Jay,
You've owned a Whaler so you know what that's about. I rented one down
in Ft. Lauderdale once, actually I wasn't impresses by the ride. It felt a
little skittish at high speed. The ride reminded me of a Chrysler cathedral
hull kind of fluttered over the chop. A friend has a 10 foot RIB with a six
horse outboard. The RIB is a soft bottom type. The portability is great, he
stows it on his swim platform, tilted up. The ride in a chop with four
people is a bit wet from splash but not real bad as you're usually in a
bathing suit anyway. On the other hand, you can't saw a RIB in half. :-) My
thoughts.
Paul

"FixinBones" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for a small boat to take my 7 year old son out on. I plan to
take
him tubing, waterskiing, and maybe some occasional fishing. I would also
tow it
behind my boat to close destinations to use as a tender. I would like to
keep
it long enough so that one day he can take it out on his own. I owned a
13
foot whaler as a kid and I though that this would be a good choice. I've
also
been looking at some Ribs in a similar size like the Novurania 400DL, and
Avon
YL400. The ribs seem to be quite a bit more money buthave more bells and
whistles than the whaler. Can anyone give me the pros and cons of
purchasing
the whaler vs one of the above Ribs.
Thanks
Jay