RIBCRAFT 5.85 Review, a 19-Foot Professional RIB

Why harbormasters and yacht clubs keep ordering the 5.85

The RIBCRAFT 5.85 (you will also see it written as 5/85 or 585) is the boat RIBCRAFT USA calls the most relied-on model in its line for government agencies, yacht clubs and private industry. It is a 19-foot 4-inch rigid inflatable with an 8-foot beam, a deep-V fiberglass hull, a heavy Hypalon tube and an open center-console deck. The name is metric: roughly 5.85 meters of boat.

That pedigree is not marketing fluff. RIBCRAFT's own news pages record 5.85 deliveries to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, which bought two in 2022 as its first true RIBs, and to the Weymouth, Massachusetts, harbormaster, which took one in 2021. In 2024 the builder listed new 5.85 and 4.8 Coach deliveries to programs including American Yacht Club, Annapolis Yacht Club, Seattle Yacht Club and the US Sailing Center in Martin County.

For a private buyer, the appeal is a boat built to commercial standards that is light enough to tow behind an ordinary SUV and tough enough for rough water most 19-footers would avoid.

A Marblehead builder with a Navy order book

RIBCRAFT USA is based in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Soundings toured the facility in 2019 and reported that the company builds most of its boats for commercial use, including RIBs for the US Navy, alongside recreational models from 16 to 41 feet. Business development director Matthew Velluto said he had been with the company since its founding in 2001. RIBCRAFT's news page also lists an $80 million Navy contract.

The company stresses that all of its boats are built in the United States, which matters to municipal buyers and to private owners who want parts and service support from the builder. The European RIBCRAFT operation, which says it has more than 30 years of experience building RHIBs for professional and military users, runs its own site and range.

Hull and tube, 22 degrees aft and 43 forward

The 5.85's hull is a true deep-V: RIBCRAFT quotes 22 degrees of deadrise at the transom and 43 degrees forward, with a high, swept bow and full-length lifting strakes. That fine entry is why the boat can run hard into a chop, and the strakes plus the tube are why it stays flat in turns. Draft without the engine is 14 inches, and the boat weighs 1,295 pounds before an outboard goes on.

The tube is 20 inches in diameter, made from 1670 dtex Hypalon and divided into five separate chambers with pressure-relief valves. A heavy rubstrake, external lifelines and a stainless bow eye are standard. Soundings noted that every RIBCRAFT tube is multi-chambered, and that the hull is designed to float on its own even if the chambers are holed.

RIBCRAFT will build to order beyond the brochure. The Weymouth harbormaster's boat, for example, has a customized aluminum hull to match the department's other patrol boats.

What 19 feet 4 inches buys inside the tubes

A RIB always gives up interior space to its tube, and the 5.85 is no exception: internal deck length is 14 feet 9 inches and internal beam is 5 feet 1 inch. In exchange you get a boat that is very stable at rest, rated for 10 people, and on which passengers can sit on the tubes.

Standard equipment is sensibly basic: a center console with a front bench seat, either two side-by-side pod seats or a leaning post, a stainless console grab rail, a 46-gallon internal fuel tank, NFB steering, battery and switch, an electrical panel, navigation lights, a compass, an electric bilge pump and a molded non-skid deck.

• Console options: rescue console with attached pod seat, windshield with grab rail
• Seating: extra pod seats, two-person bench, three-person bench with cooler
• Structure: antenna arch, T-top, fore and aft tow posts, crash rail, lifting points
• Working gear: dive tank storage, keel guard, reinforced bow tube, boarding wear patches, PropGuard

Power choices and what delivered boats actually run

RIBCRAFT lists a maximum of 135 hp for the 5.85 and offers complete engine packages, but does not publish a standard engine. The delivered boats in its own news releases show what customers choose: Rhode Island DEM's pair run single Mercury 115 hp four-strokes, and the builder says they exceed 40 knots. Weymouth's aluminum-hulled boat carries a Suzuki 140, above the published maximum for the fiberglass boat, which shows how much the custom build can vary.

A RIB's light weight is the key to that speed. Soundings quoted RIBCRAFT president Brian Gray in 2016 saying that RIBs need less power and smaller tow vehicles than hard-sided boats. We have not found an independent fuel-burn test for the 5.85, so we do not quote cruise consumption.

Coach boat, mark boat and umpire platform

Sailing programs are a big part of the 5.85's life. RIBCRAFT describes it as ideal for coaching and race management, a crossover between the 15-foot 4.8 Coach used for junior sailing and bigger mark-setting boats. A RIB's soft tube means a coach can come alongside a dinghy without damaging it, and the deep-V lets the same boat run out to set marks in open water.

RIBCRAFT says it services more than 30 club boats a winter, from tube conditioning to full retubes, and that its RIBs hold strong resale value as clubs rotate fleets. That rotation is where many private buyers find used 5.85s.

Owning a RIB, tubes, covers and the 20-year question

The tube is the one part of a RIB that ages faster than the hull. Soundings, in a 2019 RIBCRAFT feature, put Hypalon tube life at a couple of decades and PVC at a decade or more. RIBCRAFT uses Hypalon, but sun, abrasion against docks and poor storage shorten that life. Keep the boat covered, keep the tube clean and properly inflated, and budget for a retube eventually.

Annual costs are modest: roughly $3,500 to $9,000 for insurance, trailer or mooring, outboard service, tube care and storage. A single four-stroke in the 115 to 140 hp range is cheap to run next to the multi-engine boats that dominate this site.

Buying used and judging price without a sticker

Because RIBCRAFT does not publish prices and many 5.85s were built for clubs or agencies, used boats vary widely. A former club coach boat with a tired tube and high engine hours might be the cheapest way into the model, while a recreational boat with a T-top, electronics and a recent outboard will cost far more. Ask for the build sheet, the tube's manufacture date and any retube history.

Ex-government boats can be excellent buys, since agencies tend to service engines on schedule, but check for added equipment holes, wiring changes and heavy wear on the tube at the bow and boarding areas.