Living aboard a 7.5m RIB

[PapayArctic]

In summer 2014 we took our 7.5m carson Rib from Orkney, Scotland to Norway and lived aboard. Needless to say the RIB was not designed as a live aboard boat... There were three crew aboard for the adventure and we all lived aboard for the full 29 days. The RIB has a small cabin and a homemade wheelhouse, meaning the "indoor" space was little bigger than most cupboards... We had room for one crew member to sleep in the "ensuite" room... Although sleeping between tubes and above the WC might not be the luxury of a yacht it served its purpose. The other two crew slept above the steering wheel in the wheelhouse, not quite enough room to lay flat and not enough room to sit up straight.
Honestly though we had a great time!! The scenery and weather was amazing, the boat did amazingly, especially considering she has got a 26 year old sterndrive and 11 year old engine... Volvos were built to last!!!
In fact we loved it so much last year that two of us are returning this year. Again living aboard and perhaps crazily staying the full year including over wintering in Norway, travelling the coast line and raising some money for the RNLI and RS. If you'd like to see more about our past trip or future trip have a look at our blog...
www.papayarcticadventure.blogspot.co.uk
or email us on
papayarcticadventure@gmail.com

 

[rustybarge]

Hi All,

looks like like a fantastic adventure; is that a Redbay rib from n.Ireland?

i was considering a rib/wheelhouse myself but decided it was too small to travel in for more than a few days, so I bought a Cheetah 25' cat hull moulding instead. It should give me about 17' of covered area to live and still get 15kts/6mpg....

here's the hull with the alloy frame in place, the roof covering is going to be 3mm ally/poly sheets that are used on road signs which only weigh 10kg for a 8'by 4'.

there are very few of us 'tiny boaters' who are thinking 'I'd like to cruise a planing speed at affordable cost'. My target is a least 1nm to €1, hopefully!

 

[TQA]

An interesting thing to do.

BUT your Papay on blogspot is a good example of how not to do a blog. Truly horrible and it locked up my lappie as it tried to download it on my admittedly slow connection.

 

[rustybarge]

An interesting thing to do.

BUT your Papay on blogspot is a good example of how not to do a blog. Truly horrible and it locked up my lappie as it tried to download it on my admittedly slow connection.

Crashed my iPad too, that's pretty unusual !

 

[PapayArctic]

Sorry, will try to get that sorted

 

[ribrage]

In summer 2014 we took our 7.5m carson Rib from Orkney, Scotland to Norway and lived aboard. Needless to say the RIB was not designed as a live aboard boat... There were three crew aboard for the adventure and we all lived aboard for the full 29 days. The RIB has a small cabin and a homemade wheelhouse, meaning the "indoor" space was little bigger than most cupboards... We had room for one crew member to sleep in the "ensuite" room... Although sleeping between tubes and above the WC might not be the luxury of a yacht it served its purpose. The other two crew slept above the steering wheel in the wheelhouse, not quite enough room to lay flat and not enough room to sit up straight.
Honestly though we had a great time!! The scenery and weather was amazing, the boat did amazingly, especially considering she has got a 26 year old sterndrive and 11 year old engine... Volvos were built to last!!!
In fact we loved it so much last year that two of us are returning this year. Again living aboard and perhaps crazily staying the full year including over wintering in Norway, travelling the coast line and raising some money for the RNLI and RS. If you'd like to see more about our past trip or future trip have a look at our blog...
http://www.papayarcticadventure.blogspot.co.uk
or email us on
papayarcticadventure@gmail.com

Papay

quite an an adventure you have planned, as the retired owner of a 10 m ocean dynamics (hence my name) I wish you well , I've worked out of Hammmerfest for several months and in the Barents Sea in winter for a Norwegian company , as I recall the lack of sun light is pretty demoralising, the cold you can prepare for, we used bear suits and commercial dry suits over the top , but it still feels cold, we had a mother vessel to return too for heat , sleep and food .

I favour white sand over snow and hugging palm trees instead of heaters,reading the blog it sounds like your well prepared but if you want any info or help send me a personal message on here

good luck

 

[Cardo]

Whilst it all sounds very exciting, there is a big difference to "living" on a boat for a month during the summer, and living on a boat over an entire winter. Especially in cold weather. That's going to be miserable.

But good luck to you!

 

[vyv_cox]

In the eastern Mediterranean we see a large number of RIBs kitted out for living aboard, many with well built canvas cuddys in the forward part but some with attractive grp equivalents. People seem to live aboard them for several weeks at a time. Always looks like good fun to us, if we were a lot younger we might well have one.

 

[ribrage]

In the eastern Mediterranean we see a large number of RIBs kitted out for living aboard, many with well built canvas cuddys in the forward part but some with attractive grp equivalents. People seem to live aboard them for several weeks at a time. Always looks like good fun to us, if we were a lot younger we might well have one.

Yes your right I'd forgotten about those boats in Greece ... Now that would be fun, but as vyv says a young persons game , I'd never stand back up again , at least my work boats now all have air suspended seats ... I feel old !

 

[OldBawley]

Guess half of those Greeks ribs are for sale now. The typical young Greek family owning one of those island hoppers can´t afford the fuel anymore.
Met an Athens bloke who did all the Aegean islands in summer. Told me he rented two apartments out and lived in summer mostly from fishing ( Learned some tricks from him ) and doing some occasional work on Greek super yachts.

He just flashed to the next island in an hour, where it took me always most of the day.
Haven't seen him for two summers now.
Now no more work and nobody pays rent. Anarchy.

 

[Davy_S]

I observed a Swedish family on an inflatable catamaran a couple of years ago, the cat was about 20ft long, there were two adults and their little girl, aged about six or seven. They had spent several weeks in the sunshine, island hopping, they rigged a boom tent for sleeping arrangements and used Taverna showers and loo facilities. Yes it was basic but they seemed to be having a great holiday as a family, it must have been a very educational trip for the child! They had packed everything up into their estate car and driven to Lefkas.
They could not have survived a British summer!

 

[Artic Warrior]

I was contemplating this as an adventure last couple of years,,,,
With the Yanmar power plant it works out cheap too as the rib is light weight,,,
I bought a Glastron 249 gs diesel instead as has headroom/shower etc (which is up for sale now)

Well done for doing it,,,good luck

 

[PapayArctic]

Hi Rustybarge,
It is actually a Carson RIB, I believe they stopped making RIBs in the very late 90's early 00's, Barry Carson built Quickstep with a step in the hull and she held the record for the fastest crossing between Dover and Boulogne back in 1999.
That looks like a interesting project, offers a lot of comfort. I do like Ribs for their added reassurance of buoyancy but they lack the space yours has. What sort of engine will you go for?
Looks great!

 

[rustybarge]

Hi Rustybarge,
It is actually a Carson RIB, I believe they stopped making RIBs in the very late 90's early 00's, Barry Carson built Quickstep with a step in the hull and she held the record for the fastest crossing between Dover and Boulogne back in 1999.
That looks like a interesting project, offers a lot of comfort. I do like Ribs for their added reassurance of buoyancy but they lack the space yours has. What sort of engine will you go for?
Looks great!

Engines are a big dilemma, as Sean from Cheetah recommends twins but said that many fishermen use singles with a little standby for emergencies.

here's my choice:
suzuki 90hp lean burn (1500cc) £8k would give the best economy 20% better than twins, but what happens when you're 20 miles offshore and your engine stops? 20kts cruise.
Mercury 90hp (2100cc) £7500, but how economical are yank engines?
twin 40 hp Honda at £4500 each to give 15 kts cruise.
twin 50hp Suzuki at £6000 each.....yikes!

i have nearly saved up the money for purchase; But which combination?

 

[PapayArctic]

I'm sure everyone will have their own opinion and everyone will think their own opinion is right...
Personally we like the idea of a twin installation if possible especially when one is still capable at pushing at a reasonable speed, but there is a significant increase in cost!
Also we are biased because we are in a fairly remote area and with help far away it can be easier to help yourself, so with a twin its much more reassuring, although we have one main engine and a much less powerful auxiliary but if we were building new we would always try to go for twin.
Could you possibly save costs by buying one new and one second hand? That way you would have the confidence in the new outboard and the savings with the second hand one.
We wish we could have 1nm to a euro!
We are experimenting with various options that might help us, look at our blog in the summer and see how we get on!!

 

[rustybarge]

Here's the fuel figures for a comparable American boat of the same weight.
US gals, so add 20% to mpg figures; looks like 6 mpg is just possible.

https://mercurymarine-gsdesign1.net...urstroke_-_premier_solaris_250_-_spitfire.pdf