Ferro Cement Hulls ?

[cooper]

Hi..I would like to know what your boat is too. (Putting on my steel boat hat) I am a regular visitor to hastings. In fact that is where my new steel boat will end up being sometime (hopefully near Christmas).

Just a point on the previous posts.
Those of us who have ferro boats and who have posted here have suffered a lot of hours, trying to explain the nature of ferro. We dont get the luxury of the jetty stalker telling us about the wonders of wood or the strength of steel. We all to often get a diatribe about the foolhardiness of ferro. I have spent countless hours (after I have revealed that my boat is not timber but indeed ferro,) trying to explain where the attitude towards ferro came from. Indeed in concrete terms when mud is slung some sticks.

This is something that I have said many times here and elsewhere and in total respect of my boats designer and builder, the recently late Kan Walker, the hull is 3/8 of an inch thick. Get a ruler out and have a look. 40 years old still floating and weighs less than a timber boat of the same size. Big problem...to tender.....have you ever heard of a ferro boat that leans to much ?? Mine does. That is why I am building the steel boat. The point?......Dont be hasty to judge......

look forward to meeting you and seeing your boat

cheers

[44'cruisingcat]

There was a ferro boat (Called "Bedouin" IIRC) driven well up onto the western beach of Fraser island, during a prolonged period of strong north westerly winds. It was stuck there for weeks as the weather got progressively worse, and ended up well above the high tide line.

No doubt it copped quite a pounding.

Getting it back in the water was a huge operation, involving driving earthmoving equipment miles up the beach, and digging a huge trench to refloat the boat, but float it did, in fact there was no damage to the hull at all.

So I have no doubt that a well built ferro is plenty strong.

From what I can gather, one of the biggest issues with buying an older ferro boat is getting insurance.

[john connell]

Hi one day35.
And welcome.
Now haven't you put the cat ( excuse the pun multi hullers ) amongst the pigeons??
I have only been a newbie member of this forum for a short time.Have been away for a week working and only just got back and saw this post by chance- and boy -what a rip snorter.!!
You certainly got the passions rippling didn't you.?
Also glad to see you didnt cut and run at the end either-a sign of a good person.

Look it's only my 2 cents worth but I noticed you mentioned that you have had 15 boats surveyed.I'm not up on survey costs but assume around $25-30 a foot.?Thats a lot of trees felled and a bit of the old folding stuff missing from your pockets for those reports.
The people in this forum if asked respectfully ( and I know this for a a fact) give fairly comprehensive,well balanced and free advice.

I just bought a floating 40 ft steel hull basically that needs a s*** load of blood sweat and tears to even get it looking like a boat.I also looked at FC.I lurked around this forum on the quiet even before I bought my boat which was an on the spot " never going to see this type of deal again so go for it fella" type purchase.
In effect I need to know much more than you do as you can at least sail well by the sounds of your adventures so far.
Me -Well ,I am just picking up information and advice as I go,slowly but surely.
What I have picked up though looking from outside the fence here in a way is maybe your frustration, but probably not intended to be conveyed the way it appears.?

Chill it,give all these people a chance to help you and you will reap rewards no surveyor will give you without charging you the earth.

Stick around - and use your passion positively.!!

Regards
John.

[Alan Wheeler]

had 15 boats surveyed

15 FC boats?? 15 FC boats where?? What makes were they?? What were some problems?? Was/were the surveyors qualified in FC?
I would say you would have difficulty answering some of those questions. But besides that, lets say every one of those 15 FC hulls were truly badly built AND the Surveyor was truly experienced in FC. It seems that the surveyor has picked up what ever was wrong. So why your argument about some poor newbie shelling out the hard earned cash for a lump of junk. It would be foolish for anyone to part out with the cash for a non-surveyed hull. And for that matter, no matter what the material.


I have also stated in posts in the past, it is very easy to see if an FC boat has been built

[johnbenq]

The last word should go to the mafia on this one. I have never heard of them weighing anyone down with fibreglass, wood or steel "shoes".

[emeraldsea]

What kind of post is that "johnbenq" do you think that steel "shoes" would float?

[johnbenq]

emeraldsea

The mafia used concrete because it was cheap and heavy.

This thread is about ferrocement (concrete) boats.

A humorous connection was implied (ie a joke).

[Alan Wheeler]

Yeah I took it as a joke. But it does pay to place a smiley face when you make a joke. It can be helpful. Especially if you happened to see the two very nasty posts made just in front of yours John, before I pulled them. :-)

[KIWI]

I used to own a 48ft Bowman steel I had the boat for 7 years and it was a constant battle against the rust yet I remember while in Fiji we became Friends with a couple with a 40ft sayers ferro the boat that was over 20 years old and it was mint, NO RUST, OSMOSES , OR DRY ROT.
I used to look at his boat and then at my own and see bits of rust coming through and that made me start thinking ,"MAYBE" Ferro is not so bad after all and it was not until a group of 4 boats including the 40ft sayers Ferro left Lautoka for Vanuatu that I really started to think twice about Ferro, The bloody ferro boat cleared out and left me behind.

[4900bruce]

my advice to anyone looking to purchase a fc boat is to track down a owner of a ferro boat and have a chat to them about there boat .I have been involved with fc boats for many years and I have never met an unhappy ferro boat owner.

[Alan Wheeler]

Kiwi, I liked your post. That has so cheered my day up. Thank-you, that was very amusing.

[4900bruce]

Allan,20 years agoe I was a member of the Hartley ferro boat assoc in auckland .Did you by chance attend any of the meetings?

[Alan Wheeler]

No sorry Bruce, I haven't been in the big boat game that long. Wow, I can imagine that would have been very cool. So was Richard Hartley around then?

[4900bruce]

yes Richard and his wife (sorry forgotten her name) would attend the monthly meetings.My father built hartley T/S 16,18 and 21 footers,(1 every three months)so it was a great honour to meet Richard.
Unfortunatley about 1985? Richard was obviosly suffering from Elzimers .Eventualy he was placed in a care home.Mrs Hartley continued to attend meetings.
The club was great ,had a technical committee consisting of Richard and members that had built there own boats,and a cruising committee which organised sailing weekends and gathering points for bbqs ect.
Richard and the club are sadly missed.

[Alan Wheeler]

Richard and the club are sadly missed.

Absolutely. I think this is the only real negative to FC boats. The support network of experts is now very thin and trying to get real unbiased experts to survey hulls and know what they are looking at and for is becoming more and more difficult as years pass.