We love Ferro cement but beware !

[Landlubber]

Lazyjack,

I agree with your statement entirely.....I am not contradicting myself either, I meant a "boilermaker", not some dipstick that calls himself one. My reason for this is that a"boilermaker" can form steel balls, make compound curves, weld, shape fairly, and not even want to know about bog. Bog is for car repairers that have not learned their trade.

My last steel boat had less than a kilo of epoxy filler, honest! Built by a boilermaker that had done many yachts in the past.

Of course a boatbuilder is the right bloke to do it, but not that many steel specialist boatbuilders around anymore. I live my life now up to my ears in plastics.......it pays the bills.

[the1much]

hehehe,,,if you guys buy boats of cement,,,have i got a deal for you,,,i got this japanese dude that "custom" folds my paper boats for me

[Landlubber]

the1much,

Maaaaate, you are a worry! Does ya Mum know ya smoke?

I would love to come to Texas some time and go shooting with you, you sound like a lot of fun, don't know **** all about boats, but you do sound great just the same.

It tales all kinds to make a world, and without these characters, well, life would be dull eh!

[the1much]

come on,,,,you'll love sailing here in texas,,,all it takes is a piece of cardboard and a good sand hill,,,hehe,,and "they"(state of texas) dont allow me to shoot down here any more,heh,,some reason these "cowBOYS" dont seem to think my kind of shooting,( yankee how-down) is as hilarious and fun as MUCH as i do hehehe ,,,but trust me,,,,,,we'd have fun

[Bruce46]

Having designed and built ferro cement boats back in the early seventies, I can tell you that a ferro cement boat that is built with the correct materials and design is NOT any cheeper then a boat built of other materials. Our boats were very strong and relatively light weight. (We used lightweight ceramic in place of sand and high strength steel.)

[masalai]

Jack, this guy desperately needs some of that help
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sho...279#post189279

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

It broke up like a watermelon dropped on a sidewalk , in conditions that would never have even damaged a metal boat
They can be bought so cheaply that they are best considered disposables . If you get a year or two of living aboard and a bit of cruising , from that moment on they owe you nothing and you are money ahead of where you'd be if you never owned one .
Brent

Ferro boats are anything but disposable...look at the number of ferro houseboats, mulberry harbours etc still gong with little or no maintenance. But you do need to find a good one, but then the same can be said for any material. I have seen numerous GRP boats delaminated, osmosis. gelcoat cracks etc, rotten wood (and wood epoxy) boats, rusted steel boats or poor welding (read about one recently which, after having been sailed for a few years, was brought out and X-rayed. Every weld needed replaced on that hull...something tells me that if it had hit anything it would have demonstrated the impact resistance of a duck egg). The point is, a ferro boat built well and maintained well is as viable as a GRP, wood, steel etc boat built and maintained well. Each material has its strengths and weaknesses. Its just a pity that so many unskilled amateurs built bad ferro boats...steel is probably next in line for this criticism. If GRP was easier for the amateur to work, it would undoubtedly have a worse rep as well (although professionals such as Bavaria are pretty good at turning out crap). Just my 2 bob.

ps - did your ferro boat have integral ferro floors and frames? This makes a big difference to the impact resistance.

[Andy]

And oh yeah there are at least 2 firms in the UK insuring ferro boats (Yachtmaster insurance, who have never had a claim made and who insure the vast majority of ferro boats in Europe AFAIK) and Heath Lambert Liverpool.

[ted655]

Originally Posted by Bruce46

Having designed and built ferro cement boats back in the early seventies, I can tell you that a ferro cement boat that is built with the correct materials and design is NOT any cheeper then a boat built of other materials. Our boats were very strong and relatively light weight. (We used lightweight ceramic in place of sand and high strength steel.)

.
Then maybe an "adjective" needs to be added to separate that type of F/C boat from the old types. Something like New Style, High Tech, ????
What people who "dream" are always looking for is a PATH. We always look for a way to realize, (at least in part), the dream we have. This often leads to disaster it's true. We still do it. We still "look" for the overlooked.
Amateurs that build boats want to be on the water, (live, sail, cruise, work), but usually don't have the $$$ to do it "right" or quickly. Our desire or energy is no less!
A perfect home built boat is one that uses low cost materials, OR materials that can be bought & used pay day to payday, without decaying over an extended build time.
.
I just read,(skimmed really) an older book on F/C building. The Author is quite comprehensive in facts, charts, graphs & instruction. One comes away thinking F/C is the material for home building. No wonder people build them after reading such books. I know of 1 F/C sailboat that set in a Phoenix, Arizona front yard, under construction for years. The whole family worked on it, in between sickness, marriage, schooling & even death. It was big, around 40-50 footer. I've moved away, but often wonder if she ever saw a launch in the Sea of Cortes, as was the plan.???
' We need to help one another with their dreams, keeping a perspective of economic reality. No one wants to hear their dream is total crap. We love realistic advice.

[TakuTori]

Does anyone know what yard Sayer built ferrocement boats in? I know it was Auckland NZ, but was it Greenhithe??

Thanks,


Bill
S/V Taku Tori

[xsboats]

Three years ago, a 19 ton steel ketch drug anchor down onto my 24 ton ferro Samson.We spent a long 4 hours with the intruder along side before we had enough light to rid our selves of the unwanted visitor. We suffered a splintered wooden rub rail but no hull damage. We cut open the tin can at the hull to deck joint,bent over their bulwark and stauntions, and removed their pipe bowsprit. Same boat also took out part of a seawall under previous ownership in Turkey. People don't recognize her as being an old {`75} ferro boat.Those folks building in Ventura,Ca back then get my vote.

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by TakuTori

Does anyone know what yard Sayer built ferrocement boats in? I know it was Auckland NZ, but was it Greenhithe??

Thanks,


Bill
S/V Taku Tori

Bill, Ev Sayer had his own yard in Whangarei about a hundred miles north of Auckland but traveled all over the country and i think all over the world actually plastering boats by the two shot method,he and his team made the trip down to Auckland on three occasions to plaster my modified RORC 39 in the early 1970s.
Steve.

[Jack Daniels Eq]

My earliest recollection of stone boats has always been spooky - who would go to sea in a swimming pool? No one - respectable - will insure it, and with good reason.
The Rhodesians were always trying to get money out of Africa surreptitiously, so they built stone boats - who in Rhodesia knew anything about ocean going yachts? The few who escaped are/were abuilding their dreams in the coastal areas. Dont make them any the smarter or the boats more seaworthy. Kinda correlates with the Sidney ugly duckling thingy
BR>Jack

[TakuTori]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Bill, Ev Sayer had his own yard in Whangarei about a hundred miles north of Auckland but traveled all over the country and i think all over the world actually plastering boats by the two shot method,he and his team made the trip down to Auckland on three occasions to plaster my modified RORC 39 in the early 1970s.
Steve.

Steve, thanks for the info.

My boat was built in Greenhithe by Ferro Industries. It was number 9 of 27 built. I believed it was a Sayers design? You can take a look at our boat pictures here: http://taku-tori.smugmug.com/ Perhaps you might recognize the design. Despite her 37 yr age, she's still in excellent condition, both inside and out.

Thanks for your help,

Bill

[Steve W]

Bill,what you have there is a Laurie Davidson design,yep ,the same guy who led the Team NZ design team when they won the Americas cup in 1995 and successfully defended in 2000. He was the in house designer at Ferro cement ltd back then.The first two to that design were launched at the same time and were built for the same Australian client and sailed together to the Carribbian for the charter industry.If i remember correctly they had no sunken cockpit well.
Steve.