Rosborough 246 Rib !!!

R

Robert H. Wilkinson

New member
Just heard that Rosborough has married its Rough Water 9.11 Rib and its 246 Cruiser!!! Can't wait to see that!! Think you could safely label it " One serious rough water capable fast cruiser" !! Did I mention its Canadian ?? - lol - Regards Rob
 
From the RF 246 Yahoo list:

Greetings, it is time again for the Maine Boat Builder's Show. We expect a large group of boat owners for a late winter rendezvous, through the good efforts of Jim McCrea.
What makes this show and meet up more exciting than usual is that it is not only the 25th year of the Maine Boat Builder's Show, but that it is also a banner year for Rosborough Boats… The RF-246 is turns 25 this year!!
All of the 2012 RF-246s will have a 25th anniversary logo on them as a commemoration and we will have be giving out hats celebrating the event for all the RF-246 Owners (and other Rosborough owners) who are able to come to next weekend's show (March 16-18 in Portland, ME).
Along with the RF-246's Silver Anniversary, we will be introducing the all-new (and world's first) Trawler RHIB. This boat, which uses the interior layout of the ever popular RF-246 and the unique Deep-V hull design of our Rough Water™ 9.11 RHIB expands the cruising horizons of the serious cruiser. The RW 9.11 Trawler RIB has evolved by incorporating what we have learned from our RF-246 owners about the layouts and amenity requirements for comfortable cruising coupled with the Off-Shore Patrol and Search & Rescue platform that we have been supplying to Professional Marine Agencies and Private Industry users throughout Canada, the US and the UK since 2003.
The prototype Trawler RHIB, developed in collaboration with Craig Owings (of Panmuffalo fame on this site), has had a full season of cruising with over 1,700 miles on the water between Maine and Maryland and we couldn't have a better test platform than with Craig and Sarah. Imagine an RF-246 that can cruise at 25 knots with ease in harsh conditions, with comfortable cruising accommodations, and still able to be hauled out and legally trailered to the next cruising ground. It started as an awesome concept between Craig Owings and Bob Rosborough and now it's a reality. This new boat is equipped with the brand-new Mercury 150HP 4-stroke outboards that were just introduced at the Miami Boat Show last month.
With the nostalgia of RF-246 milestone we launched a Rosborough Facebook page to keep things fresh! Be among the first to become friends with us. Heaton and I will be keeping the postings up to date. Please take some time to add your likes and comments to the page and visit www.rosboroughboats.com for a direct link to our facebook page…

From the owners:

Afternoon all,

Just a newbie in the Rosborough world of boats. We sailed a CSY44, POGO II, for
30+ years and have just transitioned to a good motorboat.

Talking to Bob Rosborough at the Maine Boat Builder's Show in March of 2010, we
started kicking round the idea of a fast cruising version of the RF246. After
much hemming and hawing we decided to take the Rosborough Roughwater 9.11 and
marry the RF246 cabin structure to it.

The end result is a very fast, stable, strong 2 person cruiser. We have been in
Halifax for the last 2 weeks doing seatrials, and small adjustments to the base
construction. The result has been a delight to all of us. A good looking boat
that is a new concept in a fast personal cruiser.

With that I hope to adopt the RF-246 owners as new "cousins" . If nothing else,
you can use Conepatus as a fender between 246's:) We will be cruising the NE
coast of the USA this year, and invite anyone from the group who wants to "kick
the tubes" to drop us a line and see where and when we can cross wakes.

Check out our blog at http://conepatus.wordpress.com

Our best to all.

Capt Sarah Terry & Craig Owings
MV Conepatus


Bill Uffelman
 
Rob...good to see another Canadian C-Dory 22' Angler owner in Ontario. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of your boat. Tug
 
That's a cool looking boat. I wonder how performance and comfort compare to a Tomcat. Any idea what it costs?

A lot of the bigger RIBs are very fast. A few years back I was crossing Rosario Strait in our Whaler. Conditions were calm and I was moving pretty quickly; faster then 40 knots, but a Protector with a pair of 275 Mercs flew by. I'd hate to see the fuel bill (I was burning somewhere around 18 gph with a single 200), but if you've got to get somewhere fast, the fuel costs are less of a concern. As much as I like the fuel economy of the C-Dory, sometimes speed is nice!
 
I think the new boat would be a good match for some couple with an intense desire to explore more challenging waters safely and in comfort, but would probably put some fairly serious demands on initial capital outlay, and would have a problem with getting too far from fuel sources (although I have't read what fuel capacities are available or can be stored on deck in the style of an Inside Passage venture).

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
but a Protector with a pair of 275 Mercs
Click to expand...

Wait until you see the Homeland Security rib around the San Juans. It passed us once; It has 3 or 4 300 horse outboards out back.
Flew by us like nothing...and very close.
 
From the blog for Conepatus (link above but here it is again http://conepatus.wordpress.com) is the following on fuel consumption with its 2 x Yamaha 150s:

"Conepatus will slow cruise at 6.5kts and will give around 6 miles/gallon for a very efficient slow cruise, comparable to our old sailboat. You can pick her up to 10-11kts, and she starts using fuel, with a about 2.8 nautical miles/gallon of fuel. Now as you kick it up to around 17kts, the consumption increases as we are getting around 1.95 miles per gallon. From 17kts to 28kts the consumption is pretty flat, giving around 1.89 miles/gal. From 28kts to 32kts it drops to 1.83 miles/gallon, and finally she tops out around 36kts, and is running 1.78 miles/gallon."

"With the tanks full (135gal/us), we can expect to run around 800 miles at 6kts, and at 35 kts around 240 miles. So in 7 hours we can go as far as we used to with POGO II in 48 hours."

The boat is eventually headed to Panama where the owners live. They are incredibly experienced boaters and have boated in Central America for many years. The boat is wicked fast. The interior is narrower than an RF-246 but its fuel economy is a good bit better. I am looking forward to seeing the boat at the Maine Boat Builders Show next week. It is not a boat for everyone but it nevertheless is a pretty exciting boat and is extremely capable. The Inside Passage should be no issue at all.
 
localboy":279tmnhc said:
but a Protector with a pair of 275 Mercs
Click to expand...

Wait until you see the Homeland Security rib around the San Juans. It passed us once; It has 3 or 4 300 horse outboards out back.
Flew by us like nothing...and very close.
Click to expand...

Shoot! Why not, it's not like they pay for their own fuel.

They were probably running down another one of those "threats" on the Canadian border.

I feel safer just thinking about it.

Thanks guys!
 
I would want to see the interior. The Ros 246 had forward berths which were small for us. A 23degree dead rise boat w I'll handle chop @3' or more better than Tom Cat. From the numbers given the Tom cat is both faster and more efficient than this RIB.

I question the wisdom of running from critastobal to San Andros in this boat. I even wonder about 6 mpg at 6.5 knots.
 
Thanks Bill for the link. Pete Brown at Rosborough did e mail me that info but for some reason I didn't catch the link to the prototype log and photo's. Probably because after reading the first paragraph my laptop was covered in drool!! Its all good now tho, I'm wearing my grandaughters bib!! Don't know what they will cost mr.20dauntless, but a RF246 will run around $120k. They are mostly custom built from the owners buildsheet so you decide the final price... Regards Rob
 
Afternoon all,

Some updates on Conepatus. From cruising the Maine coast in 2011 I have better fuel numbers .... At 5-6kts burn is 5kmpg (nautical miles / gal), at 20kts burn is 1.8kmpg, and at 34kts burn is 1.1kmgp.

The original numbers were before we loaded her down for cruising. Not sure what Bob Rosborough is asking for the #2 hull, but I suspect around $170k. As equipped Conepatus would cost around $240k to build. Not a cheap boat, but cruising in 2011 with a Prout Snow Goose and a 47' monohull, it fulfilled its design criteria. On a 100mile day the sailboats left at zero dark thirty, we left around 0900. We would pass them around 1030hrs, and be in port around 1400hrs. Go for ice cream, read a book, and have dinner ready for all at 1800hrs.

As for stability and sea keeping, I used a bit of bad judgement and tried to go out the Kennebec River on the day after Irene passed. The river was rising, the tide was in full flood and I tried to go out the entrance. We made it most of the way out when I chickened out, after looking around the point and seeing what seas I would have to run parallel to.

Nice thing about a stable boat, rubber life rings are stable, I could spin her on the top of a breaker, and then have the power to run on the back side holding position on the backside till we entered the harbor. Went out the next day at 20kts.

So far the boat has lived up to expectations for a fast, trailerable 2 person cruising boat.

Craig
 
The boats (barges) that they use for river maintenance on the Potomac have 7 or * big outboards on them. They have a number of these boats rigged that way.
 
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