Pictures Of My Ferro Boat. Advice Sought.

[Mild Bill]

Originally Posted by Ferroever

... But then I got the offer of a job from my old high school in Japan .... It's been hard since returning to Japan. I've had the biggest culture/lifestyle shock ever and some very low moments. ....

I know this is off topic, but I'm curious - If you were previously in the culture/lifestyle of Japan, what could make the return there the biggest shock ever? Has Japan changed radically, or is it something else?

[Ferroever]

Nothing has changed in Japan. Nothing changes in Japan. What had changed was my portfolio of experience. I had never before lived the life I had lived during last year. One where my home was in a beautiful bay, where my friends were mostly people who had given up a run of the mill lifestyle for something entirely different; people with a spark and an urge to get the most out of life beyond breeding and working their socks off. A year that had me swimming daily, rising early to the sounds of nature, be it a completely silent morning on the bay, or one where the winds had already picked up for the day. Nothing I had ever experienced in life before could match or mirror the life that one gets to lead when living within the cruisers lifestyle. Nothing. Conversations are different. More meaningful. Words like work, mindless shopping, war, to name but a few, didn't figure. The kindness and help I received from others - and all for free - was also something which I had never before experienced out in the world of the rat race.
So yes, coming back to a concrete jungle, where my students are all feverishly studying for..what?.... where shopping is done in wasteful and overly-lit department stores stuffed with useless, plastic crap, where the news is full of senseless stories, where you can now buy cellphones that emit a scent, where the moon rarely gets to rise above the buildings blocking the horizon, well, I'd say yes, I'm in shock, in shock because having lived so simply for a year, has totally highlighted the immense meaninglessness of the lifestyle I had lived before. I'm sure I'd feel the same if I had returned to the UK, or somewhere else. Living with a boat, on a boat, is and always will be, a completely different lifetime experience that will change the way you view life and living forever.

[Andy]

Thanks for the info ferrogirl, and I'll pop up some more pics as they happen. Sun was shining on the Clyde earlier today and the water was very, very blue - seemed a shame to have to leave it to go and teach...

[diwebb]

Hi ferroever,
a few observations that may encourage you. Windboats of Wroxham in England have built many ferro boats mostly to Peter Ibold designs. One of them went on the sands in Whitby bay in a prolonged easterly, onshore, gale, it took a week before it broke up. Wood and fiberglass boats take about an hour, steel ones about a day. So dont believe the naysayers ferro is tough when properly done. Windboats also exhibited at the Earls Court boat show and had a two foot square section of ferro hull set up on a strong frame, alongside the frame was a four pound lump hammer. For the duration of the show anyone could whale away at the sample with the hammer, and they did, but no serious damage and definitely no failure!!!
I have helped a couple of friends plaster ferro hulls and can say that any hull should be treated with penetrating epoxy, until it is fully saturated, after it has cured and dried out. One of the hull owners did this and I saw her again after 20 years of sailing including Atlantic crossings and trips to the Azores, there was absolutely no sign of rust on the boat, she looked as good as the day she was launched.
I hope that the above is of some encouragent to you. All the best with your boat.

[Ferroever]

Thanks for that ferrocement anecdote.
I have found that my boat, whilst having rust spots and a few soft areas, well, I found that bashing it all out, then soaking it in epoxy primer stuff that you mentioned, then slapping in some epoxy-cement mix,well, I found that solved many minor problems rather easily.
After 6 months in the water last year, there were only a few bubbles, and even where those bubbles are, it's rock'ard!