Zodiac inflatable boats for sale

Zodiac

From a technical standpoint, Zodiac RIBs stand out for their strong buoyancy and therefore high load capacity. To date, the Zodiac brand has sold well over 10 million boats and is the undisputed market leader in this segment.

Zodiac RIBs became known worldwide in the 1950s, when co-inventor Alain Bombard sailed across the Atlantic in a prototype. An adventure that laid the foundation for a boat concept that would go on to succeed around the globe.

Even though Arctic peoples had been using the principle of "animal skin filled with air" as a buoyant boat material for thousands of years, Alain Bombard is celebrated as the inventor of the rigid inflatable boat. In the 1950s, the Frenchman was the first to set about attaching a solid floor, or rather a hull, to the rubber inflatable boats that had been around since the 1930s. This considerably improved the handling and the safety of inflatable boats in rough seas.

Across the pond in a prototype

But that was not all. Bombard proved the seaworthiness of his prototypes straight away with an Atlantic crossing aboard a RIB, which he undertook without any significant supplies of food or water. Bombard sailed the boat along the shipping lanes and had merchant vessels supply him with food and water at sea.

Back in France, after many unsuccessful attempts, Bombard finally found a producer in the aircraft manufacturer Zodiac, a company willing to look into the principle of "inflatable boat with a rigid hull" - initially well outside its own field. Not least in order to develop a suitable rescue craft for flights that came down over the oceans.

Cousteau lent a hand

Yet the boats, now called "Zodiac", did not (yet) meet with the response they needed in France's then still emerging watersports world. It was only when a certain Jacques Cousteau - a navy comrade of Bombard's - had his divers jump into the sea from Zodiacs rather than from tenders of any other kind in his hugely popular expedition and marine research films that the brand name, and above all the rigid inflatable boat concept, became widely known. And popular...

To date, the Zodiac brand has sold well over 10 million RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats) and is the undisputed market leader in this segment.

Good buoyancy, more safety

Zodiac RIBs stand out for their strong buoyancy and therefore their high load capacity. This in turn is the result of the large buoyancy tubes, which give the boats a low center of gravity and keep them lying stably on the water. At high speed and in rough seas, the various hull shapes provide additional safety. Accordingly, many Zodiac boats are used as offshore boats. Combat divers and engineers of many navies also rely on powerfully engined Zodiac offshore boats.
Until 2007, Zodiac was part of the French aircraft manufacturer Zodiac Aerospace, but today it is majority-owned by the US-based Carlyle Group. The Zodiac brand name remains protected.