Used higher quality SIB/RIB vs new cheapie

[simko]

Good evening everyone.
I want an inflatable boat that my wife and I can enjoy, very rarely, there may be a third passenger. This boat would be used for cruising around the shore of lake erie in SW Ontario, Canada, and may be used in northern ontario on small lakes, I would also use it for some fishing. My family has a larger 17' fishing boat which my dad uses, and luckily for me, he has a couple of spare 4 stroke portable outboards that I can have, a honda 2.5 horse, and a 5hp if i rememvber correctly. To be honest, i would not be against purchasing a larger outboard in the future.

Anyways, I have a small car (a 4 door honda civic) which would be used for trasnporting said boat, I am leaning towards an inflatable with an inflatable floor, unless i could easily transport a RIB without a trailer? (unsure if a honda civic can tow an inflatable on trailer), driving to the lake will take me about 1 hour each way, driving approx 100km/h on the highway.

Anyways, there are plenty of inflatables on the second hand market and I see a variety of brands: Zodiac, Achilles, Avon, AB etc etc. I would prefer to buy a higher quality boat, and I THINK i would prefer a hypalon boat, however my question is this:

When i view used boats online, i have NO idea how they were stored, are they uncovered and left in the sun for years, or were they kept inside etc etc.... I have seen some members recommend saturn as an inflatable and there is a dealer around 2 hours away from me, with decently priced boats (https://saturninflatableboats.ca/11-saturn-inflatable-boat.html). A brand new boat (of lesser quality some will say) is quite inexpensive here, I have access to a free motor which should move me and my wife when on relatively calm water.
Should I be looking at the used boats over something I linked above? Can a RIB hull boat be transported easily with a small car with the tubes deflated? Am I a fool to consider an inflatable catamaran which saturn also offers? Please point me in the right direction!

thannks for your help, and congratulations , you're done reading my post !

 

[Sea Rider]

Hello,

Which boating activity do you plan using the Sib for ?

Answering your post :

-Saturn are nice inflatables, there's other brand aside from Saturn located in Canada named Sea Bright Inflatables, both have their own web pages, inflatables with air decks are way faster to inflate than assemble/disassemble an alum floor Sib each time will be used.

-Hypalon inflatables are usually purchased for all year round use at the tropics where higher UV radiation punishment is found. PVC fabric now a days have evolved in terms of quality and duration, besides costs near half of the Hypalon fabric.

-Minimum size you shoud go for should be a 320/330 with an air deck, handles 4 souls for transport use as tenders, 2 comfy for other recreational purposes in which extra deck space is a must have. With a 5 HP will only achieve fast displacement speed at best, A 2.5 HP it's much better than rowing, nothing else.

-A Rib won't be posible to store and transport with a Honda Civic as can't be disassembled in pieces as any alum floor Sib. If budget is not an issue, buy new if like boating, second hand on line ones without standing right next to any of the offered ones could render in buying a Pandora inflatable costly to repair huge mistake.

Recap, 3 PVC fabric to choose from 1/320, 1/330, 1/330W all threee with high pressure air decks. Check sizes for comparison : You decide !!

Happy Boating

 

[simko]

Hello,

Which boating activity do you plan using the Sib for ?

Answering your post :

-Saturn are nice inflatables, there's other brand aside from Saturn located in Canada named Sea Bright Inflatables, both have their own web pages, inflatables with air decks are way faster to inflate than assemble/disassemble an alum floor Sib each time will be used.

-Hypalon inflatables are usually purchased for all year round use at the tropics where higher UV radiation punishment is found. PVC fabric now a days have evolved in terms of quality and duration, besides costs near half of the Hypalon fabric.

-Minimum size you shoud go for should be a 320/330 with an air deck, handles 4 souls for transport use as tenders, 2 comfy for other recreational purposes in which extra deck space is a must have. With a 5 HP will only achieve fast displacement speed at best, A 2.5 HP it's much better than rowing, nothing else.

-A Rib won't be posible to store and transport with a Honda Civic as can't be disassembled in pieces as any alum floor Sib. If budget is not an issue, buy new if like boating, second hand on line ones without standing right next to any of the offered ones could render in buying a Pandora inflatable costly to repair huge mistake.

Recap, 3 PVC fabric to choose from 1/320, 1/330, 1/330W all threee with high pressure air decks. Check sizes for comparison : You decide !!

Happy Boating

Hi Searider thanks for ryour reply
The boat would be mainly used for putting around the shore for short rides, and a bit of fishing (boating to a spot, shutting off the motor and still fishing). Mainly on small lakes, and the shore of lake erie.
I have not heard of sea bright but they have some good models, with fair prices! I see they also offer hypalon equivalents. Thinking a bit more, I bet a PVC boat would be fine for me as I would imagine only using the boat on weekends, likely leaving it inflated the whole weekend while it is in use, and then at the end of the weekend drying, deflating and packing the boat. If possible I would like to store the boat long term in its case in my basement.

For a saturn or seabright boat, the pvc equivalent of a 330 size boat, the price is basically the same, however the price goes up twofold for a hypalon.... Would a seabright hypalon boat rival a hypalon boat by AB, Avon, etc?

Looks like I would stick with the 5HP motor, or look towards something larger that I could still haul around myself.

 

[Sea Rider]

Now a days most reputed inflatable manufacturers use German Mehler PVC fabrics or French, Candian if not mistaken Hypalon fabrics, as you have seen the cost of the Hypalon is near double than of PVC. You can cut with a sharp knife any standard Hypalon tube, to maintain costs down usually employ thinner Hypalon fabrics than PVC counterparts in the small size range. Check if any of the mentioned models ara assembled with 1.2 mm PVC fabric.

The Saturn 330W is a nice fishing, potting around alternative, but being wider will achieve extra hull drag with a 5 HP when more throttle is applied, that model needs at least a 10 HP to have fun. If the sun worries you, by a bottle of Aerospace 303 Protectant, excellent product to take care of sun punishment which in your area is way less than in the tropics.

In the good old days, everybody manufactured inflatables Sibs-Ribs with the original Hypalon fabric made by Dupont, no more, other Companies as Pennel Orca has taken the post to keep manufacturing Hypalon due to a probable commercial agreement between both parties ? If plan going for an air deck Sib will need to buy a double action foot or hand pump to inflate the tubes and air deck as well. Any other thing that need to know, simply ask...

Happy Boating

 

[Sea Eagle Mark]

Hi simko, as always, Sea Rider gave some excellent advice. I almost bought a Saturn sib myself but settled on a Sea Eagle 12.6 sib. We have a Tohatsu 6hp and easily I've touched 13+knots by myself and 9+knots with wife and gear. 5hp will be fine, (especially if it's free) much lighter and uses way less gas. Just MHO,

 

[simko]

Now a days most reputed inflatable manufacturers use German Mehler PVC fabrics or French, Candian if not mistaken Hypalon fabrics, as you have seen the cost of the Hypalon is near double than of PVC. You can cut with a sharp knife any standard Hypalon tube, to maintain costs down usually employ thinner Hypalon fabrics than PVC counterparts in the small size range. Check if any of the mentioned models ara assembled with 1.2 mm PVC fabric.

The Saturn 330W is a nice fishing, potting around alternative, but being wider will achieve extra hull drag with a 5 HP when more throttle is applied, that model needs at least a 10 HP to have fun. If the sun worries you, by a bottle of Aerospace 303 Protectant, excellent product to take care of sun punishment which in your area is way less than in the tropics.

In the good old days, everybody manufactured inflatables Sibs-Ribs with the original Hypalon fabric made by Dupont, no more, other Companies as Pennel Orca has taken the post to keep manufacturing Hypalon due to a probable commercial agreement between both parties ? If plan going for an air deck Sib will need to buy a double action foot or hand pump to inflate the tubes and air deck as well. Any other thing that need to know, simply ask...

Happy Boating

HI Searider
thanks again for your advice. I as you mentioned the hypalon (and even pvc) from seabright's supplier are thinner (0.9mm) compared to saturn's pvc (1.2mm) Unsure if the thickness is maintained on all portions of the boat, perhaps the websites list the thickest portions to sound more appealing. I mistakenly linked the wide boat and would likely go for the standard length.

Thank you for mentioning the 303 protectant, I will be getting some of this as I own many things that would benefit (outdoor stored canoe), patio furniture etc.

Luckily for me, I realize one of the available motors to me is a 6hp merc, not a 5! Not sure what that extra horse gets me, but I'll take it

Generic question: A family friend regailed me with a story of their old inflatable (they no longer own it) , branded "inmar". I did some googling, then checked the used market and i see that other than the big names (Avon, Zodiac, etc.) There are a TON of generic looking boats with different badges slapped on them, and I saw a boat marketed as "seamarine" or something like that which was identical to an inmar offering..... School the rookie here..... are a lot of these boats bought from the same supplier (MAYBE China) then dropp shipped here and rebadged with a local businesses name, then sold from a retail front?

 

[simko]

Hi simko, as always, Sea Rider gave some excellent advice. I almost bought a Saturn sib myself but settled on a Sea Eagle 12.6 sib. We have a Tohatsu 6hp and easily I've touched 13+knots by myself and 9+knots with wife and gear. 5hp will be fine, (especially if it's free) much lighter and uses way less gas. Just MHO,

Hi Mark
thanks for the vote of confidence, luckily I got an extra 1 horse as the motor is a 6, not a 5. Pleasant surprise.

 

[Sea Rider]

You're welcome Simko,

Have you checked with Sea Bright if their German PVC 0.9 mm fabric is the gauge being used on their 320 Sibs, it is stated on their web page ? There are German 1.2 heavy duty fabrics that costs bit more and resists more sun punishment and fabric abrasions as well, ideal if will be used year round as yacht tenders, water transports, etc.

A 6 HP motor is better than a 5HP, has slight more CC in comparison which will push much better and probably plane a 320 Sib with 2-3 up, will depend on the weight of each passenger. My 2 strokes 5 HP motor won't plane my 320 Sib with 2 up, but will plane a 380 with same 2 up. A larger size Sib which is wider and with larger diam tubes accounts for less water drag and consequently will be on its way to plane much faster at full throttle.

Those high quality reputed mentioned brands costs much more. The low end portable Zodiac Sibs used to be build with standard 0.9 mm PVC fabric, the Avon brand with thinner Hypalon to reduce the cost. Now a days most if not all the other brands are assembled in PRCH, as all, there's high quality and so-so brands manufacturers, can assemble whatever floats with your name or logo which is what most boat dealers go for.

Happy Boating

 

[simko]

SR
Looks to me like the 0.9mm is used on the 320 and 380... didnt check the other boats
http://www.seabrightmarine.ca/sd330.html

Interesting point about larger sib tube diameter and drag! The increased size makes it heavier for me but that really gives me a lot more to think about

 

[Sea Rider]

Better write Seabright direct and ask them, their web page only states German Mehler PVC 7318 for both don't have a clue which fabric gauge that number stands for ? the min used is 0.9 and that number could be ?

Do you plan boating by yourself, if not a 380 it's much better option, running an underpowered motor will need to go for a prop maximization to pull wot revs towards the motor's max wot rpm range factory stated. My 5 HP motor has a maximized less propp pitch which marks a huge water performance difference, which can be addressed later.

Happy Boating

 

[Romans5.8]

Keep in mind fuel tank and the ability to store the outboard.
Many of the larger outboards require an external fuel tank which is one more thing to pack into your car and take out. Is the 5hp model you have access to one with a built in fuel tank?

 

[Sea Rider]

Keep in mind fuel tank and the ability to store the outboard.
Many of the larger outboards require an external fuel tank which is one more thing to pack into your car and take out. Is the 5hp model you have access to one with a built in fuel tank?

Oh C'mon those portable motor with built in fuel tanks doesn't have a fuel gauge to know how much fuel is left in the tank, so will need to carry a spare portable fuel tank. You wouldn't want to be left stranded without fuel drifting to Bermuda...

A larger motor 6 and up it's much better than any 5 HP still are consider portable with an extra CC which is higly desirable.

Happy Boating