F-Rib roof rack mounting and beaching

[chris moody]

Engine wise why not look at getting a good condition second hand 2 stroke. You will be able to lay that down on any side.

[chris moody]

Andy B is selling a really nice looking 9.9hp 2 stroke on this forum, that might be ideal for your needs.

[Andy B]

Andy B is selling a really nice looking 9.9hp 2 stroke on this forum, that might be ideal for your needs.

I am indeed.
Been messed about a couple of times with no-shows, (not from here i will add)
Going to stick it on eBay later.
Reserve will be £700

[Andy B]

Is a box trailer not an option?

[Phil]

Many thanks for all the replies again and the nice welcomes folks.

@Kaman, I actually did a bit of research on the Honwave air sibs before coming to the F-Ribs. They looked like really nice boats, just thought the F-Ribs were a bit more solid and substantial. I also liked the simplicity of the F-Ribs where you could just fold them up and didn’t have to worry about the pressure of the air deck. Good to know you can run these up shingle. I’ll definitely keep this in mind if the F-Rib dream doesn’t become feasible from a transport perspective.

Very useful to hear your route into getting the 360 on your Disco roof Loz. Sorry, probably being a bit dim here, but can you explain why you needed to put a buffalo board base on the Karitek. Is it to leash the F-Rib to the based because this style roof rack slides down the side of the car? In other words, if you had a car low enough to lift the F-Frib directly onto a rack when it's on your roof, could you leash the packed boat directly/tightly on to the Thule rack?

I can’t work out if this would be too much pressure on a small part of the bare fiberglass hull, if it would be hard to stop the boat sliding around up there, or if the curved hull wouldn’t sit well directly on rack bars. The Thule Wingbar Edge rack bars I was looking at are flatish, so should have a larger surface area than the usual rectangular bars.

Wouldn’t mind seeing a pic if it’s not too much bother Loz, although I’m hoping I can rig up a system that works without the buffalo board. Having checked the manual, it looks like the Merc has a 75kg roof load capacity, so should just about take an F-Rib!

@Martin, I think my Mrs would have a minor aneurism if I stood a motor up in the rear passenger footwell ! I’m pretty persuasive, but I’m not sure I could convince her that petrol/oil wouldn’t spill out onto the light tan leather . In retrospect, it wasn’t the most practical of car choices. We got an estate because we thought we could chuck bikes and boats in the back, but nothing actually seems to fit without folding down the seats and the interior is a bit too light and clean to put outdoors stuff in it. The one practical bit is a fitted deep plastic boot saver (useful when the 2.3hp Honda I bought leaked petrol because I hadn’t tightened up the fuel cap ).

Good to know the Yamahas have the same 3-way storage as the Suzukis Paul. Looks like this applies up to 6hp on both makes. Will probably stick with the idea of a Suzuki as they are slightly lighter and, if buying new, Steve @ F-Ribs was offering 10% off, even if bought after the boat, which is good as I’d want to muck around with the 2.3hp I got for a couple of weeks first.

I can definitely see the benefit of 2-strokes and I’m one of those strange people that loves the smell of burning petrol mixed with oil! All the legal ones being at least 10+ years old makes me a little apprehensive if I didn’t know the mechanicals inside out, although Andy B’s rebuilt Mariner looks absolutely mint! Going to look at getting a new boat first, though, before getting another engine. Want to avoid using a trailer if possible. I usually drive 70 odd miles to the sea and I like going fast round corners .

[Phil]

There's always the option of mounting the outboard on the tow bar if you have one fitted.. it's been done before

[DouglasW]

Greetings Phil and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Yes I have an F-Rib 330 with a 6HP Yam 4 stroke. My choice of boat has been determined by my age and the fact that I ripped two tendons off the bone in my shoulder lifting a poly kayak off my roof rack on my own.

You will have seen my £400 Karitek rack in the link above. It is very much easier to tie a load on when the side rack is down then with the F-Rib I would still lift it up using two people. I also have a LARS rack with gas struts but at £700 it is expensive. You store energy in it by using your weight to pull down on the gas struts which is then released on the way back up. However, if you have two people you will have no trouble with the Karitek rack lifting either the 330 or the 360.

You need to make some sort of pad to spread the load of the roof bar on the gel coat not to mention stop the cover getting worn through. Windsurf shops sell roof rack pads or you can make some out of pipe lagging and duct tape.

My 360 just fits in a BMW 330 saloon with the rear seats folded but even with two, I find it easier to load onto the Karitek rack.

I find the folded 330 an absolute brute to handle on my own, even 5 more kg and I would not be able to do it. This is another reason why I have the 6HP four stroke. It is the lightest that I can handle safely. Don't get me wrong I like big engines, my car has a 3l 6 cylinder diesel, but I don't like carrying them.


Photo by the Good Gurnard.
One up, the 330 6HP is enough to plane at 25-27km/hour on flat water. However, two up with big guys you will be limited to sub planing speeds of about 9km/hr. With this load, the engine will only reach about half revs so will never reach full power which you will need if you are ever using it against wind and tide. I fitted a small prop and it will now reach full revs with two adults. It only just gets onto the plane at about 12km/hour but I can back off to about 3/4 revs to hold it there.

Others will say this is not enough to go to sea. However, I have been going to sea since 1959 in a variety of craft and outboards have ranged from an old British Seagull motors to a 40HP 4 stroke Suzuki and I am very happy to go out in challenging conditions with the six, it depends what you want.

During the recent bank holiday weekend, I was windsurfing in a F5-6 which was blowing against a 2knot (4km/hr) ebb tide. It was rough. One of my friends broke his harness and became too tired to sail back to the shore. I blasted back and got the 330 out, got him aboard then we just towed his windsurfer by hanging on to the head of the sail. The little 6, even with the large prop on, got us back to shore no bother. So the 330 is more than stable enough to fish from. In my opinion the 330/6hp combination is very sea worthy but I am happy to go to sea in my kayak with just my paddles...


In calm weather I am quite happy to take 4 adults...


...out to the islands for a picnic, there are two thwart seats.


I have gone out with 2 adults frequently in f5 to fish in the lee of the islands.

As a kayak fisherman you will find the speed of the 330/6HP more than adequate. However, If you are looking for a speed boat get something bigger, with a trailer!

The bottom of my F-Rib is pretty scratched but still watertight. If landing in dumping surf in an onshore wind I spin it round so the bow is pointing offshore just before or in the surf zone, depending how big the surf is. Once we get in shallow I get the outboard up then we leap out on either side and grab the rear carry handles and pull it up, bow to sea, timing our pulls with each wave surge.

Have fun but watch your back/shoulders...

Douglas

PS as Martin says, tow bars/bike racks make versatile gear carriers when space is at a premium..

[Phil]

Tow bar mounting could be an option. Didn't realise you could do that!

Many thanks for the welcome and comprehensive write-up Douglas. Hugely helpful and great to hear the F-Rib can be roof rack mounted with some rack pads (didn't even know they were a thing!). This could work really well as I could just store the pads in the boot when not carrying the boat, without having to worry about where I'd put a big mounting board.

That injury you did lifting a kayak sounds brutal! I'm still [relatively] young/fit, so I don't mind a bit of lifting for now. Good to know some easier options are available, though. Especially the neat gas strut setup. What I like about the basic Thule Edge WingBars, though is that they're a bit more discrete than the Karitek and sliding platforms, so I could leave them on the car when not carrying stuff without much resistance and wind noise.

Very useful to hear the 330 only just getting on a plane 2-up with a 6hp and smaller prop. Although we pack light (as we're used to kayak-fishing), this makes me think that the 360 with a 6hp combo won't work for us. We'll almost always be going out 2-up and will often brave rougher weather, which, from what I understand, we'll need to be planning to get over the worst of. A slightly different world to kayak fishing, when you're either going over the waves, or they're coming over you .

So, that could make the 330 the better option if I can't fit any bigger an engine in my boot. Nice to see the photos/stories of your 330 2-up in an f5 + fully loaded in calmer weather . Really good to know the 330 should definitely be stable enough with ample room for my old man and me, then!

Looks like you push the limit on the weather front too. Love the story about toing a wind surfer back and great that the F-Rib doubles as a rescue craft in stormy weather . Nice tip on spinning the boat round for beaching, too. I'm wondering if I'll be able to pull this off with the drag back we get on our beaches. Worth a try! I guess you could also deploy rear beaching wheels and drag in from the front, although the engine might get a soaking from the waves behind.

Last quick Q. Am I right in saying that the price in the brochure/on the website is what you pay for F-Ribs. I'm usually used to a bit of friendly haggling when buying big purchases like cars etc., but got the impression that the world of F-Ribs might be a little too specialist to be able to negotiate a discount.

[Martin]

I believe FRIB HQ had offers on, not sure if they've finished now...
Try f-rib south east, Alan is a member on here and had some great offers on if you were to buy a bundle.

[Paul]

Try f-rib south east, Alan is a member on here and had some great offers on if you were to buy a bundle.

Here you go http://f-ribsandsibs.com/viewtopic.php? ... 433#p16433