# Anyone run a D.I.B with an oarframe?



## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

Call Outward Bound. They run a bunch of them with frames.


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## Pizzle (Jun 26, 2007)

Thanks, looked on there site, they do run the DIBs with frames. Guess, the DIB can make a good gear boat.


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## twmartin (Apr 3, 2007)

I'm curious, what's a D.I.B.?


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## Don (Oct 16, 2003)

*Demaree Inflatable Boats*

Demaree Inflatable Boats. East Coast raft maker that also does a large commercial market and military builds. D.I.B. - Inflatable Rafts, Rescue Boats, Workboats, Sponson, RIBs - Demaree Inflatable Boats


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## k2andcannoli (Feb 28, 2012)

I have a section 4 bucket with the sewn in thwarts. The DIB paddle rafts were not designed with rowing in mind. The valves are on the inside of the tubes, so are the thwart valves. The thwarts can't be removed, sewn into the the tubes. They do have very good d rings. I row mine sometimes, most recently on the moab daily at 22k. The boats are super tough and everywhere I've taken it it makes the old guides smile and tell me stories about back when they ran an old heavy dirty indestructible DIB.


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## sea hag (Mar 24, 2006)

Have an old DIB green river. Always want to run it with an oar frame? Cut the thwarts out. Yes, indestructible. Yes, heavy. Mistaken for a udisco, sometimes. 


See it in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFMqig_nbyA

It's the 4th boat through, the old Outward bound one.


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

The Sea Hag!!! I know that boat from Outward Bound days. It is at least 32-33 years old. 

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## sea hag (Mar 24, 2006)

Made in 1989. I've had her for 10+ years now. OB donated it to a charter school in denver, who didn't know what to do with it. They sold it to me for a 'donation' of 50 bucks. Frame and 172qt igloo included. I've put about 1000 miles on it. Coud use new valve boots and redone seam taped but otherwise no leaks.


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

Must have been the Sea Hag 2

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## riverlady (Nov 22, 2020)

Hello, I realize this is a really old post but I think we have picked up the exact same boat from possibly the same school. I have acquired a DIB's 17'6 Green River boat from the Odyssey school in Denver, also via donation. I am contemplating how to put a frame on this thing with the sewn in thwarts. Did you manage to cut the thwarts out ok? I am worried that removing the thwarts would effect the boats rigidity even with a frame. 

Any info you have on how you converted this raft to an oar rig would be awesome. Thanks!


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## Delta Chuck (Apr 21, 2021)

We ran commercially on the Middle Fork of the Salmon and the Upper Main Salmon daily out of Stanley from 1974 to 2000. We first used 18' Green Rivers with thwarts and later the 16' DIB's with thwarts. My grandpa fabricated all of the frames for our fleet. I grew up thinking thwarts were part of an oar boat. They work fine as oar boats with the thwarts and would not recommend permanently removing them. Someone noted they have awesome D-rings and they do. We would use these D rings to clip a carabiner in after sliding the side frame over it. We had three crossbars between the side frames. Extremely sturdy frame setup. Passengers sat on the front thwart. I'll try and get some pictures



riverlady said:


> Hello, I realize this is a really old post but I think we have picked up the exact same boat from possibly the same school. I have acquired a DIB's 17'6 Green River boat from the Odyssey school in Denver, also via donation. I am contemplating how to put a frame on this thing with the sewn in thwarts. Did you manage to cut the thwarts out ok? I am worried that removing the thwarts would effect the boats rigidity even with a frame.
> 
> Any info you have on how you converted this raft to an oar rig would be awesome. Thanks!


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## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

Coolers and dry boxes more less replace thwarts in that they keep the boat from tacoing down low. The frame keeps it from doing so up high. If you are just going to use it for a row boat, as long as you have something creating lateral stability there is no reason you cant ditch the thwarts.


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## sea hag (Mar 24, 2006)

As an oar rig, the boat is crammed with crap. A thwart does nothing that a cooler and a groover (178qt gott) packed in tight to the tubes doesn't do. My first trip, the thwarts stayed in, deflated, pushed to the side. If you are never going to paddle raft it, do it. Even if you are going to paddle raft it, I tied mine back in for a quick paddle raft.


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

sea hag said:


> Have an old DIB green river. Always want to run it with an oar frame? Cut the thwarts out. Yes, indestructible. Yes, heavy. Mistaken for a udisco, sometimes.
> 
> 
> See it in action.
> ...


What is the name in red on the front?


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## sea hag (Mar 24, 2006)

SEA HAG, of course.


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

sea hag said:


> SEA HAG, of course.


I knew the guy who ran that boat back in the mid-1980s! he was a legendary Outward Bound instructor who became a legendary Grand Canyon ]]Boatman.


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## sea hag (Mar 24, 2006)

Possibly.. According to the serial#, date of maufacture is Feb '89. Seams weep a bit, only patches (not accounting for the bucket floor) are wear patches from a chicken line.


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

sea hag said:


> Possibly.. According to the serial#, date of maufacture is Feb '89. Seams weep a bit, only patches (not accounting for the bucket floor) are wear patches from a chicken line.


Interesting. Maybe the Sea Hag II. Same boatman though. Those boats are Hella stout.


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## Keeper (Sep 28, 2021)

Pizzle said:


> Picked up a D.I.B 16ft raft, probably a Cheat series raft. Was wondering if anyone runs these with frames? How annoying are the thwarts?


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## Keeper (Sep 28, 2021)

You will never go wrong with a DIB boat. Made well, track very nice in the water. I paddle boat it, and rig oars including rear mount, center mount, and 3/4 mount. I love this boat so much that I have had the floor replaced and this year replaced my valves. 
My boat is a 1980’s model and I love it.


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## Keeper (Sep 28, 2021)

sea hag said:


> SEA HAG, of course.





Pizzle said:


> Thanks, looked on there site, they do run the DIBs with frames. Guess, the DIB can make a good gear boat.


DIbs are just plain good boats for anything.


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