Advice on Fire Department inflatable

[gpl916]

Hi All,

I am looking for advice on the purchase of an inflatable for use in flood rescue and evacuations.

We have a swift water team and river boat. The role of this boat would be for evacuations during times of flooding in WA state, not swift water. It would be used to access homes and people stranded in areas of low or no current, and for surface rescue on small lakes. Most areas of use would be narrow, and shallow.

Requirements;

6 person capacity
low weight for portaging- around 175lbs max
rowable with 4 or 5 team members
powered by 20hp Honda w/ caged prop
stored on top of Canopy on pick up (motor inside)
Hypalon


I guess at this point I just need to narrow it down to a Rigid, or an Aluminum floor "foldup"? We were leaning towards the RIB but the rep at Defender suggested the AL floor. It does not need to be emblazoned w/ Rescue or super heavy duty. Currently looking at an Achilles HB350 11'6".

Need advice on the pro's and con's of the two technologies. Needles to say- severly limited budget.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Advice on Fire Department inflatable

Yes, Achilles! Bigger though. I'd start looking at 16' or bigger for a rescue boat. RIB vs. soft hull just depends on what kind of rescues you could be involved in. Are you on rivers, lakes or ocean?

 

[lester]

Re: Advice on Fire Department inflatable

Do you already have the Honda 20 HP? If you do, a short shaft or long shaft might help your decision along.

 

[kandil]

Re: Advice on Fire Department inflatable

Boating in the city could be dangers there is allot of signs, fences and mail boxes that would rib the boats tubs if you hit them I would look for a whit water rated inflatable
A RIB would have a V hull and it needs more depth than say a tunnel hull or a SIB I would look for a good quality Haypalon inflatable they last longer than a PVC one.
Hi Drowned Rat what kind of rescues you could be involved in. Are you on rivers, lakes or ocean?
I think he is not going to use it in lakes nor rivers it well be down town

 

[bayman]

Re: Advice on Fire Department inflatable

Some of the rescue operations down in Texas have used a combination of several small inflatable boats with large flat-bed semi trucks. They use the large trucks to get the boats to where the water which is too deep for trucks and where rescues need to take place. Then they lift the small inflatables up and down off the trucks. They key is that the inflatables are small so that they can easily lift them up and down. Several can be kept on one truck in case a good number of boats are needed.

There are a number of strategies, this is just one that I thought seemed to work well.