A good reason not to eat out, some needful proactive forethought, and today's installment in the "Shameful, dangerous & irresponsible" files...
Off Center Harbor, best known as a purveyor of excellent boat and nautical based video media content, is now getting into the plans and kits business.
Now, I'll be honest and say right at the start that I'm not a big fan of kit boats but I do understand that they have their place and make sense for a lot of folks. Personally, I just enjoy the boat building experience so much that I prefer to do all the work myself.
Their new design/kit is for what they are terming "a Legitimate Alternative to the Inflatable RIB" and it looks pretty cool.
Still, the Oonagh design has a lot to say about it. It has a lot of capacity for its size (11'8" with a beam of 5'), will row easily, motor well (with a 2HP engine) and you can sail it.
So yeah, way better than a RIB in my estimation. Better yet it also winds up being a whole lot cheaper than a RIB as well.
So, why would someone choose a RIB instead of a boat like Oonagh?
Well, for one, the whole appeal of an inflatable dinghy used to be that you could stow away the tender by deflating it and sticking it in a locker. Which is not something you can do with a RIB. The fact of the matter is a RIB takes up as much deck space as a normal dinghy if not more. For instance, a 12 foot RIB (11'5" with a beam of 5'10") takes up the same amount of room as the Oonagh but has a lot less interior space.
Of course, the big sticking point for most folks revolves around the 2HP thing and how the Oonagh won't plane. The fact that a 2HP outboard will move the Oonagh at hull speed at half-throttle and use hardly any gas in the process apparently does not excite as many folks as it should. Considering most folks would power a 12-foot RIB with a minimum of a 15HP outboard and, more than likely, a 25HP would be most cruiser's choice these days.
A quick note on motors in terms of weight shows a 2HP = 30 pounds, 15HP= 110 pounds, 25HP= 180 pounds. I'd add the costs as well except the costs of outboards these days induce panic attacks and I'm all out of paper bags.
Throw in the fact that the Oonagh does everything better than your same old same RIB with the exception of not getting you to the dinghy dock a few minutes earlier I'd say we're actually talking about a Legitimate Alternative to the Inflatable RIB.
Better yet, OCH has begun an 18 episode series of building the Oonagh for those contemplating building one.
More info over at OCH.
Listening to Best Coast
So it goes...
