Looking after your rib boat

There is lots of information out there about how to look after your outboard engines, but very little about actual rib maintenance, ribs are reliable 4x4’s of the sea, they are very rugged, and so long as you find the right ribs for sale, your boat will last you a lifetime. General boat maintenance procedures apply to the hull of the boat, keep eyes open for any damage to the gelcoat caused by abrasion and impact, these chinks in the armour of the boat need to be attended to as soon as possible to avoid possible water ingress into the fiberglass beneath. Gelcoat repair kits are available from all good boat and yacht chandlers where you will also find good deals on mariner outboards and a myriad other enticing goodies for your boat from icom VHF through Garmin G deals to tohatsu outboards! If you didn't want to buy a new rib and instead decided to plumb for a used rib for sale, then you will also need to keep a look out for some problems that come a little later in the boats life, these comprise transom flexing (first signs are star cracking in the gelcoat at the corners of the transom), micro-blistering to the hull (small bubbles caused by water getting between the fiberglass and the gelcoat due to osmosis of water through the hull. For these last 3 faults you should contact a boat repair company to seek their advice as to whether the boat is worth repairing.