Sea Start bolsters breakdown service with new RIBs

Marine breakdown service company Sea Start has placed an order for a number of new RIBs from Cowes-based Island RIBs to add to its south coast-based fleet.

“2019 was a very busy year for Sea Start,” says Sea Start’s Managing Director Nick Eales. “We have seen a significant rise in our breakdowns amongst our members. To cope with the increased number of call-outs and to keep our boats fully up to date we have made this decision to invest in the new RIBs for 2020.”

Sea Start provides marine breakdown service to sailors and motor boat owners on the south coast of England and shoreside service on the north coast of France and the Channel Islands. As well as engine breakdown service, an annual subscription to Sea Start covers freeing fouled propellers, and giving technical advice to members by phone.

The new order is for Island RIBs’ 7.5m models, which Sea Start chose for sea keeping abilities and performance as a stable platform.  Seemingly, the RIB is also very well designed for towing.

“We have looked at many different manufacturers while assessing build quality and attention to detail.  The Island RIB also came highly recommended by other users,” says Nick.

Sea Start has used a range of commercially capable RIBs and rugged service vessels over the years, including a number which the company built to ensure that they were strong and stable enough to cope with the rigours of towing.

The new RIBs will be powered by Suzuki outboards as Sea Start continues its partnership.

Sea Start will take delivery of the first RIB in April 2020 which will operate out of the company’s central base at Warsash in the central Solent. As a result, boats from the existing fleet will be deployed to other Sea Start centres along the coast.