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Whenever someone mentions the name Redbay, most knowledgeable ribsters probably cast their minds to an 11m wheelhouse RIB with a soaring razor-sharp bow, slicing its way through a maelstrom off some remote headland…but the company’s roots started with much humbler craft.

More than 30 years ago Redbay Boats were building respected, seaworthy wooden clinker fishing boats, and these craft were not just another fishing dinghy: these were seriously seaworthy craft that stayed out in difficult sea conditions long after other craft had run for shelter. From wooden boats the company moved into GRP and built a range of fishing craft up to 21ft (6.4m). The McLaughlin family started the business from a position of exceptional experience, being RNLI crew and skippers in one of the roughest sea areas in Europe, and this experience is evident in all the craft that the company builds.

Through popular demand, the company started building fast sports boats, but with the advent of a new Atlantic 21 rescue RIB, being skippered by Redbay’s MD, Tom McLaughlin, it was not long before he caught the RIB ‘bug’ and soon had his first RIB in production, the 6.5m Stormforce.

From day one, this RIB proved to be an exceptional sea boat; solidly constructed in a traditional way, it was not long before locals realised that this was the ideal craft for the tricky sea conditions off their coast. Word soon spread, and the popularity of the craft throughout Ireland and the west coast of Scotland meant that Redbay Boats were flat out trying to keep pace with demand. The Stormforce 6.5m has been in production with the same hull design since the mid Nineties, and whilst the company has occasionally looked at ways to improve the hull, each time they do, they cannot find a better formula!

With this knowledge in mind, when invited to carry out a test on the latest Redbay Stormforce 650, we were curious to see what, if anything, had changed or been improved since the last time we were in one of these craft back in the late Nineties.

The first and most obvious change is in the internal moulding for the deck. This is a one-piece moulding that gives the craft a much better finish and, more importantly, makes the craft more rigid. Beneath the new deck are conventional full-length marine-ply stringers encased in fibreglass, and the combination of the conventional strong backbone of the craft, coupled with the new deck, evidently makes the craft just about ‘bullet proof’!

Overall, the finish of the craft is also much improved, with the mouldings and buoyancy tubes completed to a high standard, and whilst there is nothing revolutionary about the design or layout, there is an air of quality combined with rugged dependability that makes this craft stand out.

With more RIBs erring towards the luxury end of the market, it was good to be able to get my hands on a ‘new classic’ with a tried and tested pedigree, but as so often happens with boat tests, when you want it calm it’s often rough, and when you want to test a renowned offshore RIB it’s calm; and, you’ve guessed it, for the test, the sea was flat!

Looking at the internal layout showed that this craft could be used for just about anything, from a family runabout to a serious rescue/commercial RIB. The heavy-duty black buoyancy tubes, which are protected by an all-round ‘D’ fender/ heavily reinforced bow area, feature full-length lifelines, tube top non-slip boarding patches, and six rubber cleat-type grab handles. Right forward there is a heavy-duty sampson post, securely mounted on a deep raised anchor locker, and on the top of the bow tube, an aluminium fairlead.

Just forward of amidships is a standard Redbay centre steering console with a decent-sized forward hatch giving good access to the internal dash electrics and a good, dry useful storage area. A high, lightly tinted windscreen with protective grab rail (I still prefer un-tinted screens) affords the crew good protection, and in front of the navigator is a well-positioned grab handle. The dashboard layout is spot on, with the steering/controls proving exactly right for both my short frame and that of Mark Beeley, the tall gentleman from Suzuki who was in charge of the craft.

Unusually, the two side-by-side two-man seat pods appear to be part of the console moulding and, whilst this looks neat and provides extra stiffness to the whole unit, it does mean there is no option of sliding one’s legs out forward of the seat. There are four backrests for the crew, each with a looped grab handle, and the lift-off seat cushions overlap the seat mouldings to provide a degree of dry storage, but the securing of the cushions needs a re-think, as they came off each time we put the craft through the turns; attached to each cushion is an elastic cord with a hook, and this was too slack to keep the cushions firmly in place. The height, width and padding of the seats appeared to suit both Mark and myself, and one could either sit to look through the screen or stand to see over it, making this the ideal set-up for extended offshore cruising.

Right aft is a massive black anodised double ‘A’ frame securely mounted to the transom and the moulded deck section. This impressive frame carried all the usual antennae, lights etc, but also sported a practical cleat rope holder and, curiously, a huge radar reflector that would not look out of place on a deep-sea trawler. The spacious, flat, uncluttered deck area is covered in diamond pattern anti-slip ‘treadmaster’ type floor material and, apart from offering excellent non-slip properties, this also suits the character of the craft.

On the transom are two fuel/water filters and a deep drain, well fitted with a large electric auto/manual bilge pump, together with a conventional 3-inch diameter ‘elephant’s trunk’ bailer. All the cables and wiring are neatly set in trunking below the deck, and this trunking exits from two moulded box sections, adjacent to the motors, straight into the twin Suzuki outboards. Not only is this very neat, it also guarantees that everything in the trunking remains completely dry.

With 180 horsepower to play with in the form of two of the latest non-counter-rotating Suzuki 90 TL four-stroke, four-cylinder outboards, this vessel was never going to be short on power. These new engines are considerably smaller than the outgoing model, and feature the latest in high-pressure fuel injection combined with a much more efficient combustion chamber, giving better response and evidently a 20% saving in fuel consumption at cruising RPM. On a flat, calm Solent, the craft leapt onto the plane with no perceptible bow lift and settled to a comfortable and very quiet 35-knot cruise speed. We opened up to maximum throttle and trimmed the engines out to their optimum, hitting 6200rpm with a top speed of 42 knots running on the largest aluminium props that Suzuki supply. With bigger, after-market stainless-steel props, I would expect to see another three or four knots, but there was nothing wrong with the response from the motors, and they were sublimely smooth and quiet.

Cornering was of the ‘on rails’ variety and, whatever speed or direction we chucked the craft into a turn, she just gripped with no cavitation and cornered in a safe and reassuring manner. Sadly, though, the experience was spoilt by the very heavy and inconsistent hydraulic steering and, whilst this system may be OK with a single-engine installation, it could not cope satisfactorily with two engines pulling in the same direction; I would like to see a more robust and higher-rated steering system installed when running with twin non-counter-rotating engines.

Sadly, apart from jumping the Isle of Wight ferry’s wash, there were no waves to test the rough-water characteristics of this offshore RIB, but having previously covered some distance through rough Scottish seas, and accompanied HMS round Ireland in severe gales with the same hull, I can vouch for the craft’s outstanding seakeeping credentials. The calm water performance/handling on this latest craft was better than expected, so it appears that Redbay have got the recipe just right.

To sum up, this is one of those RIBs that you feel you could cruise just about anywhere and not worry if caught out in heavy seas. It looks, and is, the part; it inspires confidence and, with its new moulded deck and improved finish, it  offers that unique blend of professional unpretentious looks, coupled with tremendous ability, without being in any way utilitarian in its overall presentation.

Paul Lemmer