My boat is a 4.7m RIB made by Buccaneer and is powered by 2X30hp 2 stroke Yamaha motors. It carries 4 passengers in relative comfort i.e. 3 divers and a topman. I have been fortunate to have had this extremely reliable boat for 8 years. I would not describe myself as an experienced skipper, but I have encountered my fair share of close shaves. In Natal the old adage holds sway: “There are two types of skippers. Those who have flipped and those who are going to flip!”

What is an experienced skipper? The number of launches probably does not qualify as experience, I believe that experience comes from reacting to and overcoming problems. Most of our launching takes place through the heavy surf experienced along the Natal Coast. Waves in the vicinity of 2m are common and bigger waves are not unusual. This makes for hard-core launches on many occasions.

The first and most important rule is make sure your vessel is seaworthy. This is a legal requirement and must be renewed annually. It involves the assessment of the flotation capacity of the vessel, first aid equipment, tools/spares, safety equipment/capsize bottle contents, life-jackets, compass, radio(valid licence), anchor, sea-anchor, maps, fresh water, capsize rope and skippers certificate(add to that some form of identification for the crew and their relevant permits). The vessel must have its registration number clearly marked on it too.

Your boat trailer has to comply with certain requirements i.e. reflective tape and the name of the vessel, registration number, skipper’s name and a contact telephone number clearly marked.

That having been said, there are small issues which when given enough time will snow-ball into large and often dangerous circumstances.

Shortly after completing my skipper’s training I decided to take my boat out into a large dam to assess my ability. Always make sure you have enough fuel! I did not carry sufficient fuel and ran out of fuel within earshot of the quay. Fortunately it was in a dam and I could summon help. The lesson was well learned and I always carry at least 50% more fuel than I intend to use at sea.

On another occasion on some-one else’s RIB, the hydraulic steering tube broke. Oil spilled all over the boat. The skipper did not carry tools. Had he carried just the required tools, we could have saved the day and continued Spearfishing. Unfortunately we had to make use of emergency steering and head back while conditions were favourable.

Not all boat builders or outboard service operators are reliable individuals.

My first RIB came apart at the seams because it had not been built properly. Fortunately, the inherent buoyancy of the vessel saved the day. I replaced it with the one I currently own. Pontoons do not have an indefinite lifespan. Expect about 5 years of life before they need replacement. My boat is at that stage now and I am planning to have the pontoons refurbished by Feral Inflatables in Scottburgh.

I used several different service centres for my motors only to find that most were incompetent or apathetic, two qualities I don’t need when it comes to outboard motors going to sea. Initially two service centres missed a severely damaged starter motor on one engine. This led to inconsistent performance which gave us several frightening incidents in heavy surf and eventually resulted in a crew member fracturing a vertebra during a launch.

Then much to my chagrin, another servicing resulted in the wrong spark-plugs with the wrong gap being used in the motors. Again the motors ran poorly and the next beaching was frightening with large waves thundering in front and behind. I had no idea of how the boat was going to perform but we limped up to the beach safely.

Finally, I found a skipper who services motors in his spare time and works for the Shark’s Board officially. He is also a Spearo and appreciates the importance of sound motors. I have not looked back since. The motors now run extremely well but you are never incident free.

We were preparing the boat for launching. All the gear was on board and the trailer was tipped to dump the boat on the beach. A weight belt slid down the deck and pulled a fuel hose loose. No-one noticed until we hit the first set of waves when that motor failed. We took several waves over the bow but quickly managed to restart the engine and head out. On another occasion in very rough seas, we were preparing to beach. As I commenced the run to the beach, a motor failed. I turned the boat out but got caught in the first of a set of foamies(breaking waves). We struggled out, only to find a connecting rod had come loose. It was promptly connected and we were on our way once again.

Something I encountered quite often was the effect of the “start-in-gear-switch”. If a motor failed in the surf, it would only start if the motor was in neutral. I quickly disabled this feature. My motors start promptly in gear or out. Another feature I have disabled on my motors is the lock when the engines are down. This means that if the engines encounter something solid in the water, they will tilt up, hopefully minimizing any damage.

If you don’t want to loose it, tie it down. We have SS clips on all our gear bags which allows gear to be attached securely to the boat. I have lost thousands of rands of gear overboard when encountering rough weather or large waves. You never notice it happening at the time. Besides, I have not flipped my boat yet and when I do, I would prefer not to loose all my gear.

Seawater has no respect for electronic equipment. Electronics are housed in waterproof containers. I found that my radio needed attention after every trip as a result of water damage. Now it remains dry and I have no more repair bills.

I recently encountered an electrical fault on my boat. The fault resulted in a small fire when no-one was around. With 100l of fuel and lots of plastic and rubber, it could have been a disaster. Fortunately, I just have to replace the wiring harnesses to the motors. In the future, I will disconnect the positive terminal from the battery after beaching the boat. No electricity, no short circuits!

The downside of living in Johannesburg is that at best I get down to the coast once a month. That results in the boat standing for long periods of time. For some reason a boat that is used frequently is always more dependable than one that has stood idle for a length of time. To combat this idiosyncrasy I maintain it is safer to rely on two motors. The redundancy allows a dependable level of safety. Battery maintenance is crucial. Keep the batteries charged, clean and properly filled with distilled water.

Finally remember the little things. You are running fast and the boat is jumped clear of the waves unintentionally. On landing in the water, the motors have no power in spite of the high revs. Your props are cavitating, decrease the revs to allow normal function and propulsion to return. Fuses do blow, check them regularly to ensure trouble free motor operation.

Contributed by:  Silverback
November, 2007