F-Ribs And Sibs - Inflatable Boat Community

Hi,

We are Tony and Roz; 63 and 61 respectively. We are both semi-retired which gives us the opportunity every year to tour the continent in our Hymer motorhome. We have done this for the past six years and we are away for just over four months each summer. We always carry two sit-on kayaks and we enjoy getting to the places difficult to access by land, as well as seeing wonderful cliff scenery from the perspective of the water. We both enjoy snorkelling although I am more adventurous than Roz. We are also both musicians and we have picked up gigs on our travels playing a wide variety of pop and rock tunes from across the decades.

This year we plan to buy a SIB and outboard and I would like to develop some skills in fishing - a sport with which I have very little experience.

At present I have semi-set-my-heart on a Honwave T38 with a 15 HP 4 stroke Honda outboard. It seems that few come up for sale second hand but this would be my first preference. Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards to all,


Tony & Roz

Hi Tony & Roz, welcome to our fantastic little community..
Thanks for the superb introduction

The Honwave T38 mates up superbly with a 15/20hp, plenty of power and stability wrapped up in a package that’s manageable by some single handed but should be easy for the two you of you.


Loads of help and advice on here for you, and occasionally the package you mention does come up for sale second hand..

Enjoy the forum,

Martin

Many thanks Martin

The Honwaves are great and I think the T38ie is the best of the range. Easy to blow up & deflate, manageable to carry, and good sea keeping capabilities. The Honwaves also hold their value which is good. Just make sure you check you don't end up with one of the faulty ones with the miss-shaped hull.

Other brands worth looking at are F-Rib, Excel and Takacat (the Takacat is a bit like marmite, you will either love it or hate it).

When choosing the outboard make sure to check the weight of it. A lot of people struggle with the heavier engines. I know I would not be happy with moving any engine over 45kg. You can get 20hp engines from Suzuki and Tohatsu that are under 45kg.

Oh, I forgot, Welcome to the forum.

Hi Tony & Roz and

Agree with the comments above, think about your uses and 'needs' then do lots of research, ask questions and you should end up with a good useable setup suited to you
Enjoy the research as you'll learn a great deal ie; modern 4 stroke OB's of 10hp, 15hp and 20hp use the same powerheads these days so weigh the same

Paul

Whereabouts in the UK are you based? A number of us meet up for regular boating trips and if one of our trips is fairly local to you, you could pop along and look at a variety of different boats all together in one place.

The meetings are all advertised in the events section of this forum.

Im a newbie to the scene to, and I baught T38 and 20 horse Suzzi (9 - 20 horse are all the same weight) in Aug last year
I took advice from other members,, (was able to spend a few hours out with Paul B who has the same before i purchased mine..)..
I feel very safe and comfortable on the boat, very stable, and handles very well, its a great choice..
though I still have a lot to learn..

@Alimac Are you able to move the 20hp Suzuki on your own? How on earth do you do that???