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Hi Ben: I've done a lot of diving off RIBs in Southeast Alaska which is not that much different from the San Juans exept that it's more wild and remote and the seas can be rougher. I've also done a lot of small boat diving using boats that aren't RIBs. One of my buddies has a 17' Zodiak RIB that I have dove off of frequently. My buddy Rob and I also have a 10' Avon Rover that rides on top of the cabin of our larger boat and is sometimes used for diving. Some general comments about RIBs. They give you a LOT less storage space compared to a rigid hull boat of equivalent size. The big ones are very expensive They are very wet and not particularly comfortable on long runs. They pound a lot and are not very efficient They have horrible resale. This is true of all boats, but worse with RIBs. Based on my experiences, if I were looking for a good center console day boat in the 20' range to use for diving in Southeast Alaska or Puget Sound I would not get a RIB. Instead I'd take a very close look at some of the better fiberglass center console boats such as a 20' Parker. Boston Whalers are good dive platforms too but they pound something terrible in rough water. And, since you are in Puget Sound, I'd take a very close look at some of the heavy duty welded aluminum skiffs that are made in Puget Sound. These are very popular in SE Alaska as work boats and they are damn near indestructable. The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game uses 20' WorkSkiffs as dive boats and the guys like them. They make killer dive boats because you have a big heavy flat floor and you can lash tanks all along both sides. See: http://www.workskiff.com/ http://www.pacificskiffs.com/default.htm for some examples of the type of skiffs that I'm talking about. WorkSkiff is in Bothell so you can go check them out. There's a handful of other similar brands mostly made in Washington and Oregon. I've done some diving off of a 17' WorkSkiff which was big enough to carry 4 divers, 8 tanks, and a 5th person to drive the skiff. These type of heavy duty welded aluminum skiffs that are made with self-bailing double hull bottoms are extremely seaworthy. They might not be the right boat to take far out on the open ocean like the guys do on the Atlantic, but they are almost perfect for coastal diving in interior waters such as we have in SE Alaska and Puget Sound. One big advantage to the aluminum skiffs over fiberglass is that you can just drive them up on the rocky beaches without fear of damaging the gell coat and you can bang the snot out of them. Kent Lind Juneau, Alaska > -----Original Message----- > From: Ben Wiseley [mailto:wiseleyb@ya*.co*] > Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 9:49 AM > To: techdiver@aquanaut.com > Subject: RIB > > > List, > > My wife and I are looking for a rigid inflatable boat > (RIB). We were thinking of something like the Avon > 560 or 620. > > http://www.inflatablesintl.com/Marine/Inflatables/Avon/Avon_Advent > ure_I/avon_adventure_i.html > > I've heard some of the British guys say they dive from > these... [during the "quick release harness" flame > wars :)] any suggestions? What are you guys using? > I'll be using it for diving and boating around the San > Juans in Washington State. > > -ben > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! > http://mail.yahoo.com/ > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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