small rib tender

F

FirstLady

Member
Joined
26 May 2008
Messages
36
Location
Essex
Visit site
Hi all,

My trusty Plastimo 22o inflatable is finally on its last legs after many seasons of use. I am looking to replace her with a rib tender- and was looking at the Zodiac & Plastimo offerings. I definately want a solid hull and not the inflatable 'airdeck' type. Any comments or suggestions as to a good choice? The plastimo Pri240v looks to be a favourite at less than £800.
 
I had a Zodic 320, very happy with the quality of it apart from I managed to wear a hole through the bottom after dragging it up to many beaches.

I've rather foolishly replaced it with an Avon lite rib which I'm so disapointed with I'm considering sticking it in a skip.
 
OK in comparrison with the Zoiac which I think is similarly priced.

Wooden oars held on with elastic. Crap oars, pop out of brackets too easily and when shipped bounce out when motoring along

Transom is at an angle. OK may be a good feature but requires adjusting motor for trim whereas most transoms are vertical. If not adjustde boat will run very nose down by default.

Self bailing hole is 1 inch above the floor which is just crazy.

Tubes seem to loose air. Pumped up twice now in 2 months compared to once in 4 years

Is not as rigid as the Zodiac. Really feels like the tubes bounce on every wave.

Very shallow V or lower tubes. Not sure but tubes now catch badly when winching in/out of garage.

Eye for attaching winch strap is tiny and not up to the job of pulling boat out of water. Suspect this will get pulled out at some point.

I'm sure it's leaking water somewhere slowly but may just be my tears.

My fault for getting carried away with trying to find the lightest rib possible so can carry up beach.
On plus side I did get fitted with drop down wheels which has meant one person can launch retrieve on a sandy beach with 8hp motor. Wish I'd bought a new Zodiac with wheels.

I bought Avon as I'd asked other owners for their opinion. In comparrison to Zodiac (part of the same group) they are 3rd rate. Avoid.
 
Blimey. I went down the Airdeck route, instead of the Avon RibLite. But I've been thinking that was the wrong decision for me, so was again looking at the Avon.

Seems I'd better look at the Zodiac................

Thanks for the post.
 
Adrian, I see you have a T52 so you'll be winching in like me.

The Zodiac was double skinned, I really liked this as you get a flat floor and may explain why it felt more rigid. I suspect that being double skinned means the laminate is thinner and this may have caused me to wear a hole through the bottom rather quickly after 2 years of use. This is compounded by winching up over a roller on the stern. At one point most of the boats weight is supported on one roller and often I could here the laminate splinter as the condition deteriorated. You may have a better roller system on your targa or possibly I'd just worn through the bottom after dragging up beaches or maybe the Zodiac laminate was too thin.

Anyway, upshot was I'd decided to go back to a single skin rib to avoid above.
 
The rib lite is very much designed for a purpose, so you can put it in a bag like a windsurfer and carry it on the roof rack or on the deck of a sailing yacht. It has a moulded polythene hull, rather than a laid up GRP one, and as you say it's single skin, so far less rigid. It isn't in any way designed for performance, so has a shallow V. It's biggest weakness as far as i can see, is that it has no real advantages over an inflatable hull, except I suppose that the hull can't be punctured.

I had one for a couple of years and, accepting it's limitations, was happy enough with it. I agree with you about Avon's oars though, they are atrocious, and they insist on using them across the range!
 
I have a jet-ski in the T52's garage, with the Airdeck deflated in the engine room.
During the winter months I have been storing the jetski at home, and using the boat garage to store the airdeck inflated. My idea was to see if the Avon RibLite would fit on it's side, at one side of the jetski, in the T52's garage. The airdeck is a pain, and the faffing about with the o/b, for those times it's needed. Even if I find something, I'll still have the faffing with the o/b ! A rigid bottom is much better, as we all know.

Will have a look at the Walker Bay's to see if they do something compact.

Life's full of compromises!
 
What is a WB?

Adrian, I looked at the walker but ruled out on weight.

If you want to buy a lightly used riblite I know where you can get one for a good price!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top