Tornado Boats was started in 1975 by David Haygreen.
One of the early pioneers in the development of the RIB, David, an ex professional diver and aircraft engineer wanted a boat for his Marine Survey company and, with nothing commercially suitable, decided to build his own. The result a 5.5m boat was a great success and powered by a 50HP motor (big at the time !) attracted much interest. Constantly asked by others where they could get one David was at first reluctant to build more. Fortunately his passion for design and a love of the sea won through and the decision was made to develop a production boat. A name was required, and with a copy deadline for the first advert but an hour away the name Tornado came to mind.
The Tornado was born.
The first Tornado, a 5m, featured the simple logo of a round circle with a 'T' inside. Amazingly some of these boats still exist – 30 years on !
Production began slowly with one boat being built every three to four weeks. Manufacture was done from home with the hulls laminated in the garage, and the tubes assembled on plywood sheets laid across the bed – those were the days !
Slowly the Tornado's reputation for strength and performance grew and an invitation to trial a boat for the British Navy was received. A trial which the Tornado won. The result a production run of over 140 boats and a move to a new factory in Hull !
