Pictures Of My Ferro Boat. Advice Sought.

[Ferroever]

Ahoy!
I'm about to start work on my Herreshoff design ferro boat that was built in Vancouver, BC in 1980. I took these pictures during a visit to Mexico over Christmas and would like to pick the brains of fellow ferro owners with regards to what kind of work might be required to get the hull and keel shipshape and proper before launching.
I'm a girl and I don't know what I'm doing beyond what I am gleaning from the web.
Simple as that.
Would appreciate any advice proffered.
Please click on the link below that will transport you to my blog. Scroll down past the first 3 short posts and you'll arrive at a bunch of pictures that show the condition of my hull.

Many thanks in advance for those who might be able to share their experiences in dealing with ferro cement repair.

www.ihaveaboat.blogspot.com

[Loveofsea]

OMG! You are absolutely adorable~!

I don't know anything about ferrocement hulls, but i sorta, kinda, wish i did...

One thing i do know is they sink*

i know this because there is a submerged mountain top off the coast of Southern California and on the 40ft plane, there is a sunken freeocement hull. i take my skiff out there and swim on that wreck when the weather permits..

Best of luck with your project!

Brad

(loves the sea)

[Ferroever]

You win a Marble Cheeseboard with Cutter for being the first primate to mention that ferro sinks. It's a given that every single message replying to ferro boats has 'ha ha they sink' in it. I am trying so hard to to get used to the inevitability of such comments but it still breaks my heart when I come across them.

Otherwise, thanks for the encouragement.

(Loves ferro)

[=D=]

hi

Ferroever,I'm curious, what is the weight of that ferro boat

[Ferroever]

T'is 20 tonnes.

[Loveofsea]

Ouch~!

Hey, i freedive on two wrecks in this bight and one of them just happens to be a ferrocement hull---The Abalonia, which sank in the 70's at a place 100nm off the coast.

i'm very sorry, i didn't mean to be discouraging in any way.

i hope someone is able to give you some useful advice~

[Ferroever]

"One thing i do know is they sink*"

Fair enough, LoS, but if the boat that you free dived around was steel or grp, would you have said,
"One thing I do know is they sink"
I apologise if I was a tad caustic but other ferro owners will concur with me when I say that 9 times out of 10 one has to trawl through words like, 'sink', 'concrete sinks', before reaching practical and useful advice. In fact, such advice is usually lost in what becomes a big thread about why ferro sucks.
I don't think you meant to be snide and I am sorry for jumping down your wetsuit.
Peace.

[seadogs20]

well well, it just so happens that a friend of mine has just got himself a ferro yacht....whilst sailing around the top of aus, and coming down the west coast...he decides to stop off in a place called Broome....time was a factor for what he then did...he put the boat up on the hard....nothing wrong with that you may say.....and you'd be right.....but the idiots up there realised that it was chocked wrong.....what did they do???......they got a fork lift to lift it of course...guess what happened....IT FELL OVER!!!
Smashed the whole side in and demolished the rudder....he is now spending the next 6 mths fixing the thing.....the condition of his boat is alot worse than yours, so if you need any advice on how it is being done....let me know and i can get him to drop you a line......No dont thank me it's ok

[Ferroever]

Thanks Seadog and sorry to hear about the stupidity that led to the untimely demise of your friend's boat.
Fortunately, the marina where I keep my boat is highly professional and would never use a forklift truck to move a boat!
Big doh there.
And yes please re: that e-mail address. It's my intention in these forums to try to network with fellow ferro owners.

[PAR]

Ferro has been around for a long time (early 1800's) and can be a wonderful hull material. In the USA it has suffered a terrible reputation, not necessarily directed at it as a material choice, but from the pitiful products that have been born of this material, during the 1960's and 1970's. In Europe and other places around the world it enjoys a pretty good reputation, though it's resale value has never been especially high, partly from insufficient surveying of the ferro structures.

I know of not a single Herreshoff design for ferro, so the question arises, who preformed the material conversions? I ask because it's not an easy conversion and needs to be done by a professional with fair experience in ferro.

[Ferroever]

Designer: N Vargus [Hereshoff]

This baby's a well-built boat, believe me.

[westlawn5554X]

Must talk to Sean Herron about the beer, but I like ferro cause I am now experiementing frame strength and cement with my new house foundation... the worker taught me a lot

[Ferroever]

Shouldn't take that long. The boat is in pretty good nick and absolutely nobody who is familiar with this boat has any doubt about it's seaworthiness for longterm off-shore cruising. Like I said, I did my research before buying this boat and will not be needing to do much to her beyond that needed for a boat going through a bit of a spruce up.

This boat is 27 years old and was used for blue water cruising for over a decade. She has been proven, as has the enduring strength of her design; She was also built in a professional boat yard and not somebody's backyard and passed her first survey with flying colours.

She's a good ferro.
Point made?

[SamSam]

If you search this site there is a bunch of stuff. Try 'ferrocement' and 'ferrocement repairs'. This was at the end of the 5 page 'ferrocement repairs' thread. Sam
http://www.boatdesign.net/ferro/

Page 59 of volume 3, 'Repairing Damaged Hulls'

[Ferroever]

Finally some practical advice instead of post after post debating the pros and cons of ferro; which, unfortunately, almost always focus on the cons.

It was the prospect of receiving good advice, as that given by SamSam, that brought me to this forum in the first place. I think my original post was one which was looking for advice, as opposed to asking folks to begin a debate about the merits or demerits of my boat.
Thank you again, SamSam, for addressing the original question asked.