F-Ribs And Sibs - Inflatable Boat Community

I'm missing my Honwave T40 already.....and I'm looking into getting another SIB to keep at home.

Mission profile:

Be light enough to lift in and out of my RAV4 solo, and light enough for one person to get it down to the water (I'm thinking launching wheels).

Big enough to carry 2 people with a bit of gear in relative comfort.

Be capable of trips out to the Farnes

I'd prefer to keep the outboard and associated fuel out of the car, so this may have to go in a roof box. That will limit weight and HP

Or.....do I bite the bullet and trailer.

Dominicpriestley wrote: Be light enough to lift in and out of my RAV4 solo, and light enough for one person to get it down to the water (I'm thinking launching wheels)

We have a heavy 15 foot boat and I was able to get it in and out of our minivan by myself with it deflated and folded up by lifting it end-over-end into the vehicle. Worked very well. Not sure if your bumper is low enough though. In this manner, you're only lifting half the weight at a time. We now have a trailer and am very thankful for it.

I still use a cheap furniture mover shoulder harness attached to the front along with transom wheels to launch the boat. It's even fully loaded without passengers when I do this. The harness puts the weight straight down through your shoulders instead of onto your arms and back. Works awesome.

Something like the Honwave t32ie would suit, big enough for 2 people plus a bit of kit , small enough to pack up into your Rav, it's just a case of what size engine you could manage, I'm using a Suzuki 15hp with mine , but this would be too heavy to get onto roof, so your probably looking at around a 6hp, but performance won't be great,

My advise would be to trailer it if possible

Honwave t32ie is around 37kg. That should be an easy enough lift.

I'm in the fortunate (or unfortunate depending how you look at it) position of looking to change my car shortly. I could tailor the choice of new vehicle to SIB use. I could even get a van.

How do you find the 20hp for lifting? Is it a 4stroke?

The T32 is an impeccable SIB, but if you can manage the T38ie weight/size/price, it really is q completely different craft to the T32ie.
The T38ie2 weighs in at 44kg, the early version (t38ie) weighs in at 48kg.
The Suzuki DF15/DF20 efi both weigh in at 44kg and are superbly fast,economical and reliable.

Martin

Dominicpriestley wrote: How do you find the 20hp for lifting? Is it a 4stroke?

It is 115lbs or 52kg. Use to be my wife and I grabbing either end to move it around but it was cumbersome. Both of us would need to bend at our backs which can be bad. I tried moving it myself and found it better. I'm in decent shape and can do it alright. Am getting older and need to remind myself I can't do the things I did when I was younger. I put it in the upright, horizontal position, loosen the clamps and then hug my arms around the upper leg. Then lift with my legs and waddle it over to where it needs to be. Although it's heavy, it's the shape and weight distribution of outboards that can make even the lighter ones difficult. I think I'd struggle with anything larger.

May not need to change vehicles or type. We used a cargo rack off the back to travel with the engine and gas. Worked very well. Only thing I didn't like was that even though the van sat lower and made it easier to load the boat, it put the engine rack too low whereas you needed to bend at the waist to pick it up or set it down. Could also use the cargo rack to haul a folded boat?

We never found the loading, unloading, engine mounting or inflating of the boat that was cumbersome, it was the aluminum floor installation and removal that would kill us and why I'm thankful for the trailer.

Boat weight with floors, oars and seats is 258lbs or 117kg. The floors are about half of the total, I guess.