boatgeek wrote:

my wife and I have a catamaran, which are sensitive to heavy loads,
especially aft. Frankly, we have a great RIB, AB 10' RIB, with a 5
HP nissan engine. But the AB is heavy, and there is no way such a
small engine could get it up on a plane. I was wondering if anyone
had any input for what they liked for a planing dingy which could
reasonably plane 4 people (assume two couples, maybe around 700 lbs),
but still be light weight and plane well.

Aluminum RIBs are usually the lightest. We've been using a 9' Southern Cross
which weighs 65 LB, about two thirds of the Avon we had before. It was
competitively priced and much nicer than similar models. It almost planes with
2 HP and one person, and supposedly planes easily with 4 HP. I believe it.

However, with 4 people aboard, you're talking about saving a small percentage of
the total weight. Your real problem is power. Even with the best RIB you'll
need a lot more power to plane easily with four people.

If you're looking for a new RIB I heartily recommend the Southern Cross. It's
made in New Zealand. Other than that, if you want to go completely rigid -- I'm
always amazed at how fast some aluminum skiffs can go without much horsepower.

Matt O.