini re-tubed our dinghy with 8 yrs. ago became porous this year. DuPont's quit making hypalon, and other places manufacture it in different thickness. This is why the Gemini dinghy with the hull made by Swift cost less than the Swift hypalon dinghy, which had heavier tubes, hence weighed more.

Faced by the difficulty of getting good quality hypalon here, and the ability to get European made PVC, we actually are trying out our first PVC tubes ever. The material, itself, is quite a bit thicker than the old hypalon was, as we discovered when we disinflated it for deck stowage on passage.

Our rib is 3.5 m. and the PVC tubes for it cost $2900 AUD, and are of Chinese manufacture (Hyfield). Hypalon would have been double. By that standard, the typhoon sounds pretty reasonable, but I've never seen one. Just remember, not all dinghies are created equal.

If, like the OP, I were in the US, I'd be tempted by the hypalon dinghies there. For us the PVC is really a huge digression, never owned one before, it's an experiment, and I'm emotionally prepared for premature failure. We made "chaps" for it, to help with its perceived longevity weakness, but we'll just have to wait and see how long we get out of it.

Ann

[JPA Cate]

Hey, blinkerfluid,

I think Cheekako is trying to locate you relative to the dinghy.

Ann

[Dulcesuenos]

Pvc material is tough and durable, it is the seams and bonded edges that have the issues. Once the material ages , sun hits it one time , etc the material breaks down just enough to make re gluing almost pointless. Ive seen them last 3 years and seem one go 7 years. We had a hypalon achilles from the early 70s that had never been patched and still held air.

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