Hey All. Although I have owned (3) Defenders in the past, I have never run one without collars. Can it be done?
I have no collars on my Defender at the moment but they are on order from Safeboat. Going to be a few months until they arrive. Just completed a full service at the boat yard today. I was not on site but the mechanics did attempt to float and sea trial the boat. From what I am told, the boat was backed into the water, floated, but kept attached to the trailer at the bow. One person on board, standing at Starboard - the boat was listing to Port. As he also moved to Port to speak to the driver in the truck, the boat listed further to Port. They didn’t feel comfortable and aborted the sea trial entirely. Just ran the motors and systems in place and trailered back to the shop.
What can possibly be making the boat list? Has anyone run Defenders without collars? My only reason is to ensure property operation of the engines after service ahead of receiving the collars. Make adjustments if necessary, then install the collars. Lot’s of other work to complete. Any insight would be appreciated.
It’s a good question, given that most ribs can be I’d assume in an emergency it’s ok but also note these boats are not rollover rated so if it starts rolling it will turtle…. I wouldn’t risk it personally just to test the engines.
Did you get the old style or new style collars? Curious about your experience as it’s on my list.
This is a 2010 model so it had the newer style XDR collars. So far, my experience is simply placing an order. We’ll see how the install goes once they arrive in September.
If you have a 2005, I would assume you have the Rhino collars. Seem simpler to install but cost is much higher unfortunately.
I’m sure you already know this from owning a defender already - but the boat has a tendency to list slightly to port even with collars installed. I’ve always assumed this is due to the batteries being on that side. Perhaps this is exacerbated with no floatation?
I’d call Safeboat on this one… they seem to respond well to crazy questions like this - I called them once to ask if it was ok for me to beach the boat temporarily in order to access the hull - and they called me right back.
My previous Defender was a few years ago and I don’t remember the list to port. My first thought was also batteries but quickly threw out that theory as I didn’t think (3) batteries could have such a great affect. Maybe they do.
I did call Safeboat and email them. Both responses were: “It is NOT recommended to operate the vessel without collars as the collars are an integral part of the stability of the vessel.” We can read that to mean - the collars will help to stop the boat from rolling over. In the end, the mission was aborted. Just completed a ton of maintenance work on the boat and didn’t want to sink the efforts.
Not recommended to fully beach as the fuel tank if full can leak out the vents depending on the angle. I bet you could if you supported it. @05rbs has been looking at another idea to do it.
On that note, anyone else experiencing fuel top mysteriously unlatching? I suspect it is the river otters while climbing around back there, but not sure. Either way I sure don’t want it open while it is raining!
- my cap is sometimes open due to the mink or otters that crap all over the back and leave their fish heads behind.