Hi Peeps

[alpha76]

I live in the Croydon area in Surrey, which is about 1 hour from the South coast, but i also have an apartment 30 metres from the beach in Greece that i spend about 4 weeks of the year at

I'm looking for a transportable boat, that due to parking restrictions needs to be able to be stored indoors but has a bit of oomph. Which boat / engine is the fastest and most stable? The majority seem to have a max capacity of around 25hp but i would like something that i could island hop in Greece and fishing (if that's poss?). At the moment the Bombard C3 seems the most suitable..

Suggestions please:-

[stevexxxuk]

Boatwise, F-rib.. 25hp is going to be heavy though but the f-rib can be folded and transported in the car and inflated in minutes and stored neatly in the house..

[De Zappa]

We hop islands in Croatia with a Honwave T40 and Yamaha 25hp. The power is ok but I think the bottom is too flat for the surf, people in front bounce out of the boat sometimes.
I think the package of a F-rib 430is bigger then the T40, I put the alu separate in the car.
We also go to Holland for one day trips which is fine. One hour assemble and disassemble. The thing that bothers me the most is taking the gear out of the garden shed everytime.
The boat fills the trunk halfway. But we have still some space left for the dogs

[alpha76]

Boatwise, F-rib.. 25hp is going to be heavy though but the f-rib can be folded and transported in the car and inflated in minutes and stored neatly in the house..

Thanks for your reply,
Yes, i have had a good look at the f-rib, it looks very tempting but I have been wondering if anything else could get around faster? Also, it's very rare to find a used f-rib!

[alpha76]

We hop islands in Croatia with a Honwave T40 and Yamaha 25hp. The power is ok but I think the bottom is too flat for the surf, people in front bounce out of the boat sometimes.
I think the package of a F-rib 430is bigger then the T40, I put the alu separate in the car.
We also go to Holland for one day trips which is fine. One hour assemble and disassemble. The thing that bothers me the most is taking the gear out of the garden shed everytime.
The boat fills the trunk halfway. But we have still some space left for the dogs
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DB767255-CA8F-4F2D-B523-C8EDBFE01200.jpeg

What would you recommend or change then? I do like the f-rib but i am confisued with the variety

Have you seen the Highfield or Bombard/Zodiac? Are they also very light? The Highfield has storage at the front for the gas, which could put more weight on the bow? http://www.highfieldboats.com/classic-380/

[harrison]

Hi Alpha76,

I’m confused - I thought you wanted Something portable and Which could be stored inside, but then you suggest a rigid hulled Highfield.

So what is it you want?

You have only mentioned the desire for speed, but remember that these are small boats and if you try to go flat out in anything other than calm conditions it will get uncomfortable and / or exhausting very quickly. If you are just looking for speed then why not get a small jet-ski which you could store in a shed?

So what are your other requirements?

• How many people would you be carrying

• Do you need to transport any camping / fishing gear / luggage

• Will you assembling the boat alone?

• Do you have a proper slipway to launch from or do you need to move the boat across a beach

• Will you have to assemble / disassemble the boat with each use or can you leave it built

All these things would have a fairly major impact on which boat would be good for you.

Speed wise:
In the folding boat world the fastest boats I have encountered are the F-Ribs. I can give you a practical example here:
I have a Honwave T38 with a 20hp Suzuki on it and I get around 20 knots. @Martin has an F-Rib 375 with an identical motor and prop and he gets around 30knots. This difference is entirely down to the clean, rigid hull of the F-Rib.

When you are looking at boats and engines keep the weight in mind. Even the light stuff is heavy.

[Martin]

Hi Alpha, Welcome aboard.

Have you any experience of portable craft at all?
Sibs & F-Ribs are great fun but they do (I hate to say this) have there limitations.. though I’ve not found it with the F-Rib yet

Power wise, 20hp efi Suzuki is about as good as it gets power:weight ratio unless you think you can manage the 25hp Yamaha, it is heavier but has a few more gee gees.
The 430 is the big brother to my 375, it has a similar great hull unlike the 460 which has a sail boat effect hull.
A 430 is a big lump and quite heavy, the 375 is just about manageable on my own.

As Chris has explained, you’l find the sibs have somewhat of a limited hull speed, it takes a lot of Hp to get them over the 20knts Mark, they can become rather unstable too when pushed faster. The F-Rib is crazy stable and has a quick hard hull, only downside is you’ll soon realise how hard the hull is when you’re out in the chop !

Try get yourself down to a slip way and catch a lift out with some of the boys, that’ll help you decide which boat may be ticking the boxes.

Martin

[harrison]

Sorry, afraid not enough info yet to give any sort of meaningful advice....fast and transportable you say. Easy peasy to get one or the other but both, far more of a challenge.

One thing I will say though, whilst the C3 Commando is a fine craft, at nearly 100kg it’s one of the heaviest sibs around. It’s tough, has a rigid timber keel and can take a 40hp motor so will be fast. More of a rugged than performance oriented design, as the name suggests, and certainly no way easily transported and assembled, unless of course you take a few squadies along.

If you want ultimate speed and performance and can manhandle a sib of that size, weight and cost range then I’d be looking more towards the Zodiac Mk2/2c Futura’s. Available with air or aluminium floors, rated at 25 or 50hp, all skim along catamaran style on their ‘speed tubes.’ Lots of fun.

Of course whilst nice, all these boat/engine combos are totally impractical to transport, assemble and carry solo. You’ll then be limited to lightweight sibs/F-Ribs with 20hp motors....unless of course you put the whole shebang on a trailer.

Good luck in your quest.

[alpha76]

I know that i need to be able to store it inside as i do not have room for a trailer, but i am not totally sure if i will definitely use it regularly in the UK. In Greece, however, there is a slipway and beach about 50 metres away from the apartment. I was thinking of either wheeling it across the road on a trolley or asking for a hand from one of the neighbours or friendly locals

This is a nice aerial video i found on youtube of the area https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YEJTSz3VC8

The problem is the island is quite enclosed with the mainland adjecently nearby and to get to the best fishing spots or other islands i need something that can whizz around that's obviously not a death trap.


I have never owned a boat but been on many, my family owned a dinghy that we often used in Devon but a barnacle ruined it We eventually upgraded to a 10m power boat.