RIB Advice

[Mattleycrue76]

Keep the batteries charged, VHF is still the fastest way to reach the coast guard.

Great looking boat, nice work.

Good advice, as well as Selkies. VHF is next on the list.

[CaptnJack]

I laid my tanks down in my old SIB for years. And I never wrapped them in anything. Be aware that you really need to through bolt any tank racks with backing plates, you can't just screw them into something.

If you go handheld get a holder/slot for it and put it on the console. Its less than useful turned off stowed under the seat in a bag...

[Lonestar]

RHI's were perfect boats for doing crew training in the CG. The only problem we ever found with them (other than no overhead shelter) was that if you wake jumped (err reported to the CO as unexpected encounter with a tug wake) the needles on the tach gauges would bounce into the red zone and activate the engine shut down safety feature. Good thing we always had a MK on the crew cuz deducing that problem was far beyond our BM capabilities! As for the $30K price tag I believe it. Our 3 meter RHI's with 2 OB's mounted and a third spare engine were over $35K in the 80's. Take care of the tubes. Enjoy the new boat!

[dsteding]

Thanks guys, so far the I've just laid the scuba rigs in the bottom with neporene lifevests wrapped around them. It works fairly well until you hit a really big wave. Then it would be nice to have things strapped down. As far as the radio goes, I think I'll just go with a handheld unit for the time being. Most of the places I go I'd only use it to hail another boat if it's already tied up to a buoy.

Keep the batteries charged, VHF is still the fastest way to reach the coast guard.

Great looking boat, nice work.

A cell phone will reach the Coast Guard however it will not reach the boat 500 yards away that is most likely to be the closest help.

Fastest was my point. Good point on reaching other boats.

Mattley-you can get a VHF pretty cheap. I think your sounder/gps has networking capabilities, Standard Horizon makes a VHF that has DSC that will network with a GPS, gives you instant distress capability with the ability to send your coordinates at the same time. Probably cost $250 or so to put together. VHF is also handy for contacting vessel traffic, not a common thing, but handy when you need to (Richard, remember the time we popped up from that dive at Blakely in pea-soup fog?).