Massive Irish 16-Metre RIB Nears Completion at Red Bay

7th February 2012

#RIBS–Antrim's Red Bay Boats are building a 16-metre RIB and the new model to the Red Bay range will have a number of commercial applications. The Northern Ireland boat firm is operating at full capacity with commercial orders this month, a tonic for these times, and the firm headed by Tom McLaughlin, will be exhibiting a full range at the UK Seaworks Boat Show in late May.

With the hull mold of the the new 16-metre craft completed, the first Redbay Stormforce 1650 is underway! The boat is going to be built as a Pilot Boat and will be used for demo's and will be on display at the upcoming boat shows.

pilotboatrib

The impressive 16m design is now under construction at Cushendall in County Antrim

The photos below show the first hull being laid with fibreglass. Beside the hull mold is the plug for the deck mold and the cabin mold which are still being made.

16mribconstruction

16mribcabin

Power for the monster hull is coming from twin Volvo Penta D9 500hp engines coupled to ZF gearboxes with shafts and rudders. It is clearly a boat that will interest port companies in this country and around the world.

Published in RIBs

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.