RIB Adventures🇮🇪 EP 1, 4K, Family adventure, Ireland beyond the beach. Nividic 550, Suzuki DF100 

Thank you Andrew. Ireland has many islands. I’m hoping I’ve bought one small enough to get on to those island beaches, and big enough to get us out there.

Thank you Barry. Life beyond the beach. Should be fun and if we fail in that it’s bound to be at least interesting 😄

“The fun arsenal” you read me well Miriam. Think that phrase pretty holistically describes my life goals around now. Those island beaches and hidden places won’t visit themselves, so we’ve gotta go and do it.

Thank you Paul. We will certainly do our best.

Opens up a whole new off-road chapter 😄

Hi Markus. I really appreciate the feedback and support for the content. In my situation I wanted to be able to physically handle the boat myself, not relying on kids or friends etc. I also wanted it to be easily trailerable, launchable and storable in the limited space I have at home. I especially wanted to be able to get on and off island beaches and to that end I want a really light boat of shallow draft so I can shove it around manually if it’s even half afloat. I really don’t want anything bigger that will get me in trouble in light surf on a beach landing if an anchor drags and I end up beam on etc. To that end size is of course a compromise but I am at 5.5m exactly where I want to be. I find it okay to get around with people but basically I will have to tell people where I want them all sat before attempting any manoeuvre such as anchoring, berthing or trailer recovery. The most I’ve had aboard is 3 adults and 4 kids and with the design of Ribs offering so much seating it was perfectly fine. With the 100hp it still did 29knots. With regard to the compartments they are basically not water tight. I use dry bags but of course with spare anchors and propellers space will always be a challenge. The compartments are self draining and not fitted with rubber seals, however this is the nature of aluminium design and for the beach landing model I think aluminium is best. Damage to the hull if I find a rock at slow speed is in all probability going to be purely aesthetic. Also at 400kg this hull is very easy for one man to push about one end at a time even if it’s started to dry out on an ebb tide etc. Ireland has many hundreds of islands that I would love to explore, not maybe as many as Finland but well over 500. Our Atlantic location is also quite exposed weather wise so the RIB hull format is very popular here because of its good handling when the weather turns and also it’s redundancy with multiple compartments. The other aspect though is that with kids, little fingers and manoeuvres against other boats or piers they are a nice low stress design. Injury is pretty unlikely once nobody finds the prop. A half tonne hard hull boat is constantly looking for little curious hands to catch out in any such manoeuvre. It’s also great for hauling little swimmers in and out of the water. Plenty more videos on the way. Let me know how you get on. Finland is a beautiful country for all this. 🚤

@@VISTATREKKER Hello Robin! And thank you for the thorough response! I got answers to exactly those user questions that you can't see from promotional images or manufacturer's drawings without test driving. It's also great to hear why you chose a boat of that size. Easy to handle from shore and trailer even alone, etc. And it was valuable to know about operating with multiple passengers as well as the usability and water resistance of storage spaces. Good point also about the safety of the RIB boat when operating with children during landings and similar situations. I was initially looking at even smaller boats around 4.5-5m, but this seems like a very good and hopefully positive compromise. I might be able to go see the same kind of boat equipped with a 100hp Tohatsu next week In Finland, in addition to the Baltic Sea coast, we have (according to Wikipedia) 187,888 lakes and, depending on the counting method, 75,818-178,947 islands, of which only 549 are permanently inhabited. And based on the Finnish everyman's right, you can land and camp on all of them, provided you do not go right up to someone's house or cabin, do not stay long, and clean up after yourself. Of course, this also often means dealing with shallow and rocky waters. So, a map and an echo sounder come in handy. In the Baltic Sea, we don't have the same kind of ocean swell / waves as you do in the Atlantic, but the sea and even the lakes can be quite harsh at times. The wave is shorter and sharper and sometimes can rise quite high. For instance, if you remember the Estonia disaster in 1994 Thanks again and have a great continuation of the boating and hiking season for you and your family. br. Markus

Not sure about weight but the limit is 100hp unlike the high field 540 which is 115. If you look at the transom area in the high field it’s more substantial but the hull weighs more. This is only 400kg. The welds on my hull are a thing of beauty. I can lie under the trailer and look at those welds and it relaxes my mind into a transcendental state they are so gorgeous. (As aluminium welding goes that is) The welding on the deck housings is of a lower standard. Where they are ground off to finish the welds you can see this work beneath the paint as the sun shines on it but it’s not immediately apparent in passing. It’s relatively complex metal work though and I guess moulded fibreglass will always be more polished. Ironically though the utilitarian look is all part of the appeal to me though. I’m glad this thing looks like it’s here to do a job. The high field has a deeper V which I would have preferred but the hull welding often looks shoddy and lumpy. It may just be that the deeper v is harder to form in plate metal. In any case this hull was the only aluminium hull available here. The finish of the workshop who assembles the final package is also a consideration of course. You might wish to view their work before you decide. Aluminium is a great material. Light. Tough. Durable. 100% recyclable. The last bit was specifically important to me.

Nice, was just watching your video on it. I think this 5.5m size range is the Goldilocks zone. Small enough to bounce along the road without much difficulty, easy to launch, room for 8-10 of a family group, easy to beach, just all round good craic as we say over here. Best of luck with your purchase. When do you expect delivery?

@@VISTATREKKER Delivery should be early to mid January. Going to rig it myself so that timescale will suit me well

@@boatingsibbingandwandering3262 oh wow, I’d love to do that some day. Wrecks me head looking at the work of someone who was pushing for a delivery deadline instead of the way you might do it for yourself. I don’t really have the know how at this point though, electrics especially, I just had visions of another summer slipping by so bit the bullet on this one.

Hi Tomas. This is my first experience of a RIB of this size. I have used mostly smaller tiller RIBS or 8m jet boats so I haven’t a great deal to compare it to in this 5.5m range. Personally I have found it good, if you look at Network Offshore episode 5 you will see good footage of it in relatively rough seas. On that day it was perfectly dry. It’s impressive how much this boat can carry because it’s so light. I’ve been out with three adults and four kids and it was making 29knots with the 100hp in choppy seas. I was happy enough with that.

@@VISTATREKKER Thanks for your answer, it's very helpful. Those 29 knots are great!, Keep enjoying your Boat!

No problem. Looking forward to a flat calm day to see what she’ll do then. Let me know when you pick a boat. Will be interesting to compare.