high tension 36?? jeff H

[pjer]

built by southern ocean shipyard in poole england. /anyone have any info on them>>???

[billarcher]

The only information I could find is that unfortunately the Southern Ocean Shipyard is now possibly shut down... according to this site:

www.mbyachts.co.uk/company.html

Doing a search on "Southern Ocean Shipyard" (using the quotation marks) brings up about 6 pages of google finds, but nearly all are boats built by this yard. I have contacted many of the owners for information on how to contact the company or former employees, etc. - most importantly, asking for suggestions on getting line drawings, specs, layouts, etc. for the High Tension 36. No replies as of yet, but I will post any info I get.

Does anyone else have experience in gettings info on boats and or from yards that are no longer around? Any posted suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-b

[Jeff_H]

I am not familiar with the High Tension 38 or Southern Ocean Shipyard other than having had reference to a South African boat builder with a name like that. The best way to get info on a boat that was built by a defunct yard is to find the designer. They usually will have drawings and comment on the quality of the workmanship and consistency of the interpretation with their original design.

Jeff

[hightension]

I own a ''High Tension 36''. It was built by Southern Ocean Ship Yard and fitted out by Mitchell and Son of Poole. The designer was J de Ridder from the Netherlands

[Jeff_H]

There is one for sale in Deltaville, Va. That looks like one very nicely fitted out and equipped (just add a wind vane and a way to store a dinghy and you are ready to go anywhere) boat with a very workable interior layout. Like many former race boats of that era, she is a little bit deep and she may be a little short on ventilation.

The blurb said that she was designed to the IOR rule. That was not a great period for the IOR rule. It was a time when the IOR rule tended to produce boats that had uncomfortable motions, were short on stability, and tended to pound upwind and which made the IOR rule infamous during the Fastnet disaster. Her ballast weight and location is not mentioned and I have no way to see the High Tension 36''s lines to tell how closely her lines follow the trends of that day.

One thing that caught my attention is that she was refitted with a rather large engine (3HM35F vs. the 3GM30 that I would have expected) and a three bladed prop. Boats like these depend on accelleration as a part of their defense mechanism in a strong gust. The added weight of the engine and drag of prop are not a good thing and a three bladed feathering prop may be a good idea here. She is also a little short on fuel tankage especially for the larger engine.

I really have no direct knowledge of these boats so obviously most of what I have said is conjecture based on the listing in Virginia and on other IOR era boats of that period.

Jeff

[Douggie]

I''ve got a friend who sailed a High Tension in the ''79 Fastnet. He has a a high affection for the boat to say the least. I bought an Ocean 60 from Souther Ocean Shipyard in 1982 and sailed her around the world. They closed their doors in the late 80''s. They built solid boats, made to sail oceans.
Doug

[donovd2]

Hi folks,
I currently own one of these beasties. I have to tell you straight off the mark that these were built to stand up to anything, very strongly built with multiple longitudinal stringers from stem to stern and seven or eight athwarthships stringers (if that's what they are called?) to take the strain of the keel. My keel is cast iron, encapsulated in fiberglass. Anyway I'm looking for the specs as well and it looks like we are all in the same boat there, maybe we should put a message in bottle :-).
Happy sailing,
Cheers.