3-3.5m rib with console on a 4m transom with centrally placed passarelle, doable?

[vas]

just had a good look at a AQUAPRO SMR 1101 ali hulled rib which is 3.48m long (11ft for you up north, I hope your PM wont move you back to imperial after the elections )

Although it's a PVC and a 2007 production, it's one of the NZ built ones (2008 onwards I'm told they moved the production to China...) and it was in a surprising good condition, well impressed.
However, I was more impressed and scared on how big this thing was, so went straight back to MiToS and measured the bathing platform. Well, I thought it was around 4m but that's the max width of the boat at deck level
So platform is:

3.70m at the transom
3.50m at the back...
and 1.2 or 1.3m long

Considering the steps to the aft deck and the placement of the swim ladder, things are rather too tight. Tighter than the pics above by Nick and CharlieAlpha
However my friend with the P45 has a 3.6m tender and he thinks I should go ahead and buy it as a 3.1 is going to be too small.

I feel that if I shift the tender towards the stbrd side and the "nose" is say 20cm proud of the platform (but still within the 4m width of the hull) I'll have just enough space to jump and come up from the water without too much trouble.

Due to the passerelle ram, tender will have to be further aft with the keel around 30-40cm from the aft end of the platform. This way I'm thinking I may be better off turning the tender around with the engine at stbrd and the bow over the port side and aft of the swim ladder. Definitely not a case of 3-4 kids fooling around by the steps as they do now, but most likely with a decent tender it's always going to be in the water unlike this disaster Valiant that was falling apart and leaking from the tube to transom... (took me a few days to figure it out)

So, about to check a few more tenders in Athens and another AQUAPRO SMR1101 with hypalon tubes on Saturday. If all turns nice and I get the approval of the forum experts, I'll probably get there and pick it up midweek.

BTW, one thing I really like on the ali hulled tenders is the two massive (ok relatively!) reinforcements on the hull to transom that you can use to cantilever a nice custom box seat without messing with grp/sanders/glues and all that crap. Then I could built a custom steering wheel extension that can tilt down and out of the way and I'm done!

So looking forward to reasons I shouldn't do it

cheers

V.

 

[Bouba]

just had a good look at a AQUAPRO SMR 1101 ali hulled rib which is 3.48m long (11ft for you up north, I hope your PM wont move you back to imperial after the elections )

Although it's a PVC and a 2007 production, it's one of the NZ built ones (2008 onwards I'm told they moved the production to China...) and it was in a surprising good condition, well impressed.
However, I was more impressed and scared on how big this thing was, so went straight back to MiToS and measured the bathing platform. Well, I thought it was around 4m but that's the max width of the boat at deck level
So platform is:

3.70m at the transom
3.50m at the back...
and 1.2 or 1.3m long

Considering the steps to the aft deck and the placement of the swim ladder, things are rather too tight. Tighter than the pics above by Nick and CharlieAlpha
However my friend with the P45 has a 3.6m tender and he thinks I should go ahead and buy it as a 3.1 is going to be too small.

I feel that if I shift the tender towards the stbrd side and the "nose" is say 20cm proud of the platform (but still within the 4m width of the hull) I'll have just enough space to jump and come up from the water without too much trouble.

Due to the passerelle ram, tender will have to be further aft with the keel around 30-40cm from the aft end of the platform. This way I'm thinking I may be better off turning the tender around with the engine at stbrd and the bow over the port side and aft of the swim ladder. Definitely not a case of 3-4 kids fooling around by the steps as they do now, but most likely with a decent tender it's always going to be in the water unlike this disaster Valiant that was falling apart and leaking from the tube to transom... (took me a few days to figure it out)

So, about to check a few more tenders in Athens and another AQUAPRO SMR1101 with hypalon tubes on Saturday. If all turns nice and I get the approval of the forum experts, I'll probably get there and pick it up midweek.

BTW, one thing I really like on the ali hulled tenders is the two massive (ok relatively!) reinforcements on the hull to transom that you can use to cantilever a nice custom box seat without messing with grp/sanders/glues and all that crap. Then I could built a custom steering wheel extension that can tilt down and out of the way and I'm done!

So looking forward to reasons I shouldn't do it

cheers

V.

Deflating the nose should give you another few inches. Did we ever give up imperial?

 

[vas]

Deflating the nose should give you another few inches. Did we ever give up imperial?

Iirc twenty years ago when I left construction industry had gone totally bonkers and everything was been discusses AND drawn in mm!
I was assuming the same way you moved away from shillings you'd overcome inches feet and stones...

Deflating the front tube is not an option I'd consider tbh

Cheers

V

 

[MapisM]

I feel that if I shift the tender towards the stbrd side and the "nose" is say 20cm proud of the platform (but still within the 4m width of the hull) I'll have just enough space to jump and come up from the water without too much trouble.

Well, if we needed another good example of why finding decent compromises is what boating is all about, this is the one.
It's pretty obvious that the bigger the tender, the better its specific performances.
At the same time, it's equally obvious that the bigger the tender, the more cumbersome it is to have it laying somewhere in the mother ship, to handle it, etc.
Fwiw, I am also considering a tender for the DP, but for myself (and swmbo), leaving enough usable swim platform space without having to throw the thing in the water is as important as the tender itself, if not more - hence we gave ourselves a 3.50m limit - but we'd like it to be smaller.
And that's on a boat whose beam is just 4cm short of 5m...!
So, if you ask me if I'd put a 3.5m rib on a 3.70 platform, my very personal answer is no way.
But different priorities are completely understandable, so I guess that actually the only sensible answer is each to their own! :encouragement:

 

[vas]

Well, if we needed another good example of why finding decent compromises is what boating is all about, this is the one.
It's pretty obvious that the bigger the tender, the better its specific performances.
At the same time, it's equally obvious that the bigger the tender, the more cumbersome it is to have it laying somewhere in the mother ship, to handle it, etc.
Fwiw, I am also considering a tender for the DP, but for myself (and swmbo), leaving enough usable swim platform space without having to throw the thing in the water is as important as the tender itself, if not more - hence we gave ourselves a 3.50m limit - but we'd like it to be smaller.
And that's on a boat whose beam is just 4cm short of 5m...!
So, if you ask me if I'd put a 3.5m rib on a 3.70 platform, my very personal answer is no way.
But different priorities are completely understandable, so I guess that actually the only sensible answer is each to their own! :encouragement:

very true P.,

however seems that you often are two up in a 50-56ft boat and we are mostly 6 or even 8up on a 43ft one... Keeping kids with you has the fun side of having their friends with them, good laugh and refreshing mostly, but means more back and forth to places which tends to be annoying. Further I'd really like a tender without a tiller and a small (probably custom) console and doesn't seem to work on anything less than 3.1-3.3m.
I believe if I sort out the retrieval on this passerelle (got to shift the ladder bit that lowers and picks up tender aft) dropping and retrieving the tender will be doodle and a one person job, which would help a lot.

Annoyingly cannot seem to find a s/h 3.1m walker bay or an ali hulled one that's easier to customise. Of course I can always wait for the right one to appear, but I should get something pretty soon as the season starts really soon!

we shall see

cheers

V.

 

[Nick_H]

Vas, any GRP RIB with a flat deck will be easy to customize, because you can build whatever console you want then screw it to the flat deck. There are plenty of RIBS at the 3.1-3.3m size that are built like this, far more than are built with a single skin hull in fact.

 

[MapisM]

seems that you often are two up in a 50-56ft boat and we are mostly 6 or even 8up on a 43ft one

Actually V, the reason for our choice is somewhat the opposite.
I mean, I wouldn't mind a 4m or so tender taking most of the swim platform, if it were just for myself and swmbo.
In fact, that would allow us to use the rib more frequently as a standalone boat, for going out whenever we don't fancy moving the mothership.
But we often go out for day trips with a party of 8 or 10, if not 12 people.
And in those occasions, very rarely we use the tender. So, it's nice to have enough space left to access the swim ladder and have a shower without needing to throw the thing in the water.
Not that this make any difference though - just saying. I do understand your point, of course.

And yep, also in my searches I never came across any thing under 3m with a driving console, fwiw.
I suppose that has to see with the fact that the console steals some onboard space, and the smaller the tender is the more that is a critical factor.
Besides, normally in very small ribs are fitted with small, tiller-only outboards.
Good luck with your search of a s/h WB or alu rib, but I'm afraid it won't be easy, if what I saw around so far is anything to go by... :ambivalence:

 

[vas]

Vas, any GRP RIB with a flat deck will be easy to customize, because you can build whatever console you want then screw it to the flat deck. There are plenty of RIBS at the 3.1-3.3m size that are built like this, far more than are built with a single skin hull in fact.

Nick, tbh I'm not so keen on the "proper" consoles as they do take too much space. I'm thinking more along the one tubular cantilever bar coming from the sear seat box thing approach as seen on Highfield tenders (that's where I saw them first, obviously also used by others). Following pic showing the control box but not the bar, just imagine a 2.5-3inch tube diagonal to the seat, all cables threaded through it.

I'd then want a bow locker large enough for the petrol tank and good enough to sit on. So in theory I could go to five up with one on the bow, two on the side tubes and two on the rear seat for short hops to land and back.

So if I go grp, I'm not so sure I can go wild with cantilevers and boxes with space for toes under them or if I just end up with a broken hull
Dunno, we shall see, I'm still not convinced I can go for a 3.5m rib

Actually V, the reason for our choice is somewhat the opposite.
I mean, I wouldn't mind a 4m or so tender taking most of the swim platform, if it were just for myself and swmbo.
In fact, that would allow us to use the rib more frequently as a standalone boat, for going out whenever we don't fancy moving the mothership.
But we often go out for day trips with a party of 8 or 10, if not 12 people.
And in those occasions, very rarely we use the tender. So, it's nice to have enough space left to access the swim ladder and have a shower without needing to throw the thing in the water.
Not that this make any difference though - just saying. I do understand your point, of course.

And yep, also in my searches I never came across any thing under 3m with a driving console, fwiw.
I suppose that has to see with the fact that the console steals some onboard space, and the smaller the tender is the more that is a critical factor.
Besides, normally in very small ribs are fitted with small, tiller-only outboards.
Good luck with your search of a s/h WB or alu rib, but I'm afraid it won't be easy, if what I saw around so far is anything to go by... :ambivalence:

OK see your point and I agree, although with 10ppl on board, you probably need a 2.5m rib and have half the platform from passerelle to swim ladder free

a 3.1m WB would be ideal or a Highfield CL310

http://www.highfieldboats.com/classic-310/

as you realised such ribs are not that common (probably ppl have no reason to replace them or they are sold on with the boat when changing up or down...)

cheers

V.

 

[vas]

just back from a trip to Athens where I saw a Walker Bay 270 and another Aquapro SMR 1101 (3.5m).

I fully understand why WB gets such rave reviews, it's a quality product put together nicely, v.light and robust. It was a 2015 model though and used for two summers for 1 month each and then stored in a garage in Athens. Practically brand new.
Thing is, I still find it too small

Now regarding the ali hulled Aquapro, this one was allegedly a ocra hypalon thing and not PVC. Problem is that it looked JUST LIKE the PVC one I saw three days ago Both were made in 2007, so 10yrs old but both only used a few times a year and stored in the shadow/garage.
I feel one of the two is lying or simply don't know what their rib is made off.

Looks like i'm going to get there with a bottle of acetone and a few cotton buds to test it

Q for the rib experts, the seat supports and the rowlocks as well as two of the handles had become undone (actually on both of the Aquapros) and the owners glued them back on. Now in both cases I can see uv affected glue turning brown around the edges of the glued on part. Does the same thing happen if it's a hypalon tube? The guy today claimed that he glued the PVC bits that become undone to the hypalon tube with a special glue. Didn't have any glue left to read the sticker so not sure what's going on.

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

Vas, I have hypalon tubes, and anything glued goes a yucky brown in the sun (even in the UK).

 

[vas]

Vas, I have hypalon tubes, and anything glued goes a yucky brown in the sun (even in the UK).

thanks Paul, good to know, but still have to go and test the tubes on the allegedly hypalon one as texture, glue, everything look the same!

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

Vas, I have a cover for mine. Slows the yuckyness progress down but does not eliminate.

 

[vas]

small update,

measured the P45 platform where the 3.6m rib lives and it's 3.2m at the rear with the keel of the rib almost in line with the rear ending of the platform!
Hull is 4m wide but slopes and has a kink that drops it down to 3.2 by the time you reach the platform level.

If HE can fit a 3.6m rib on there, I can definitely fit a 3.5 on a 3.5 wide platform
Not in a great hurry so will wait a bit for a 3.3 ali rib if it turns up at the right price, but tbh it seems that this size is either new or priced plain silly...

cheers

V.

PS. P., yep definitely a cover will be built, one that has a "skirt" and drops down to cover and protect from UV the whole tube!