Which RIB & engine?

[Cheechako]

3+ meter rib, 15 hp engine (weighs the same as 10hp in most designs). Try to find a single floor fiberglass RIB as they weigh a lot less than double floor. You might plane a single floor with 6 hp but only on a lucky day and it wont much of the time.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

My experience is the same. I had an 8hp Selva on our 310 Avon Lite folding RIB, and it would plane fairly easily with two non-obese people without heavy gear, but struggled with 3. If you think you will be planing a lot, you want as much horsepower as possible. YMMV.

Having been in Dockhead's Avon I am quite impressed. However, if it is too big or heavy in fact, there are smaller versions on the same theme:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sour...51473593987900

Alternatively, Ian normally has some tidy small inflatables and ribs in stock.

https://www.ivanburdfieldmarine.com/boats

[Drewnie]

If the budget is not a concern and you have a 10'6" hypalon fiberglass rib, my research has shown that a 15 hp Tohatsu is the same weight as a 20hp (they use the same block). So, it depends on each manufacturer. The same size rib with an aluminum hull was only 15 lbs less and more expensive. Plus, I would say much depends on usage and added weight for scuba gear or other toys and gear. Electric motors are great for short trips to the docks and could be used as a get home means if needed. Again with unlimited budget and a generator to charge the batts.

[malbert73]

I went with Highfield 290 with double floor and bow locker. I just chartered and had the Highfield ultralight with single floor. A pain to stand on a V floor, and you can’t keep floor dry. And in chop and wind it felt quite light and less stable like it could go bow up in a gust. So given my davits can handle 300 lbs a 125 lb dinghy vs 85 isnt a big deal.
The Highfield can store the fuel tank in the bow locker, and have the fuel hose under the floor which really cleans up the interior. And the double floor means you can have a lot of water in the boat and not get your feet wet. Will have the new Tohatsu 15 which weighs 94 lbs which is pretty light. I do have an old 3.3 mariner 2 stroke which I may keep onboard for easy low speed use.
But lots of different ways to do the dinghy thing. I decided for some cruising that I want to plane so we can be more flexible where we anchor and explore. On the chesapeake there is really cool exploring up rivers and creeks so fast dinghy would be fun for that

[Jerry Woodward]

I have a small cat and need to keep the weight down. I bought a Walker Bay 270 super light, 8'10", 75lb. It has a single floor fiberglass bottom. Paired it with the Yamaha 6hp 4 stroke, 65lb. It planes easily with 1 person + gas tank and dinghy anchor, but struggles with two. I believe it will plane with two if I change the prop. Going to try this year.

[CarinaPDX]

It seemed to me that replacing the prop and adding fins to the drive did improve performance (and the fins add stability). I bought a Solas stainless prop, with cupped blades. The fins were 2-piece: one for each side. If I were doing it again I would use a one-piece fin.


Greg

[tfrankum]

I had an aluminum bottom AB 9.5 rib with a 9.8 Tohatsu two stroke engine and with one 200 pound person the rib was on plane fine; with two or more not so but it was ok but took longer to get on plane. I also had a fin mounted on the engine to help get the rib on plane quicker. I gave the rib away and will purchase a new aluminum bottom rib about 9 feet in size with a 15 to 20 hp engine. The weight is the same with a 15 or 20 hp engines the difference is in is carburation and ignition.

I was able to place the rib without engine on the bow of a 42 foot boat and the engine on the stern rail with the help of an engine host. I believe that one person with the help of halyards and an engine lift can complete the job; two people are better. It really boils down to cost and available space to place the dingy and outboard engine on the boat. My preference is go as big as what you can afford with available space and money.

[Verschuijten]

We are circumnavigators. We started with an AB 9vs rib with 15 hp Yamaha 2 stroke. Hypalon is important, PVC will not last in the tropics. Boat is unprotected and already survived 12 years without one repair. Planes easily with two and full gear/ shoppings and stays dry when planing. With 4 adults nearly impossible to plane. If I could do it again or have to replace I would buy a Highfield 9.5 alu bottom/ hypalon. Much cheaper than AB en still good enough. However in my opinion AB has the best performance. Alu is much lighter than fiberglass hull so easier to handle on the beach. My dinghy is living in the davits as i have no room on the foredeck due to babystay. Also towed many times for days with and without engine thrue the caribbean due to a broken davit. 30 knots of wind turned out not to be a problem. Boat stays dry. We also have a 5 hp yamaha as redundancy and for short trips into harbour, but prefer the 15 hp. The 5 hp weights 25 kg and the 15 hp 40 kg. The last we hoist with an engine hoist, the 5 hp i can take by hand. We saw a lot of people struggling with too small engines, especially in the surf of the beach. We are going easely thrue it and can adapt to the waves. Never ended upside down while others with small engines did. Success.

[WSMFP]

I have a 310 series WM branded hypalon with a 15 merc two stroke. That engine/RIB combo have been great and this was my third dink/engine combo before I finally stopped messing around and got off my wallet. The 15 stroke stroke has tons of power and planes out with three adults, cooler and gear with no problem. I should have started with this combo the first time around and saved alot of money.

[tdtrimmer]

I would go with an aluminum bottom RIB as they are much lighter than the fibreglass versions. Check out Dinghy Concepts at 586 879 3061. They offer great advice and stand behind their products. I purchased ours there and we are very happy with ours.
Tom

[a64pilot]

I came close to buying a Highfield, but they will not sell one without the Powdercoated hull.
As I believe it’s only a matter of time before powdercoat blisters and comes off, I wanted a bare aluminum hull.
I was primarily concerned where the Hypalon flies to the hull.

However it seems that a batch of AB’s have had glue attachment problems there, so who knows?

[Davo1404]

Originally Posted by SY Kelpie

Thanks, that's great information.
I wonder how much the design of the RIB affects the hp needed to plane- or is it really all down to weight?

We are looking into RIBs of the same sort of weight as yours, up to around 40kg plus engine. The Tohatsu 2 stroke 9.8 seems like a great engine from what I've read, at under 30kg.

We have a 2.8m inflatable rib. The hull is alloy, with the Tohatsu 9.8 2 stroke. A fantastic set up. Will plane easily with 2 medium sized adults & some gear. Also a big improvement to the performance was fitting a set of foils to the motor.

[TonyDove]

This seems to be one of those perennial questions. I've had a number of tenders and outboards over the years, hard dink, RIB, Inflatable soft bottom and outboards from 2.5 hp to 10 hp. So here is my two-penny-worth.

I wouldn't have a hard dink again … too easy to flip or swamp, has limited payload and is a constant source of 'bumping'.

The soft bottom inflatable 'keel' is good for folding up and stowing … which is useful on a long cruise … but not really a requirement for 'average' cruising.

If planing is important to you then a catamaran tunnel hull design is gonna get you up on the plane the easiest.

A lightweight RIB is my pick … plenty of buoyancy and very stable.

Size? This is the big question … Personal opinion … I'd rather have something with a good payload but not so big that it is awkward to stow on deck. So that depends on deck-space limits. Making a couple of trips ashore to ferry the whole crew and provisions isn't a big problem … and is preferable to having an unmanageable beast to stow. How often are we in such a rush that everyone HAS to go in the same load? Most cruising is relatively relaxed. So my pick is around 3 meters - maybe 3.5.

Size of engine? Is it really necessary to plane? Where are you going in such and all fired hurry? Ferrying crew and provisions from ship to shore and back is the usual job of a tender … and I see no need to plane for that. And wringing the neck of the turkey to get it up on the plane is poor fuel economy for short trips and more wear and tear than the engine deserves. Being able to lift it off the tender and onto it's storage point - one handed in a bit of chop - is the biggest limiting factor … I've had great service from the 3.5 hp size … and, yes, with one person going out for a fish … it could get a 3.5m RIB onto the plane.

So that's my humble opinion. Good luck and good sailing.

[Bulawayo]

Hi Tony, I dont entirely agree as it is important to understand the cruising grounds. We lived aboard on our near circumnavigation. We started with an Avon 3.1 roll up with the interlocking plastic deck, driven by a 15hp Yam. It would plane under perfect conditions with four adults on board. We sold it when we upgraded our cat to a larger size - both were still in A1 condition after years in the tropics and no cover was ever used on the Avon. We upgraded as mentioned in one of my other posts. By far the most popular dinghy arrangement we saw on RtW boats were RIB's with 15hp motors, often with a 2-3hp as an alternative. It is fine to have the 3hp under some conditions but when you have miles of open sea to cross, or need an emergency tug, or simply some fun, like water skiing, or travelling 5 miles to a dive spot, then it makes perfectly good sense to have a bigger motor. My kids were born aboard and used to take off fishing to a reef - yes we could have up-anchored and sailed to the fishing spot but that would be a mission, there would no spontaneity or independence for the kids and the time would be much more. I still believe a lightly planing 15hp uses less fuel than a labouring 3hp for a given distance in that the 3HP will be running flat out to maintain drive and for probably 6x times the duration (3kts vs 18 kts). Our 4x kids would often go over the horizon - the only rule was to stay within VHF contact and to return immediately if there was any doubt about anything. In an emergency I could jump into our bigger duck with the 25hp and be with them swiftly. That never happened. On our cats we had 'goal posts' and these made hauling the engine aboard in any sort of motion safe and easy. Im big enough to manage a 25hp solo, but when there is any sort of motion it became precarious. Hence, I always used the goal posts. Our trolling engines did get most use when we were in certain locations like the few marina's we used or when pottering about up rivers and creeks or going ashore on a non-surf beach, or boat-2-boat. Our 25hp was used to help a flotilla of similar engined ducks pull another catamaran of a sand bank in the Indian Ocean when the mother boats could not get close enough due to shoals, it was used to tow quite a bit as well (others). There are loads of instances when a big engine makes total sense, just as there are similar instances in favour of a small engine. I will be making my next cat purchase in the near future and my all aluminium RIB and 25hp Yam Enduro with 3.5hp Yam Malta, shall both be coming along (yes, I kept both dinghies and all outboards when we came ashore for my wife illness, and my kids to start at university). Lastly, I still have rolled up my hypalon Avon Rover. That is around 25 years old and it gets blown up once a year to check it. It is still perfect. I had it on board in case the Ali ducks ever both got stolen. It was, and is, my ultimate back up. Crazy? I even thought so myself until one evening, in day light, anchored at Inhaca Island (Mozambique), two fast dhows appeared and literally slashed everyones painters and left with half a dozen dinghies and their motors. At the time, we had the Roll up Avon & 15hp but our housekeeping rules were to lift the dinghy when not in use - it took seconds with our goal posts. So we didn't lose our duck. No guesses as to how many boats had an alternative dinghy? Theft is not rare and nor is damage. In that instance we used our Rover (and its the only time we used it) and our roll up so all the men could go to a distant village where the radar showed the thieves had gone. It was not nice but all dinghies and outboards were recovered once the police were called (the thieves claimed they had found all the dinghies adrift and wanted salvage!). I don't believe there is a perfect single dinghy/outboard suitable for every occasion - its all about compromise and what works for the user. .

Originally Posted by TonyDove

This seems to be one of those perennial questions. I've had a number of tenders and outboards over the years, hard dink, RIB, Inflatable soft bottom and outboards from 2.5 hp to 10 hp. So here is my two-penny-worth.

I wouldn't have a hard dink again … too easy to flip or swamp, has limited payload and is a constant source of 'bumping'.

The soft bottom inflatable 'keel' is good for folding up and stowing … which is useful on a long cruise … but not really a requirement for 'average' cruising.

If planing is important to you then a catamaran tunnel hull design is gonna get you up on the plane the easiest.

A lightweight RIB is my pick … plenty of buoyancy and very stable.

Size? This is the big question … Personal opinion … I'd rather have something with a good payload but not so big that it is awkward to stow on deck. So that depends on deck-space limits. Making a couple of trips ashore to ferry the whole crew and provisions isn't a big problem … and is preferable to having an unmanageable beast to stow. How often are we in such a rush that everyone HAS to go in the same load? Most cruising is relatively relaxed. So my pick is around 3 meters - maybe 3.5.

Size of engine? Is it really necessary to plane? Where are you going in such and all fired hurry? Ferrying crew and provisions from ship to shore and back is the usual job of a tender … and I see no need to plane for that. And wringing the neck of the turkey to get it up on the plane is poor fuel economy for short trips and more wear and tear than the engine deserves. Being able to lift it off the tender and onto it's storage point - one handed in a bit of chop - is the biggest limiting factor … I've had great service from the 3.5 hp size … and, yes, with one person going out for a fish … it could get a 3.5m RIB onto the plane.

So that's my humble opinion. Good luck and good sailing.

[SY Kelpie]

Thanks again for all the suggestions, advice, and ideas.
There seems to be a consensus around the idea of an ali hulled hypalon RIB of about 3m, with a 10hp minimum engine. This is kind of what I was expecting, although I had heard some anecdotes about getting by with just a 6hp.

I'm really quite reluctant to go above 10hp, primarily for weight reasons. The right RIB and a 2st Tohatsu 9.8 could be as little as 60kg all up, which is viable for the two of us to lift/drag a short distance. Anything heavier than that just doesn't sound realistic.

Next question- what is the secondhand market like for these boats once you reach the Caribbean?