About Ovington Boats
Ovington Boats is one of the worlds most successful small boat building businesses specialising in the high performance dinghy market. We have an enviable reputation for quality and service across a wide range of products including the manufacture of the Olympic Class 49er, the ISAF and RYA Youth Asymmetric 29er Class, the new 29erXX, Musto Performance Skiff, B14, Flying Fifteen and International 14. The business distributes its boats and spares throughout Europe. Ovington Boats are also able to build and design & develop boats to specific requirements.
We operate from our workshop of just under 10002m based in North Shields in the north east of England. All our boats are hand built to the highest standards using a variety modern materials and construction methods
Background
Ovington Boats was founded by Dave Ovington in 1975. Dave started off building traditional wooden boats and in particular race winning Enterprises. With the search for lighter boats Dave progressed to using glass fibre and developed the application of vacuum bagged foam sandwich construction. Sadly, in March 2005 Dave died suddenly - but his legacy lives on in the business and the people who have worked at Ovington Boats for many years.
In 2005 the business was taken over by the current management team of Chris Turner and Veronica Brown and the company continues to prosper and grow.
The Ovington Team
 |
Chris Turner – Managing Director
Chris joined Ovi Boats in 2005, this enabled the company to continue after the sad loss of Dave Ovington. Chris deals with boat building and any technical issues. He has wealth of knowledge of composites and boat manufacture. He’s well known in the International 14 and Scorpion fleets both as a sailor and a builder. Chris designs and manufactures all new tooling requirements and deals largely with the internal politics of the 9er builders.
|
 |
Veronica Brown – Finance Director
Veronica first became involved with Ovington Boats in 1993. Her background is financial but she has always worked in industry, and in particular in manufacturing companies. She deals with all the administration, finance, accounts and logistics.
|
 |
Peter Hobson - Design
Peter studied Naval Architecture at Newcastle University and earned first class honours in Small Craft Design. In order to formalise his practical skill set Peter then worked abroad for several years, building offshore racing boats. He returned to the UK where he was offered a position with Owen Clarke Design to train as a yacht designer. Since joining Ovington Boats in 2008 Peter has worked tirelessly to develop and promote a Design Department within the business; this now allows Ovington Boats to offer a service that sees a boat from its conception on the drawing board right through to the race course.
|
 |
Kathryn Wheatley
Kathryn arrived in January 2010 to work in the Ovington Office. Kathryn processes the payroll – so we’re all nice to her! She is also responsible for paying the suppliers – so they’d best be nice to her too!!!
|
 |
Mark Lashley - Foreman - Laminating
Mark came to Ovington Boats in March 1997. He is a key member of the Team and switches with ease from laminating in either epoxy or polyester. He also ‘trims’ the boats and helps out with the mouldmaking. Mark is number 1 ‘morale officer’, encouraging and motivating his fellow workers.
|
 |
Bryan Ward - Foreman - Finishing
Bryan joined Ovi’s in March ’97 as a ‘wee nipper’. He’s our main fitter concentrating on the 49ers and Musto Skiffs. Alongside this he supervises the manufacturing and finishing of a lot of our products, always to a high standard.
|
 |
Joe Stephenson
Joe came to help Dave Ovi out for six weeks in September 1986!! He’s been involved with fibreglass composites since he left school and the rest he learned from Dave Ovington. He’s one of the most experienced members of the team and has been invaluable to the company, particularly over the recent few years.
|
 |
Davey Carr (‘Carzee’)
Davey has been here since April 1995. Carzee’s our ‘foil man’, he makes the foils for 49er’s, 29er’s, International 14’s and MPS’s. He’s useful to have around as he’s also a dab hand at laminating and trimming.
|
 |
Alex Brenner
Alex arrived at Ovington Boats in February 1997, initially to build Mumm 30’s. He now works mainly with Joe concentrating on epoxy laminating of 49er’s and MPS’s.
|
 |
Steve Kirby
Steve came to Ovington Boats in January 2001. He’s one of our main laminators and over the years has been involved in laminating all types of boats, in particular Flying 15’s and 505’s.
|
 |
Drew Wakenshaw
Drew joined Ovi Boats in December 2004. Our man with the spray gun. Drew concentrates on repairs and finishing. From minute defects to a complete boat, he derives great satisfaction from producing a high standard of finish. If you want a good finish on your bottom Drew’s the man who can achieve it.
|
 |
John Conroy
John started in May 2006 and is the loudest member of staff! He comes from a background of industrial composites, he fits in well with the Team and gets the 29ers out at the pace and quality required.
|
 |
Wayne Craven
Wayne originally came to Ovington’s in 1997. He left several years later, only to find out ‘the grass isn’t always greener on the other side’, so Wayne rejoined Ovi’s in October 2006 an ‘older and wiser’ man. Wayne does most of the 29er fitting out and is useful to have around as he can also laminate!
|
 |
Shaun King
Shaun returned to Ovington’s in October 2010. He’s an experienced laminator having worked here previously, building the 29ers.
|
 |
Sonny Mulligan
Sonny came to Ovi’s in May 2010 as an apprentice laminator. He’s learning fast and very quickly becoming a valuable member of ‘the team’.
|
 |
Richard Pearson
Richard joined us in May 2011, and is our main mast builder. Coming from a background in aerospace manufacturing, Richard is a perfect candidate for the accuracy required when working to tight tolerances.
|
 |
Michael Legge
Michael started in February 2011 as an apprentice laminator. He’s been working on a variety of boats and is quickly picking up the skills needed to become a useful addition to our team.
|
 |
Lee Sunderland
Lee is part of our fitting out team concentrating mainly on 29ers since he started in May 2011. He’s fitting in well, and we don’t hold the ‘Sunderland’ element against him too much.
|
 |
Trevor Brown ………
……… is the youngest member of staff. He started work in August 2007 at the tender age of 8 weeks! He’s now big and bold and acts as the office guard dog to keep away those unwanted sales reps. By the way – he’s a Manchester Terrier.
|
