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“ What makes Estilo ribs so special?”. If we ask it to Osmar Ramiro, the owner and founder of the brand, he answers with a smile: “Nothing”. However, the “nothing” he loves to use is loaded with significance since, as he explains during our interview: “our ribs have nothing more than what we believe a good inflatable boat should have”. In other words, Estilo ribs are made exactly as Estilo engineers believe that good ribs should be made and equipped to be considered as such. It’s like saying: the matter is not that our ribs are special; rather, the problem is that the other ribs are…. under-endowed.
Estilo is a newborn brand resulting from the long experience of its ancestors. It was created by Ramiro, a businessman who has been working in the world of ribs (more specifically in that of rigid inflatable boats) for over 20 years with his Maggom, a company based in Casei Gerola, a few km away from Milan, the home of the great Italian tradition in the world of inflatable boats. The hypalon products manufactured by the shipyard have been and are still destined to many well-known brands, for both recreational and professional purposes. The company even includes a specific department manufacturing military boats.
If the previous question about the special qualities of these ribs is put to Paolo Strazzela, the inventor of the Estilo 17 – the first model presented to the audience just returning from the first photo shoots at sea – the focus is on her modularity.
” We give everyone the possibility to adjust the boat to specific needs“, Strazzela explains “because lockers positioned in the cockpit, both in the bow and on the transom, can be added or removed very easily. Even when the boat has already been launched or when a model enters the second-hand market. In practice, our customers can choose to have a completely open inflatable boat for professional and fishing purposes or a means equipped with a considerable amount of lockers, a fore coffee table and a sun pad if they prefer a version more suitable for family trips. Or even a middle way, with a well-equipped side where to accommodate guests and an unencumbered one where to enjoy fishing”, he concludes enthusiastically.
In terms of construction materials and methods, Estilo therefore is experiencing a good debut. It starts with a 17-footer, actually under construction, which will be soon followed by a smaller version (about 4-metre long) and a larger one (about 23 feet) in order to offer a range of different models for different size needs. The common denominator will be performances. ” We got the hull of the Estilo 17 designed in Holland. We wanted that it was as efficient as possible so that, even if powered by a 40 hp engine (so, with no boating license required), the boat can have unlimited uses. As for the end use, we wanted that the rib was as practical and responsive as a boat powered by a 90 hp engine, which is the power we advice as the best boat/propulsion ratio”, Ramiro explains.
As for design – after all, you know, eyes are the first inevitable choosers before any possible technical judgement – we can say that the effort of the designer Massimo Ungolo is quite visible in the stylistic choices of two-colour upholstery and finishings as well as the presence of synthetic teak on all walkable surfaces (with all the advantages this solution implies compared to natural teak in terms of weight installed on board, durability, low heat beneath feet and maintenance), including the two long passages next to the swimming platform which extend until the aft terminal cones.
The coordinated intervention between naval architect, ideator and designer is equally evident in some technical details, such as the fiberglass bow fitting, the handrails implemented in the driving console and the console itself with its standup. Design is essential but elegant; both wheel and controls are positioned on a well-finished structure decorated with straight and curved lines which can even folded when the Estilo 17 is used as a simple tender of a larger yacht. It’s not a simple parallelepiped-shaped block located in the middle of the cockpit but a decorated compact figure, thin at the bottom and larger at the top, where the windshield seems to bloom from the stem. All these details are specifically designed to identify and characterize the rib in the great sea of competition.
