Maiden Voyage

On Saturday I took the my RIB out on her Maiden Voyage. It is always a nervous time taking a new vessel out on the water. This was no exception. A smart person would chose a safe launching site, like a small lake. But no, I had to choose the Columbia river. Not the best choice, but none the less I had other plans besides taken the RIB on her first time out. I wanted to do some fishing.

I brought my friend Grant out with me. It is good to have an extra person there just in case something goes wrong. For example, throwing a life line, or assisting with rowing. But I had brought an electric motor as backup. We launched with no issues to speak of. Then came to firing up the outboard for the first time. After a few cranks of the starter, the engine fired up and purred. Not bad for a 1998 50 HP Mariner that has seen some use. One thing I did notice that the motor is a lot quieter than my old 1987 30 HP Johnson. After letting the motor warm up a bit, and making sure the water pump was flowing out of the pee hole, we were ready to leave the marina.

Once out in the main stream, I gave her some more gas and she easily got up on a plane. Soon thereafter I was confident we weren't going to be stranded and headed to our fishing destination about 5 miles down river. The deep V hull handled the small chop with ease, and I could have easily plowed through some of the rougher water, but I played it safe. This is my largest RIB, and I can instantly tell that the boat can handle more that what I am use to. Everything about the boat seemed easier. I can't explain it, but it just felt like no effort to maneuver about.

After reaching our destination, we fished for about 2 hours without a single bite. There was plenty of room for our gear. Unfortunately I didn't have time to mount the rod holders, so we improvised and ran them through the handle of the outboard. Another inflatable joined the area and anchored about 100 yards upriver from us. It was a older, Zodiac SIB with a 35 HP Evinrude on her. There were 3 people and a dog in that boat and they seemed quite comfortable.

About 5 minutes later they had a fish on. I apologize for the photo quality, but I only had my smartphone on me at the time. The lady on the boat finally reeled in a shaker sturgeon. After the second fish on, we decided to move next to them and fish for sturgeon. After two hours and no bites fishing for salmon, it seemed like a good thing to do.

For the love of boating "Owning a Rigid Inflatable Boat"

This site is to express one of my hobbies. Rigid Inflatable Boats or RIBs for short. In my search for the perfect boat, I came across the inflatable kind. Growing up as a son of a fisherman, my father and I have gotten into some scary situations with his boats. The old, heavy, underpowered, fiberglass over wood boats. So I didn't want to follow in his foot steps. What I wanted was a small lightweight boat that could carry a load more than 700 lbs.

A small tri-hull would work, but two men, motor, and gear would be near capacity. Aluminum was out of the question. Don't know why, but the carrying capacity was one issue, and seaworthiness of a 12' boat would be another. Then I found this Zodiac Mark II inflatable boat in the Little Nickel ads. It was the boat, motor, and trailer for $1200.00. Sold! I had my first inflatable. Though it wasn't a RIB, it is what got me to the fascination of RIBs today.


I got my first RIB about 9 years ago. It was an old, discarded, Zodiac Hurricane 380 that was left in a field in Chehalis, WA.

The history of the boat is that it was used for the Exxon Valdez clean up in Alaska, and then auctioned off in Washington. The owner had put it on eBay, and I was the lucky winner of the auction for $320.00 delivered.

I remember the day the previous owner had dropped it off. It smelled, the tubes were in bad shape. Only one section would hold air, and the remaining sections had seen a lot sun. The hull had a one hole at the keel near the bow. So as I assessed the damage, and pondered what the heck did I do. I decided to put some air in the only functioning tube, and about an hour later the thing blew! Trust me, it sounded like a M100 going off!

Next became the slow progress of getting back on the water. I removed the old tubes and got her down the bare hull. With a little glass work, sand, and some paint, she was ready for some new tubes. Next was to call around for replacement tubes. Luckily, I found a set from a local Zodiac dealer in Seattle for the price of $900.00 (regular $1800). The tubes would be shipped from Canada within the next week. After repairing the hull and it was off to the dealer. About $600.00 later the RIB was ready for water.

So that brings us to today. This type of boat is not widely accepted here in the Pacific Northwest. Hopefully, I can change people's perception with this site. In addition to my blog, there are a lot of sites out there. One mainly is www.rib.net. I highly recommend this site for those who are new to world of Rigid Inflatable boats. I will share my good an bad experiences with owning a RIB in this blog. So hopefully some of you can avoid my mistakes and enjoy this beautiful area we live in.