Setting up a SIB/RIB for diving?

[Rooinater]

Any tips? Please share pics of your modifications on your RIB/SIB or just how you rig stuff! All help and pics definitely appreciated, thank you!

I recently picked up a project 15' catamaran inflatable with a 40hp outboard for my first little dive dingy. I plan to dive 2 people (and a one person tending/diving) or up to 4 people off of it MAX (less people the further I have to go away from the boat launch). Pardon any newb questions, but I have been searching the net for a few weeks, and really wanted to get the opinions from local divers as to how and why they run their boats a certain way. Especially since I know there is a handful of you operating SIB/RIB boats. I'd really like to get everything up and going this winter without playing guess what might work and purchase a bunch of stuff that won't work well. Especially if I can compare and decide what works for others in the Puget Sound, as to what will work for a starting platform for me. All help is appreciated!


I'll need to setup an anchor system that I'll trust... The one that came with it is just a fluke style anchor and some rope. Do you use 2 lengths of rope to adjust rope anchoring in different depths, tie and clip into the anchor line when you need a shorter length, or what are you using for an anchoring system? Any chain? The boat didn't have a dedicated anchor storage system yet... Any anti-chafe on the tube for the rope?

Tank holder ideas? and fabricators that can make one locally? I think i can design it to have a 4+ tank rack on the front of the steering rack mounted to the aluminum floor.

Dive ladders; are you guys just using those 4-5 rung collapsible dive ladders to get out of the water? Removing any gear before getting back in the boat?, or just climbing up the rope ladder, and removing any stage or deco bottles if used?

Any drift behind lines for if you leave the boat unattended in case of unexpected top currents?

Any tips for gearing up in small boats. i.e. in winter pre-suit up with a drysuit, but what do you do in the summer? Does anything change as the seasons for how you prepare.

Any winterizing needed for the outboard if you are going to be diving off an on through the winter with the boat on nice days. Other than run the fuel out of the carb, and drain the float bowl.

[CaptnJack]

Pics of my boat here: http://www.rib.net/forum/members/4333-albums170.html

I'll need to setup an anchor system that I'll trust... The one that came with it is just a fluke style anchor and some rope. Do you use 2 lengths of rope to adjust rope anchoring in different depths, tie and clip into the anchor line when you need a shorter length, or what are you using for an anchoring system? Any chain? The boat didn't have a dedicated anchor storage system yet... Any anti-chafe on the tube for the rope?

A 5 gal home depot bucket (with holes drilled in the bottom) or a milk crate can be used to store an anchor, chain and line. 20ft of chain would be about right on the biggest anchor you can fit. I use a “Claw” type which isn’t too expensive it case I snag it and can’t go get it.

I use a carabiner on a short leash. The leash clips to my bow ring and I tie a clove hitch in the anchor line to clip in the right length. The rest of the unloaded anchor line goes over the tube into the locker. I carry about 340ft of line which allows me to anchor on some of the deeper Lake WA sites. Fortunately the bottom is soft there so a 2:1 scope is still viable. In Puget Sound I rarely end up anchoring deeper than ~90ft. And would let out almost all of that 340ft to do it. The bitter end of the line is tied off inside the locker.

Tank holder ideas? and fabricators that can make one locally? I think i can design it to have a 4+ tank rack on the front of the steering rack mounted to the aluminum floor.

Tank rack shown in my pics above. There tabs where the straps go are 9” apart to accommodate singles or doubles. 8 tanks might be too much weight for 40hp to plane though. Try it first with a full load before making up a tank rack that fills up space and carries more tanks than you can plane anyway.

Dive ladders; are you guys just using those 4-5 rung collapsible dive ladders to get out of the water? Removing any gear before getting back in the boat?, or just climbing up the rope ladder, and removing any stage or deco bottles if used?

Take all gear off and attach using tag lines to the sides. Toss your weight belt inside then “swim” over the tube. Any ladder will just roll underneath the tubes as your center of gravity will be way to lateral.

Any drift behind lines for if you leave the boat unattended in case of unexpected top currents?

If there’s any doubt, bring a scooter, leave someone aboard or go to another site. Drift lines WILL tangle in your prop sooner rather than later.

Any tips for gearing up in small boats. i.e. in winter pre-suit up with a drysuit, but what do you do in the summer? Does anything change as the seasons for how you prepare.

Unless its broiling hot put everything on before leaving the dock. Do not use the DUI zip gloves since they force you to had the gloves on whenever the suit is on. Pee valves a plus

Any winterizing needed for the outboard if you are going to be diving off an on through the winter with the boat on nice days. Other than run the fuel out of the carb, and drain the float bowl.

Just use it at least once every few months. Fuel doesn’t go that bad that fast.

Don't forget a boat education card is required for everyone now.
http://www.parks.wa.gov/442/Mandatory-Boater-Education

[Rooinater]

My boaters safety course is in progress, it'll be a bit till I have the boat out in the Sound.

So for a tank locker I can get a big bucket or one of the large milk crates I have, load it up with line, chain and anchor. Is the smaller 3/8" anchor line ok, or should it be 1/2""? I'm assuming with drain holes on the bottom of the bucket, I should also run the the line through the bucket and secure it since it isn't perminately attached to the hull? What knot do you use on your leash to secure to the boat, or do you have a clip on both ends.

I do plan to do a full load a few times before making a rack. But figure a 4 bottle rack would fit the way my floor/console is and secure the other ones way up front if I'm going to try diving more. I mainly plan on running 2-3 divers, because 4 will be more crowded. 40hp is the max for this model, so I'll find out how much it handles as I go. I'll definitely try it weighted down with more if 3 divers/6tanks planes out ok, but probably the first trip will be 2 divers.

Yeah I was wondering about those drift lines I was reading about, I'll gladly just bring the scoot.

For your tag lines, you just leave them clipped on the side of the boat, and just use some standard nylon boat line I take it?

Is that restaurant matting you have on the floor to pad the tanks? Looks like the stuff I could get at Cash and Carry possibly and pad the floor.

Is that a 9 or 12 gallon tank on the back of yours? or do you carry an extra can if you make longer runs. Mine came with a 6gallon tank, and was contemplating down the road a bigger tank, or bring a spare small tank. But initially I plan on getting used to it at the close by dive sites, and not running any kind of large distance till I know the boat better.

No DUI gloves, just the Si-Tech ones.

Thanks for all the info! It's starting to help me figure out what I need to do to set it up.

[CaptnJack]

Have you owned a boat before or dive off a RIB before?

3/8" is plenty for anchoring. 1/4" would be enough strength wise but its too hard on the hands pulling it up.

I would attach a SS ring to the front floor panel with a backing plate, pass the line through your milk crate and tie the end of the anchor line to that. I think I have a 15lb claw with about 20lbs worth of chain. Its heavy but works.

Your floor may not support a vertical tank rack, laying tanks down consumes a lot of space but avoids spending money and having a tank rack break loose. Use big backing plates and through bolt whatever you end up with for sure, there are huge loads on tank racks.

I leave my tag lines on the side drings. If you forget to install them you're kinda screwed. Make them just slightly longer than distance between safety line drings and clip them up when underway so they don't fly up and wack you.

Its home depot rubber matting, heavy and not really required.

I carry 12 gallons. With a 60hp 4 stroke its stupid overkill. I went from Deception Pass ramp to the Black Dragon and back on 9 gallons. Port Angeles to the Diamond knot and back is about 3.5 gallons for me. If you have a 4 stroke 40hp stick with 6 gals and save the space and weight. If you have a 2 stroke then you might want a 2nd 3 gal emergency get home tank in a few years. You can decide later 6 gallons is enough for any likely Puget Sound or Lake WA site.

[BillZ]

Any tips? Please share pics of your modifications on your RIB/SIB or just how you rig stuff! All help and pics definitely appreciated, thank you!

Here's my boat
http://nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=4 ... hilit=avon

I recently picked up a project 15' catamaran inflatable with a 40hp outboard for my first little dive dingy. I plan to dive 2 people (and a one person tending/diving) or up to 4 people off of it MAX (less people the further I have to go away from the boat launch). Pardon any newb questions, but I have been searching the net for a few weeks, and really wanted to get the opinions from local divers as to how and why they run their boats a certain way. Especially since I know there is a handful of you operating SIB/RIB boats. I'd really like to get everything up and going this winter without playing guess what might work and purchase a bunch of stuff that won't work well. Especially if I can compare and decide what works for others in the Puget Sound, as to what will work for a starting platform for me. All help is appreciated!


I'll need to setup an anchor system that I'll trust... The one that came with it is just a fluke style anchor and some rope. Do you use 2 lengths of rope to adjust rope anchoring in different depths, tie and clip into the anchor line when you need a shorter length, or what are you using for an anchoring system? Any chain? The boat didn't have a dedicated anchor storage system yet... Any anti-chafe on the tube for the rope?

I have a Delta plow style anchor, although I had a fluke anchor on my old boat and it work fine. The key to anchoring is chain and scope. I have 15 ft of heavy galvanized chain between the anchor and my line (line is the nautical term, rope is for climbing mountains :-)) to keep the anchor horizontal on the seafloor. They teach you in boating class that you should have 7x scope over depth at high tide - so if your anchoring in an area where the water level at high tide will be 20ft, you would let out 120 ft of line. This is a bit impractical, but my rule of thumb is no less than 3X.

To tie off to the anchor line or mooring buoy I have a 6 foot line that I spliced a carabiner at each end. One end clips off to the bow eye and the other clips off to the anchor line. I also keep a 10 ft line on the boat that has a loop spliced in each end. That way when I attach to mooring buoys I can run the line through mooring eye and clip both loops in the carabiner. That way when I untie from the mooring I can just unclip one end of the line and pull it through the mooring eye.

Tank holder ideas? and fabricators that can make one locally? I think i can design it to have a 4+ tank rack on the front of the steering rack mounted to the aluminum floor.

See the picts in the link above. I think mine were fabricated by the same guy that did Richards.

Dive ladders; are you guys just using those 4-5 rung collapsible dive ladders to get out of the water? Removing any gear before getting back in the boat?, or just climbing up the rope ladder, and removing any stage or deco bottles if used?

Ladders are pretty much useless on a RIB. I have one of the rope ones that came with my boat if you want it. I pretty much use the same process that Richard described. The only time I have issues is if there is a strong current I'll need to jump over the transom.

Any drift behind lines for if you leave the boat unattended in case of unexpected top currents?

Regardless if I have someone tending or not I'll use a 20 ft drift line and a tag line (line from the stern to the anchor line) if there is a strong current.

Any tips for gearing up in small boats. i.e. in winter pre-suit up with a drysuit, but what do you do in the summer? Does anything change as the seasons for how you prepare.

Same as Richard, we put on drysuits on the dock before heading out. The only difference between summer and winter is that in the summer I'll pull my drysuit up to my waist and finish putting it on when we start gearing up.

Any winterizing needed for the outboard if you are going to be diving off an on through the winter with the boat on nice days. Other than run the fuel out of the carb, and drain the float bowl.

[/quote]

Luckily I live a few miles from a station that still sells non-E10 gas so I don't have any issues with fuel. When we have a brutal cold snap I'll run some ecofriendly anti-freeze through the lower end of my motor. The Yamaha manual says you don't need to but I guess it helps me sleep at night.

In addition to the boaters card that Richard mentioned, I'd suggest that you take a boaters class. I took one through the Bellevue Power Squadron a few years back and it was definitely worth the money/time spent.

If you ever want to go out for a dive on my boat to check things out let me know. During the winter we're out at least a few times a month.

Bill

[BillZ]

I carry 12 gallons. With a 60hp 4 stroke its stupid overkill. I went from Deception Pass ramp to the Black Dragon and back on 9 gallons. Port Angeles to the Diamond knot and back is about 3.5 gallons for me. If you have a 4 stroke 40hp stick with 6 gals and save the space and weight. If you have a 2 stroke then you might want a 2nd 3 gal emergency get home tank in a few years. You can decide later 6 gallons is enough for any likely Puget Sound or Lake WA site.

Holy cow - That's amazing fuel economy, nearly 10 MPG. Doing that same run I burn through 11.5 gallons.

[Rooinater]

Have you owned a boat before or dive off a RIB before?

First boat with a motor that is my own, and not a family member or friends boat. I've usually stuck to whitewater rafts, sea kayaks, and whitewater kayaks for anything I've owned. I've dove off a variety of other personal boats that weren't an inflatable, but currently only one or 2 people I know have boats anymore, and most don't dive. I've been off an on looking at these boats for awhile, wasn't planning on buying one, but one came along in my price bracket. Thanks again for the info. It's not the ultimate boat, or the best one ever, but will get the job done.

[Rooinater]

[In addition to the boaters card that Richard mentioned, I'd suggest that you take a boaters class. I took one through the Bellevue Power Squadron a few years back and it was definitely worth the money/time spent.

If you ever want to go out for a dive on my boat to check things out let me know. During the winter we're out at least a few times a month.

Bill

I'll definitely look into a course. I'd gladly come out and dive sometime in the next month or so to check it out, let me know when you have availability. I'm supposed to be on the Downtime in the Hood on the 6th of December, but shore diving in Port Townsend on the 7th, otherwise after that I'm available as soon as my gear gets done being serviced.

Yeah don't mind me I'm used to ropes for rescues and whitewater, not lines. Learning curve in progress at the moment, and thank you guys for the great info so far!

[CaptnJack]

Holy cow - That's amazing fuel economy, nearly 10 MPG. Doing that same run I burn through 11.5 gallons.

I can't go that fast in that stretch, about 18 knots typically. It might be closer to 4 gallons its very hard to refill to exactly the same spot on the tank.

Deception Pass to the Black Dragon was 55 miles round trip with 2 divers and a tender aboard plus scooters. That was 9 gallons plus or minus a quart (the boat was new I measured all that at the time). But conditions were iffy and we had to power up/through a lot of waves.

I can easily go from WA Park to Cattle Pass, go around San Juan Island, stop at Friday Harbor and back to WA Park with about 7 gallons if conditions are decent. I have no idea how far that is but close to 45 or 50 miles I'd guess. But water is smoother inside the islands and I can do the same cruise at a higher trim angle and more modest RPM. I usually run about 4200 rpm loaded but not a max load. I wouldn't go that far with a max load of 4 divers and 8 tank units. If Rootinator has a 4 stroke 6 gallons is plenty, if its a 2 stroke I would get a second 3 gal can as a reserve. I use E10 all the time, never had a problem and have no need to search out the ethanol free stations.

Doug used my tank rack as a model for his front rack. Mine was built in BC by the boat builder. Yours was built in Marysville I think.

[BillZ]

Doug used my tank rack as a model for his front rack. Mine was built in BC by the boat builder. Yours was built in Marysville I think.

I knew there was an old thread about the front rack somewhere on here......

http://nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=2 ... +rack+boat

[Rooinater]

Yep it's a 4 stroke, so hopefully it lasts a bit. Not the fanciest boat, but I'm looking forward to exploring new sites for sure. I'll keep the loads small till I know what it can actually handle. Probably keep it at 3 divers or less though for space and simplicity.

[johndo88]

...never had a problem and have no need to search out the ethanol free stations.

The only one I know of is a Cenex in Issaquah, across the street from the XXX.

[BillZ]

...never had a problem and have no need to search out the ethanol free stations.

The only one I know of is a Cenex in Issaquah, across the street from the XXX.

That's the one - It's actually called the Grange. I also use Ethanol free gas in all of my yard equipment and my back-up generator. There are quite a few stations in Washington that offer ethanol free gas but most of them are in rural areas or marinas.

http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=WA

Looking this up I just noticed there is one in Sekiu which is a good to know for my next trip out to Neah Bay.

[CaptnJack]

There's one in Brinnon or Quilcene. But seriously E10 works fine in modern outboards lol

[CaptnJack]

Regardless if I have someone tending or not I'll use a 20 ft drift line and a tag line (line from the stern to the anchor line) if there is a strong current.

This doesn't actually work. If someone is unable to hold onto the life lines on the side of your sib/rib the tag line is just a false sense of security.

Trust me I have tried/used them at the Possession Point Ferry and the Diamond Knot when its ripping. You are far better off with a way to jettison the anchor line and come back to get it later. I.e. toss it all overboard with a buoy on the end and pick up the divers live. Then go back to the retrieve the anchor once everyone/thing is aboard already. Otherwise you will just dislocate their arms and drown them as they struggle to manhandle their way back upriver to the boat.

[Rooinater]

Thanks again for all of the info at the start of the project, I just realized I never did put up pictures of the project. It's been a long winter of projects from rebuilding the entire water pump/lower seal, splicing line, rebuilding, cleaning and balancing the carbs, more gear aquiring, and currently undergoing a trailer overhaul and lowering. Tanks will be laid flat in some foam/rope cradles. Hopefully I'll have her out in March after the axle for the trailer overahaul arrives. We are welding up the new box, and already have the extended tongue. Overall drop should be about 12" lower than where she currently sits, and a way longer tongue if all goes well. It may not be the baddest boat in the sound, but it'll get me to more dive sites.

[CaptnJack]

Looks good, let me know if you wanna buddy boat some local sites once you're running.

[Norris]

I volunteer to deckhand for either one of you!

[Rooinater]

I'll let you and Bill know when it's up and going. I can't wait, because diving some new sites will be nice.

[CaptnJack]

Come on man, throw out a date You know you need a deadline
Feb 22nd?

[Rooinater]

Lol, as soon as the axle arrives! Which is a 3 to 5 week window from this week when the order was placed. Since it's a custom built torsion axle that Dexter is building to the specs we gave them, it'll be a little bit... It'll be wider, and lower so we can drop the trailer down after trimming the excessively tall bunks, and replacing metal as neccesary hopefully getting it down to a reasonable height to make launching it easier. New rims and tires, along with fenders are on there way, and all of the steel will be here this weekend to redo what needs to be redone on the trailer. Every weekend in Febuary is dedicated to the cause currently! I've cleared all rafting, kayaking, backpacking and diving trips from the weekends so I can head over to the penisula and get chopping. Basic plan is have everything done by the time the axle arrives, drill and mount, paint and be on the water the following weekend.

[Mateo1147]

Thanks again for all of the info at the start of the project, I just realized I never did put up pictures of the project. It's been a long winter of projects from rebuilding the entire water pump/lower seal, splicing line, rebuilding, cleaning and balancing the carbs, more gear aquiring, and currently undergoing a trailer overhaul and lowering. Tanks will be laid flat in some foam/rope cradles. Hopefully I'll have her out in March after the axle for the trailer overahaul arrives. We are welding up the new box, and already have the extended tongue. Overall drop should be about 12" lower than where she currently sits, and a way longer tongue if all goes well. It may not be the baddest boat in the sound, but it'll get me to more dive sites.

She looks beautiful! I have only dove once from a boat like yours and it was a blast! That was with Deep Diver on Hood Canal. I found the swim over the side maneuver especially fun to master.
Here's to many future boat dives from your own vessel!

[Rooinater]

With a lot of help from family, the trailer rebuild is coming along well.

[Rooinater]

Don't know why the link wouldn't work. Mostly welded, and gusseted. Need to cut off the old bunk system next weekend, and see what needs to be adjusted for fit.