Need a new rescue boat
Discussion
I'm looking for a new rescue boat for my sailing club. Have to admit that when it comes to boats with engines I'm a bit lost so thought I'd ask the PH collective.
Right..
It needs to have a shallow draft as it will be used exclusively on the river.
It needs to have a low freeboad to allow easy rescue.
It needs to be robust as it will be used by up to 60 people. Some with good boat handling skills and some, well....
In an ideal world it needs to be able to run in almost zero depth of water.
It needs to be light enough to be recovered on a trailer / trolley.
No longer than 18 ft long.
Ribs are not the best solution as there are obstacles to negotiate and concrete piles to rub along.
Price? Dunno TBH.
Any thoughts or ideas?
Cheers.
Right..
It needs to have a shallow draft as it will be used exclusively on the river.
It needs to have a low freeboad to allow easy rescue.
It needs to be robust as it will be used by up to 60 people. Some with good boat handling skills and some, well....
In an ideal world it needs to be able to run in almost zero depth of water.
It needs to be light enough to be recovered on a trailer / trolley.
No longer than 18 ft long.
Ribs are not the best solution as there are obstacles to negotiate and concrete piles to rub along.
Price? Dunno TBH.
Any thoughts or ideas?
Cheers.
Shameless plug for my boat currently on eBay.
Actually though I honestly think you'll struggle to find something which meets your requirements any better....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Boston-Whaler-SuperSport-15-...
Cheers - Nick
Actually though I honestly think you'll struggle to find something which meets your requirements any better....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Boston-Whaler-SuperSport-15-...
Cheers - Nick
Edited by NicoG on Thursday 11th November 10:08
How about a Pioner Multi? http://www.pionerboats.co.uk/59/Pioner-Multi
Been looking at one myself as a small dive boat/fishing, day boat. Rotamoulded plastic (like a wheely bin) so tough as, well... a wheely bin and can be fixed with a hot air gun if you ding it, has a bow ramp so Zero freeboard for recovering people/parts from water if required and very strong and buoyant like a RIB.
BEN
Been looking at one myself as a small dive boat/fishing, day boat. Rotamoulded plastic (like a wheely bin) so tough as, well... a wheely bin and can be fixed with a hot air gun if you ding it, has a bow ramp so Zero freeboard for recovering people/parts from water if required and very strong and buoyant like a RIB.
BEN
Note sure how you're going to go with one that'll run in near zero water other than a jet boat!
We run a couple of Rigiflex New Matic boats (a 360 and 370)
They're bullet proof and cheap as chips!
http://www.rigiflexboats.co.uk/RigiflexRange.html
I think we've got a 20hp on ane and 25hp on the other.
We run a couple of Rigiflex New Matic boats (a 360 and 370)
They're bullet proof and cheap as chips!
http://www.rigiflexboats.co.uk/RigiflexRange.html
I think we've got a 20hp on ane and 25hp on the other.
I can help here!
I supply Pioner boats, Jeanneau Rigiflex Boats and various RIB’s. All would do the job. The plastic Pioner and Rigiflex boats will be very tough and will have very little draft. You’ll struggle to break one and if they ever were damaged they can be plastic welded back up (which we can do here). Very practical boats.
The other option I’d look at would be something like the Avon Searider 4m. A very tough little RIB with a flooding hull to add water ballast and therefore improve stability. They do a 4.7m, a 5.4m and larger, but the 4m Searider is a classic and a really fantastic boat. They sit very low in the water when at rest meaning they’re stable and making it easy to pull people in over the side. When up on the plane, the water drains from the inner hull and they ride up on top of the water, just like any other RIB so they have very little draft. They come standard with a drain sock, heavy duty non slip decking, centre jockey console and heavy duty rubbing strake around the tubes and over the top where you’d generally be pulling people in over the top. The Searider 4m will take up to a 50hp engine so it’s very fast too which makes it good fun, however, if it’s being used by 60 people I’d run it with a 30hp, it will still plane but would go like a bat out of hell! It’s worth knowing that from now on, Seariders will actually now be branded as Zodiac Seariders, not Avons, although the design hasn’t changed.
These 3 boats are the only boats we ever supply to sailing clubs. We supply loads of sailing clubs around the country so have quite a lot of experience in this area. Drop me an email if you’d like anymore detailed information, or would like to talk about pricing. Are you looking for new or used?
We’ve recently supplied a local sailing club with some new Seariders and we took their old boats in as part exchanges, although these are now sold. We also replaced a few Rigiflex’s recently too, again their used boats sold very quickly. Avoid jet boats!! Definitely not suitable for a sailing club. You can’t rev them in shallow water as they suck up the grit and stones which causes no end of problems. Without revving them they have no steerage which means they’re not manoeuvrable at all in shallow water. With an outboard engine you have the whole engine in the water to act as a rudder even if the engine is idling. Jet units are temperamental when not used and maintained properly, they’re inefficient and take a lot of getting used to – something which isn’t ideal if 60 people are using them.
I supply Pioner boats, Jeanneau Rigiflex Boats and various RIB’s. All would do the job. The plastic Pioner and Rigiflex boats will be very tough and will have very little draft. You’ll struggle to break one and if they ever were damaged they can be plastic welded back up (which we can do here). Very practical boats.
The other option I’d look at would be something like the Avon Searider 4m. A very tough little RIB with a flooding hull to add water ballast and therefore improve stability. They do a 4.7m, a 5.4m and larger, but the 4m Searider is a classic and a really fantastic boat. They sit very low in the water when at rest meaning they’re stable and making it easy to pull people in over the side. When up on the plane, the water drains from the inner hull and they ride up on top of the water, just like any other RIB so they have very little draft. They come standard with a drain sock, heavy duty non slip decking, centre jockey console and heavy duty rubbing strake around the tubes and over the top where you’d generally be pulling people in over the top. The Searider 4m will take up to a 50hp engine so it’s very fast too which makes it good fun, however, if it’s being used by 60 people I’d run it with a 30hp, it will still plane but would go like a bat out of hell! It’s worth knowing that from now on, Seariders will actually now be branded as Zodiac Seariders, not Avons, although the design hasn’t changed.
These 3 boats are the only boats we ever supply to sailing clubs. We supply loads of sailing clubs around the country so have quite a lot of experience in this area. Drop me an email if you’d like anymore detailed information, or would like to talk about pricing. Are you looking for new or used?
We’ve recently supplied a local sailing club with some new Seariders and we took their old boats in as part exchanges, although these are now sold. We also replaced a few Rigiflex’s recently too, again their used boats sold very quickly. Avoid jet boats!! Definitely not suitable for a sailing club. You can’t rev them in shallow water as they suck up the grit and stones which causes no end of problems. Without revving them they have no steerage which means they’re not manoeuvrable at all in shallow water. With an outboard engine you have the whole engine in the water to act as a rudder even if the engine is idling. Jet units are temperamental when not used and maintained properly, they’re inefficient and take a lot of getting used to – something which isn’t ideal if 60 people are using them.
scubadude said:
How about a Pioner Multi? http://www.pionerboats.co.uk/59/Pioner-Multi
Been looking at one myself as a small dive boat/fishing, day boat. Rotamoulded plastic (like a wheely bin) so tough as, well... a wheely bin and can be fixed with a hot air gun if you ding it, has a bow ramp so Zero freeboard for recovering people/parts from water
Neat idea! Wet limp people are heavy.Been looking at one myself as a small dive boat/fishing, day boat. Rotamoulded plastic (like a wheely bin) so tough as, well... a wheely bin and can be fixed with a hot air gun if you ding it, has a bow ramp so Zero freeboard for recovering people/parts from water
I saw something in Weymouth over the summer which I thought would make the perfect rescue boat. Very similar to the Jeanneau Rigiflex, but a bit bigger, with the console tucked very well aft to stbd, and a big "landing craft" style ramp up front. This seemed ideal for a number of reasons…
-Perfect for getting an unconscious/injured casualty in and out, none of this over the sponsons stuff
-Dry inside (we operate Avon Seariders and if anyone did need to lie in the bottom while you got them back, they are probably in 2" of water)
-Plenty room for aforementioned casualty to be in recovery position
-Moulded so pretty much bomb proof…with the ramp you could just beach it
-Lots of room for carrying/moving racing marks, ramp makes for very easy deployment/recovery
-Very easy to pick up windsurfers/canoes
-Easy access for disabled sailors/drivers?
Disadvantages would be lack of fendering (easily sorted) and I doubt it would handle big breeze as well as a Searider as they are very good at that.
Anyone know what it might have been?
-Perfect for getting an unconscious/injured casualty in and out, none of this over the sponsons stuff
-Dry inside (we operate Avon Seariders and if anyone did need to lie in the bottom while you got them back, they are probably in 2" of water)
-Plenty room for aforementioned casualty to be in recovery position
-Moulded so pretty much bomb proof…with the ramp you could just beach it
-Lots of room for carrying/moving racing marks, ramp makes for very easy deployment/recovery
-Very easy to pick up windsurfers/canoes
-Easy access for disabled sailors/drivers?
Disadvantages would be lack of fendering (easily sorted) and I doubt it would handle big breeze as well as a Searider as they are very good at that.
Anyone know what it might have been?
Thank you all. TBH out of all the suggestions the Pioner looks like the best bet. Regarding Ribs, we borrowed one once. Someone managed to ram it hard into the concrete shuttering along the bank, mount the bank and burst a compartment so we've sort of ruled out ribs. We currently have a Jeanneau, a Dory and an Oyster (Small whaler type gig). The Dory's 30 or so years old and has seen better days which is the one we're looking at replacing. The Jeanneau is fairly new and TBH hated by many. The Oyster is great for towing capsized boats and storing marks.
danyeates, I'll drop you a note over the next week or so if we start to move ahead with our ideas.
danyeates, I'll drop you a note over the next week or so if we start to move ahead with our ideas.
shouldbworking said:
Snoggledog said:
Regarding Ribs, we borrowed one once. Someone managed to ram it hard into the concrete shuttering along the bank, mount the bank and burst a compartment so we've sort of ruled out ribs.
Clearly the boat is at fault there 
. How dare it not be able to cope with people who are unable to use it properly.And therein lies one of the problems. People using boats with engines who are simply incapable of working something that's less complicated than the car they arrived in. The number of shafts we've gone through because people slam it from full ahead to full reverse is mind bogling.
What would be really nice is a drive unit that has no drive shafts or moving parts for idiots to abuse / run aground / damage.
Here's something a bit different, you can put an outboard on the back as well by the looks of it.
http://www.argoatv.com/recreational/applications.a...
http://www.argoatv.com/recreational/applications.a...
Part of the problem with sailing club rescue / support and comtittee boats is the fact many clubs rely on volunteers to run the racing from the racing membership ...
I dread to think what the costs would be to used paid staff to run racing, especially as the officer of the Day would be taking accountability as an employee for running the whole show ( what's the casual rate for RYA Senior Instructor these days ... ),the assistants and rescue boat crew would probably be minimum wage roles unless they were also employed as instructors / coaches and held the relevant tickets ... but I can see it doubling or tripling subscriptiosn and also closing the water when there isn't the paid staff on site ( like some of the Resevoir based superclubs) - vs those clubs who have 24/7/365 access to their water ... and often sail on the buddy system or have ad hoc rescue rotas for certain other times of the week ( plus stuff like where schools sailing shares the water and club there's the cover on weekday afternoons and weekends for that activity
I dread to think what the costs would be to used paid staff to run racing, especially as the officer of the Day would be taking accountability as an employee for running the whole show ( what's the casual rate for RYA Senior Instructor these days ... ),the assistants and rescue boat crew would probably be minimum wage roles unless they were also employed as instructors / coaches and held the relevant tickets ... but I can see it doubling or tripling subscriptiosn and also closing the water when there isn't the paid staff on site ( like some of the Resevoir based superclubs) - vs those clubs who have 24/7/365 access to their water ... and often sail on the buddy system or have ad hoc rescue rotas for certain other times of the week ( plus stuff like where schools sailing shares the water and club there's the cover on weekday afternoons and weekends for that activity
Simpo Two said:
mph1977 said:
Part of the problem with sailing club rescue / support and comtittee boats is the fact many clubs rely on volunteers to run the racing from the racing membership ...
Sure, but racetrack marshals are volunteers as well. Free doesn't have to mean incompetent.the problem is the comparision between marshalling and doing committee / safety boat boat duties there isn't a cast of people who can't afford to race who marshal to be involved with the whole shebang ... a lot more people can own a 'competitive at club level' boat than can compete in club level motorsport.
you can find a decent enough for club level dinghy for under a grand
http://sailingdinghies.apolloduck.co.uk/
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/community/classif...
less than 200 gbp for a full set of decent clothing inc wetsuits etc
maybe 150 -200 gbp a year for club membership ... i don't know what the going rate is for entry fees for open meetings these days but i'd be suprised if it's much above 20-30 gbp
plenty of opportunities to crew or helm for people who own a boat - so that cuts out the cost of the boat and often reduces your club membership fees as the boat owner pays the storage / water access fees - and it's not as suicidally daft as being a sidecar passenger ...
to draw a comparision with motorsport marshalling is unfortunate as the actual equivalent scenario would be that you have to marshal one race of your series for average points ...
yes there are clubs who pay rescue crews and there are clubs where for open meetings the other fleets will provide a very high quality committee and rescue boat crews but for for week in week out 2or 3 days a week ( fairly typically inland clubs will have a summer evenings season as well as planned activities and racing on the weekend ) it can be struggle to find high quality volunteers ...
when I was sailing I had nearly 40weeks of weekend racing a year and maybe 20 weeks of evening series ... in that i'/d be expected to do 2 or 3 duties for club racing and quite often i'd end up doing safety boat for open meetings as well because I was deemed to be fairly good at it by the sailing school principal and various committee members of the sailing club
I would question the validity of someone who is incapable of manouvering the boat with out hitting something being sent to the aid of someone in distress. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I ran rescue boats (coastal sailing) many years ago and it was a given that if you had not had training on the boat firstly as crew evolving to helm then you did not take command. The thought of kids in the water with an incapable helm putting a boat near them swinging a propellor doesn't bear thinking about.
Situations in a water rescue tend to deteriorate very quickly indeed and a level head is needed not a helm who is fiddling about with gears whilst wondering where the knife is kept to get the casualty out from under a turtle boat.
I ran rescue boats (coastal sailing) many years ago and it was a given that if you had not had training on the boat firstly as crew evolving to helm then you did not take command. The thought of kids in the water with an incapable helm putting a boat near them swinging a propellor doesn't bear thinking about.
Situations in a water rescue tend to deteriorate very quickly indeed and a level head is needed not a helm who is fiddling about with gears whilst wondering where the knife is kept to get the casualty out from under a turtle boat.
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