Just had a guy contact me about an old Glass Tornado. Two years ago I was asking about finding plans for one and this fellow just today ran across my name.
The boat is complete, but "may" need new beams and Mast judging from his description and my personal experience with a Tornado of that age. Are inexpensive used beams and masts floating around?
This offer may be too good to pass up (it's close by and cheap...LOL)...the boat is from the early seventies built by " Zygal Boats, St. Peters Road, Whitstable Kent, England" anyone know about the quality of this builder? Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.
Bob
MauganH17 -
I have an older Tornado here in Greensboro (definitely needs work) if you're interested in taking a look.
Bernie Smith
Hi Bernie,
Sounds like you finally acquired an older Tornado…but I don’t hear (read) of the enthusiasm that had when you started this post a while back…. Did the dream turn into a nightmare? I would love to have a Tornado but finding an old beater and fixing it up is beginning to look less and less inviting. I would like to hear your opinion on the matter now that you have the first hand experience. I have made no commitment to purchase the boat I have found at this point…and I am leaning towards not getting involved in another project of this expense, both time and money. Is it worth it? Have parts been expensive and hard to come by? How available are old cross beams and Masts?
Bob
Bob - I bought an older Tornado in 1987 and (more or less) refinished it and updated it to the then current specifications (prebent mast). The boat which I mentioned for sale is a second Tornado which I purchased for spare parts with an eye toward restoring it also - but lack of time interferes. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first boat when I have had it on the water - even with the extensive setup time.
Bernie…
Have you ever heard anything about Tornado’s built by Zygal Boats? I had one response on the old forum that warned against buying from this builder…I am looking for a second opinion to either confirm or deny Jay’s warning before writing it off.
Bob
Howdee:
Guess I better say "Hi" and give you my phone number so we can talk about Tcats.
301 208 0828 home
301 975 2626 work
240 876 9510 mobile
There ya go. Call me and I'll rant about Tornadoes as long as you wanna.
-Greg
Concerning Tornado crossbeams;
Most Tornado's are built as a deck. The hulls and the crossbeams are all clamped up in a jig so the hulls are aligned and then the crossbeams and hulls are drilled for the bolts. So a different set of beams will probably misalign the hulls and might not even fit. The easiest thing to do is buy extrusions and match drill to the old beams.
It looks to me like your best bet is a Prindle 19. The 8.5' beam allows you to easily trailer it without standing it on its' ear. You should be able to get an older model which will satisfy your boat rejuvenation hobby. In addition, you can purchase the new MX sails and the new rudders with the money from the sale of your older boat. They greatly improve the performance of this boat. You'll notice that the Portsmith numbers are fairly close to that of the older style of Tornado with one trap and no spinnaker. You won't be sorry.
I figure I'll chime in my "Almost had a T" experience just for kicks.
I'd sold my H16 and was looking for a new, bigger, faster boat. There was a Tornado in sailing condition in St. Pete, sitting on the owner's lawn right by the beach. The ad said $1000 takes it away so I called and said I would check it out Saturday. I didn't have a car yet (I was 16) so my dad had to drive me. That Saturday he didn't feel like going and told me we'd go Sunday instead. "It'll still be there tomorrow" was his 'sage advice'. I called Sunday morning to let them know we were headed up and... no boat. They'd sold it Saturday night. 
He ended up missing his favorite two football teams play each other a few Sundays later to drive me up to Dunedin to check out the G-Cat 5.7M, which I ended up buying. I wasn't going to accept his "It'll still be there tomorrow" excuse any more!