On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 21:29:53 -0400, "Don White"
wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 17:21:01 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Mar 3, 3:28 pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 15:01:44 -0800 (PST), wrote:
What is folks opinion w.r.t RIB inflatables for this use? As I said,
I've got real doubts about the durability of one used on our rocky
beaches, but maybe I am wrong about that?

It will get scratched up on the bottom but nothing structural unless
you really bang it hard. If it were me I'd be inclined toward a 17 or
18 ft aluminum with a 40 horse 2 stroke on it. For rough water
conditions I'd go with a RIB however. They are amazingly sea worthy
and will continue running when half full of water or partially
deflated.

But aren't the RIBs bottom conventional fiberglass? And wouldn't that
get destroyed pretty quickly if we beached the boat a lot?

Not really. The hulls are usually made from glass/resin reinforced
plastic or ploypropelene. Some hulls use Kevlar and some military
manufacturers use Nomex w/Kevlar.

Tough stuff.

If not, who makes good RIB boats?

Zodiac makes most of them actually.

At our boat show a week & a half ago, I'm sure I saw some RIBs with the hull
part made of aluminum.

Forgot about that.

I've seen large RIB pilot boats with aluminum hulls.

Not sure what the CG uses.