Tornado 45 Verses Fountain 48 Express
- Thread starter SageMaster
- Start date
Bajansailor
Well-known member
Just get yourself an Itama instead - you won't regret it.
@Portofino can elaborate.
@Portofino can elaborate.
MapisM
Well-known member
This.
And even if the inboard engines would need work, I'd rather do that, than try a very risky conversion.
With boats as fast as those, the weight distribution is of essence, and the forces applied to the transom by big O/Bs require the whole hull mould to be designed for them.
I appreciate the attraction of modern O/Bs, but if that's what you want, just look for a boat designed for them from the ground up.
Portofino
Well-known member
Agree with both posts 2+3 ^ 
.
Tornados ( the Italian version ) are light weight boats about 1/2 the weight of equivalent Itama and the 45 the one in Q has its engines either stern drive or surface mounted behind the transom under the sunpad ,They are both trim able so obviously can be trimmed to run flat easily . Gets round the inherent cocked up weight distribution btw .
They are a bit narrow in the beam erring towards the cigarette style hulls .So whilst the hulls are perfectly capable, they loose out on accommodation and ultimately there wave crushing ability.They gain on fuel economy ( diesels ) but the engines are again approx 1/2 size / displacement.
If you examine Tornadoes carefully and critically close up there’s corner cutting with components and build quality.
Bit like parking a Porsche next to a Lotus or TVR .From 10 ft away everything looks wow .
They sort of fill a tiny niche under Itama , Magnum and Otam .The stern drives are the give away and let down at this 13-14 M size inho .It all goes horribly wrong from that decision……arguably one of the many cost cutting decisions taken .
You are more than 10 ft away here
so the vids a pleasure to watch .
I guess when new they were new 1/2 the price as eq Itama , you got 1/2 the weight of boat with 1/2 the size engines , 1/2 the fuel burn , 2/3 rd s accommodation and depending on the waves 80 % of the fun .
Think Dacia cars .
.Tornados ( the Italian version ) are light weight boats about 1/2 the weight of equivalent Itama and the 45 the one in Q has its engines either stern drive or surface mounted behind the transom under the sunpad ,They are both trim able so obviously can be trimmed to run flat easily . Gets round the inherent cocked up weight distribution btw .
They are a bit narrow in the beam erring towards the cigarette style hulls .So whilst the hulls are perfectly capable, they loose out on accommodation and ultimately there wave crushing ability.They gain on fuel economy ( diesels ) but the engines are again approx 1/2 size / displacement.
If you examine Tornadoes carefully and critically close up there’s corner cutting with components and build quality.
Bit like parking a Porsche next to a Lotus or TVR .From 10 ft away everything looks wow .
They sort of fill a tiny niche under Itama , Magnum and Otam .The stern drives are the give away and let down at this 13-14 M size inho .It all goes horribly wrong from that decision……arguably one of the many cost cutting decisions taken .
You are more than 10 ft away here
so the vids a pleasure to watch .I guess when new they were new 1/2 the price as eq Itama , you got 1/2 the weight of boat with 1/2 the size engines , 1/2 the fuel burn , 2/3 rd s accommodation and depending on the waves 80 % of the fun .
Think Dacia cars .
Last edited:
MapisM
Well-known member
PowerYachtBlog
Well-known member
Tornado while on the lighter side of things to an Itama, and is still a less performing boat then a Fountain.
There is nothing wrong with that, but she a boat of max 50 knots. While the Fountain is designed for 60 plus, see stepped hull and a very slim beam to length ratio.
A Fountain is more compared with a Cigarette, Donzi, Baja, Nor-Tech or if you stay in Europe an old Hunton, Cigala and Bertinetti, Tecnomar (the late eighties ninetess BB series with hull by Cougar), a Bruno or Tullio Abate Offshore lines, and or an Albatro from Venice. Unfortunately with the exception of Albatro these do not exist anymore or are doing something different today.
I still bend the knee when I see and Cigala e Bertinetti, with the important boats here designed by Fabio Buzzi.
The Tornado 45 is a very capable boat, designed by Tom Fexas, Its real competitor was the Mig 43 from nearby Rome.
Other similar competing machine would be a Sunseeker 45 Apache/48 Superhawk.
She is designed around stern drives and or surface drives,
Itama's and or Magnum are something completely different.
I do agree what everybody has written here, as both of these craft where designed around stern drives, and or surface drives.
There is nothing wrong with that, but she a boat of max 50 knots. While the Fountain is designed for 60 plus, see stepped hull and a very slim beam to length ratio.
A Fountain is more compared with a Cigarette, Donzi, Baja, Nor-Tech or if you stay in Europe an old Hunton, Cigala and Bertinetti, Tecnomar (the late eighties ninetess BB series with hull by Cougar), a Bruno or Tullio Abate Offshore lines, and or an Albatro from Venice. Unfortunately with the exception of Albatro these do not exist anymore or are doing something different today.
I still bend the knee when I see and Cigala e Bertinetti, with the important boats here designed by Fabio Buzzi.
The Tornado 45 is a very capable boat, designed by Tom Fexas, Its real competitor was the Mig 43 from nearby Rome.
Other similar competing machine would be a Sunseeker 45 Apache/48 Superhawk.
She is designed around stern drives and or surface drives,
Itama's and or Magnum are something completely different.
I do agree what everybody has written here, as both of these craft where designed around stern drives, and or surface drives.
Kubcat
Member
Fountain 48 Express is an awesome boat if that is the type of boat you like.
With outboards you tend to lose the swim platform and need quite a few of them.
I have a 38ft Cigarette - long story - but came with twin V8 outboards in 1991. They were unreliable so I swapped in some brand new 8.1 litre inboards and Bravo drives and the boat handles so much better.
Outboards have a much higher centre of gravity and all the weight is not only up high, but behind the transom. With the engines down low inside the boat, it is much more stable boat that loves rough water even more.
With outboards you tend to lose the swim platform and need quite a few of them.
I have a 38ft Cigarette - long story - but came with twin V8 outboards in 1991. They were unreliable so I swapped in some brand new 8.1 litre inboards and Bravo drives and the boat handles so much better.
Outboards have a much higher centre of gravity and all the weight is not only up high, but behind the transom. With the engines down low inside the boat, it is much more stable boat that loves rough water even more.
