What is worse for me is seeing a rib floating in a slip along with an unused boat. The ribs slowly grow grass and barnacles, rain fills them up so they are barely floating on the surface, and everything is covered with PNW green. We have one of those a couple slips down from me.
What is worse for me is seeing a rib floating in a slip along with an unused boat. The ribs slowly grow grass and barnacles, rain fills them up so they are barely floating on the surface, and everything is covered with PNW green. We have one of those a couple slips down from me.
Doesn't your marina have rules on derelict vessels?
For the past two weeks, I've literally spent twice as much time researching which RIB to buy than I spent researching our trawler. I finally decided on what to get yesterday. A few minutes later, a friend told us about an old inflatable with a 2 stroke engine that the owner wants to get rid of for $100. Why not save 4500 and go with the old?!
We have RIB's and love them, but it's the only practical choice if you want Jets. Even if we didn't want Jets, we'd choose RIB's based on the weight and based on no damage if hitting against the boat. Now, we've had no issues with ours but they're never left in the water overnight and they're always kept covered.
One other advantage that RIBs have over traditional hard shell dinghies is stability. Hard to beat a RIB in that department.
Put your dinghy in a situation where the waves are taller than the dinghy is long. An inflatable will handle these conditions easily. I wouldn't feel as comfortable in a tinny or even a whaler in the same conditions.
Yes, we have been in such conditions.
Easy
Kapten boat collar on a tinny playing in the surf line of a bar crossing.
Adds massive flotation, stability and protects topsides for little outlay.
Old surfer adds "fins" to his boat and surfs waves