types of boats useful for diving

[metaldector]

You might find you can buy a boat cheaper than you thought. Check out www.bentboat.com for damaged, close-outs, and repos. Since a few hurricanes have blown thru the South there are many damaged boats for sale on this site. Some are . . . well junk, but others have cosmetic damage, or were submerged and paid for by the insurance companies. I'm looking for two boats. One with a solid hull, the other with good engines. If reasonable, I'd swap out the engines and hull to make one good boat. Anyway, its a thought.

 

[OE2X]

(Zodiacs by definition have a flat hull and arent planing craft - as opposed to cutting through the waves they go up and over).

Zodiacs started out as SIB or soft inflatable boat, but now their sales in RIBS have taken off. Zodiac does make RIBS and has a fair bit of experience at it. Zodiac not only makes RIBS under their name, but they own Bombard, Avon and Hurricane. It was Gerry Weisgerber from Vancouver BC back in the early '70's that recommended that Zodiac start producing a RIB. He was a Zodiac dealer at the time. They told him to make some and if they liked the concept they would buy his company - Hurricane from him. They liked what he did and thus Hurricane really came into being. This company was primarily responsible for creating military craft. The designs flowed into the recreational market later. I have no idea if these were the first RIBS produced or not, but they have often been copied. Go to their web site and you will see that there are more models of RIBS than SIBS. The SIBS are used mainly as sailboat and small yacht tenders.

The U.K. has a great fondness for inflatable boats and from what I can tell they are one of the most popular types used for all sorts of reasons. The Brits are known for loving the most foul weather and going to sea in it. It does not surprise me that they would come to depend on a RIB for their conditions.

 

[String]

Certainly id much rather be on a RIB than a hard boat in some of the seas we get - hard boats tend to wallow whereas RIBs can cut through.

Also for clubs with limited finance a RIB with outboard is far cheaper to run and maintain than say a hardboat with inboard engine. The issue of getting something in/out of the water and towing also comes into play.

Personally i feel far more comfortable in a RIB in a big sea than a hardboat PROVIDED the person driving the thing knows what theyre doing.

As for the zodiac thing, must be another trans-atlantic language barrier thing again, over here someone says "zodiac" and the self-assembley flat hulled thing is what everyone pictures as opposed to a RIB.

 

[OE2X]

Personally i feel far more comfortable in a RIB in a big sea than a hardboat PROVIDED the person driving the thing knows what theyre doing.
As for the zodiac thing, must be another trans-atlantic language barrier thing again, over here someone says "zodiac" and the self-assembley flat hulled thing is what everyone pictures as opposed to a RIB.

Now that I own a RIB there is no other type of boat that I would rather be in unless it was 25 meters long had a big shower and a nice warm spot to get out of the weather. NO, really I'm not soft!

I hear what you are saying about Zodiac thing. I suspect that is what most people on your side of the pond have. You guys know all about RIBS as I think there are more RIB companies in the UK than any where else in the world. Also when it comes to RIB adventurers you have some of the most hardcore people around. On our side of the pond we are just a bunch of weenies who need cabins, berths and toilets to go out for the afternoon. Sort of like having an SUV to drive in the city.

 

[OE2X]

Also for clubs with limited finance a RIB with outboard is far cheaper to run and maintain than say a hardboat with inboard engine. The issue of getting something in/out of the water and towing also comes into play.

Question - is the rack behind the helm of your clubs Humber used to place your tank to facilitate getting it on your back? If so, it looks like a cool setup.

 

[String]

Question - is the rack behind the helm of your clubs Humber used to place your tank to facilitate getting it on your back? If so, it looks like a cool setup.

Sort of, that boat was bought second hand and came ready fitted.

Its muti purpose - (i) for kitting up and (ii) 3 people can stand up while the RIB is moving and use that to hold onto which is far more comfortable than sitting on the tubes.

The only problem is the original owner was very tall and the damn shelf is too high for any of us to use for kitting up

 

[flw]

Why do you have your rack going accross rather than down the boat?
We've got a 5.6m Osprey, which is just fine, and while we've had it up to 40knts jsut to see, it cruises with kit at around 23-25knts. Easy to launch and recover, although it does need a 4wd to tow any distance.
Some ribs are wetter than other's so its worth looking at the angle of the hull.
We also have a club zodiac, which comes out for long weekends, there's always straws drawn to see who gets to use it......
On the other hand I've got an Orkney Fastliner for fishing which lives on a mooring in front of the house, and while it's great for messing about with lines and creels it a complete pig to get back into the odd time I've dived of her

 

[String]

Why do you have your rack going accross rather than down the boat?

Firstly for the holding on reason mentioned above. Secondly, although its not clear on the photos its a fairly good setup, it can take 5 bottles width wise and a further 2 each side of the console seat the other side with ease and usually more. It does leave the back nice and clear with lots of space for kitting up - the boat is 6m and has a fairly wide beam.
Another reason is that even if we wanted to change it, we're far too lazy to actually get round to it .

Some ribs are wetter than other's so its worth looking at the angle of the hull.

Our 5.5m is a very wet ride, mainly to do with the plastic strips peeling off the side channeling water into the boat though - yes i have seen the person driving it wearing a mask before now....

We also have a club zodiac, which comes out for long weekends, there's always straws drawn to see who gets to use it......

Yeah i know the feeling, we also have a 5m boat and its a short straw to see who is on it and who drives the thing (its like a tank without power steering). The kit on it gets covered in 2 stroke, the passengers get soaked and its underpowered.

Not so much of an issue now - we broke it

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'm pretty sure if I ever look into buying a boat to get me further out, I'd get another/larger Zodiac(RIB). My current setup is only really good for 2 divers and a driver and with that amount of weight, it doesn't plane out. Course, its just a 10'2" SIB with the hard deck slats, lol. I've taken it as far as one mile offshore with 2-3' swells and it did just fine - didn't have dive gear though. It'll plane with 2 people and gear(each with single tanks), but it needs room to get up to speed. Picked it up almost new, ready to go for 2g, so I'm not complaining If I ever have enough $$ burning a hole in my pocket, I'd love to pick up a 5-6m RIB to get me more than a few miles offshore I think the larger size will keep me from flipping in 4-5' seas, don't ask!

That CZ7 Zodiac is friggin sweet, just watched the little video they had on the page!

 

[String]

Brand new 6m RIBs with engine about 150hp 2 stroke cost here roughly £25000 all in for trailer, electronics and boat. We got ours second hand for approx £9000. Its a BIG boat with nice wide beam which as i said can have 8 divers without issue.

Our smallest 5m RIB is good for 4 people with dive kit just about - 70hp engine on that and it can still plane.

The furthest we tend to take our boats are about 30nm offshore and seas 7-8ft occasionally. The boats themselves could probably handle more but theres no point attempting to dive in those conditions- you wont see anything.

For a personal dive boat or one for a group of people i dont think you can beat a decent RIB.