Tornado Flooring Anyone else had issues?

[The Bee]

Greetings.
I bought a 2008 5.8m Tornado a couple of years back and the floor was a little soft and creaky in places, which has gotten progressively worse as I use the boat a lot.
Investigation showed that when she was built they omitted to glass the underside of the floor ply, so it has rotted from underneath.
On removing the floor, it now shows the stringers were not treated either, so have all rotted.
Anyone else had this? P1ss poor manufacturing. I have written to Tornado and am awaiting a response.

[Nasher]

Sadly it's very common from most, if not all, RIB manufacturers.

There are several threads on here about re-decking due to delaminated ply decks.

And strangely it appears to be worse on commercial style boats like Tornado.
I've always assumed they expect a Boat to be well used and abused to the point of being scrapped before the issue comes apparent.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by The Bee

Greetings.
I bought a 2008 5.8m Tornado a couple of years back and the floor was a little soft and creaky in places, which has gotten progressively worse as I use the boat a lot.
Investigation showed that when she was built they omitted to glass the underside of the floor ply, so it has rotted from underneath.
On removing the floor, it now shows the stringers were not treated either, so have all rotted.
Anyone else had this? P1ss poor manufacturing. I have written to Tornado and am awaiting a response.

There are many "quality" builders who dont glass the underside of their decks I've personally cut holes in ribcraft redbay & humber decks & none were glassed below , just either a clear flowcoat or resin brushed over for protection. If your contacting tornado presumably its one of the later ones which are made in china afaik which probably explains a lot. The original tornadoes were well made but the moulds & build rights were sold several years ago & production was taken aborad so there not the good old uk hand built boats they once were.
Edit I'd missed the 2008 manufacturer date which was obviously a while ago but I still think that would be a foreign built boat

[Peter_C]

The transom needs to be inspected too, unless it is not wood.

Not uncommon for manufactures to cut holes into the transom and not seal the wood before putting thru hull fittings in. Most trailer boats have drain plug bungs...held in by three screws penetrating the wood. When the outboard is bolted directly to the transom its rare to find the wood sealed with Epoxy/resin, prior to outboard install using something like 3M 5200 as a sealer.

[fastasfox]

Your Tornado was made in China, Tornado UK was sold in 2002 to the Chinese for the Olympics.
If you give XS ribs a call near Hull ,as they used to own Tornado but reformed into XS ribs and Rib re-tube UK to take care of the re-fit side of things.
Depending on the condition of your boat it may be worthwhile taking the deck up and replacing bad wood...put in good wood.
I don't think you will have much joy in complaining to Tornado as they are now Scandinavian outfit.
Sorry you have problems all the best.

[fastasfox]

https://youtu.be/-cPAp5RJdnY?si=1888uOTn8DRb2e8j

XS Ribs being made.

[willk]

Originally Posted by The Bee

I have written to Tornado and am awaiting a response.

What did you say to them?

[The Bee]

Thanks Gents, that makes a lot of sense. Tornado are telling me it is a copy and not one of theirs as the HIN number starts with GB-TRO, so not one of theirs (GB-TBI or DK-TBI).

Looked at it today and it's a disaster under there. There are no longitudinal stringers at all, the lateral stringers are rotten and one has collapsed entirely, the fuel tank is too tall and the deck was bowing over it as it was pushing the deck up, the anchor locker drain stopped in the second compartment so the front of the boat flooded when used, the loom was going through wet compartments and the A frame is supported on the hull by one M8 bolt.
Its all being replaced and installed properly with a new steel fuel tank.
Just a tad more £££ than I was expecting.
Still, when its finished it will be better than new.

[The Bee]

Please see my last post