It may be that you are confused because the Soverel name was owned by
a couple of different corporate entities? Or it may be that you're
thinking of another boat entirely, like the Hobie 33 or the Olsons.

wrote:
Nope. You are simply in error, Doug.


It's happened before, but I don't think so this time.


Shall I name the companies for you?


Sure.

The first 69 were built by Mark Soverel's father, who owned Soverel
Marine in Florida. It may not have actualy been that many boats, but
the last hull number was 69

After that, a total of 24 were made by two different companies in
California


And their names are.... ??


...and finally 20 more by Tartan

The discrepancy is that there were about 90 known boats, and the
number built in California and Ohio are known. It is thought there is
a gap in the Soverel Marine Hull numbers that would explain it.


And the fact that the molds are still sitting in the back lot at
Soverel's old plant can be explained by....



The different manufacturers used different materials and the boats did
not all weigh the same. In fact, it was a pretty wide spread.

It's very common for fiberglass boats to have widely varying weights,
differing up to 20% in some cases I know of. It even happens in one-
design classes that are supposed to be more rigidly controlled.

For classic hand laid open molded boats, it would be doing pretty well
to get within 10%.

Mark Soverel used to joke about the fact that his boats were built "to
win races, not save lives". I'd say that calling them flimsy, but
fast, is fair and accurate.

And I'd say that to call them that is pretty dumb. How many Catalinas
and Hunters have had major structural failures as a result of normal
sailing? Several that have been widely reported, and several more that
I've seen not reported in boating press. How many Soverels have failed
structurally... and are sailed pretty hard?

Yeah, most of them have been retabbed a couple of times over the
years. Goes with the territory... one reason why I'm not buying a
"Junior" Soverel or an Olson. Some people have rebuilt them using
advanced materials and vacuum bagging them, it'll be interesting to
see if that holds up longer.

DSK