Ferro Boats . . .

[CSY Man]

CSY Man posted this same pic on a previous ferro debate. At the time I questioned whether it was even from a ferro yacht, too few rods, no mesh etc.

And will post it again. Horrible boat it was, hopefully others are better built.

Here she is leaving the dock on her finall journey in all her glory:

[Saltwannabee]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

And will post it again. Horrible boat it was, hopefully others are better built.

Here she is leaving the dock on her finall journey in all her glory:

Yup.. like i figured. it was JUNK befor it was sunk.. So it will be a Nice REEF.. now...

[Wand]

Don't let CSY worry you; he's likely just having a giggle, or he's a mug. That image is simply not of a FC hull; no structural resemblance at all, with respect to either the steel or the cement. It's just a lump of commonplace reinforced concrete, probably part of a wharf structure somewhere that was damaged in a mooring accident. In any case, especially strange it would be for someone to salvage (to cut out, at sea!) that bit of the hull before the rest, as we're meant to believe, was sent to deep water. Own up CSY; are u a prankster or a mug?

[zumsel]

Ohohoh, that can become a interesting discussion now



I was also looking into FC boats before I bought this summer my plywood/epoxy Cat. There are surly some nice examples of FC boats around. But also some junk as shown on the pictures provided by CSY. And I believe him that these were real!. Somewhere on the net was a story about this incident with more pictures. You should be carefully with such harsh statements.

Jochen

[ozskip]

Welcome aboard take no notice of the ferro bashes as a well built ferro is a good strong boat,mine claimed a charter boat that ran into the starboard side of her 18 months ago.Greg

[4900bruce]

welcome fellow c-bird owner,mine was sold to me as a c-shell but I now believe it is a c-bird.
This is my secound ferro boat and both have taken me many trouble free offshore miles.
For the ferro nockers I have a photo of a 36ft production glass boat that has many ground out areas below the water line in a vain attempt
to get ride of the pox.the owner has finally relized that he is wasting his time and has abandend it.
at least the ferro boat had to hit a solid object before it was written of.

[CSY Man]

Don't let CSY worry you; he's likely just having a giggle, or he's a mug

No mug or giggle.
The picture is real.
Quite a wake up call to see how rotten the the structure and how weak the hull was.
The owner was convinced for 20 years that he had a "well built" hull.
The cement absorbed mositure and the metal inside rusted as a result. The rust expanded and cracked the cement.

Don't shoot the messanger, personally I have not vendetta against ferro boats or any other boat.
Just passing on observations.
Not spin, no ferro bashing, the pictures are real and speaks for themself.

[Wand]

Originally Posted by Saltwannabee

For the most part, arnt they kinda Slow as hell because of all the extra weight and difficult to maneuver ???

FC slow? Not necessarily. Peter Freeman held for years the record for the fastest circumnavigation (and seems still holds it for vessels under 50 feet). His boat? A self-built Hartley 32 foot ferro. Apparently he still sails and races the same boat. Boatspeed rarely has much to do with the material the hull is built from. Ditto manoeuverability. That's mainly governed by underwater shape. Weight? Heavier than ply and glass of course; generally comparable to steel. See Peter Freemans website: http://[URL="http://members.shaw.ca/petersfreeman/sports/sailing/sailing.htm"]members.shaw.ca/petersfreeman/sports/sailing/sailing.htm[/URL]

[Mark1977]

Wow i didn't meen for my "meet and greet" to turn into such a debate, but i am glad it did. I am enjoying all the points of veiw. Ferrocement seems to bring out great passion from both sides. As for the pics, seeeing the boat before it crashed shows why. I would not touch that boat at all, uneven hull, rust blisters all over. these are all tell tale signs of bad construction.

[Saltwannabee]

Originally Posted by Mark1977

Wow i didn't meen for my "meet and greet" to turn into such a debate, but i am glad it did. I am enjoying all the points of veiw. Ferrocement seems to bring out great passion from both sides. As for the pics, seeeing the boat before it crashed shows why. I would not touch that boat at all, uneven hull, rust blisters all over. these are all tell tale signs of bad construction.

ummm .. you forgot the

[superdave]

i have seen a few ferros. and wondered how much more to insure them they are,or are they insurable at all. I understand if you cant immeadiatly tell its a ferro ,means it was done right,,,

[Wand]

Originally Posted by superdave

i have seen a few ferros. and wondered how much more to insure them they are,or are they insurable at all. I understand if you cant immeadiatly tell its a ferro ,means it was done right,,,

More or less impossible to insure in Australia; you've just gotta be careful. And yes, good FCs can look like glass but not enough to fool insurers.

[CSY Man]

As for the pics, seeeing the boat before it crashed shows why. I would not touch that boat at all, uneven hull, rust blisters all over. these are all tell tale signs of bad construction.

The buyer of this boat was strongly advised to get a survey, but refused due to cost.

2 days after he purchased the boat he ran into the navigation marker in the Bahamas and the boat imploded.

He tried to sue the seller but the lawyers refused to try the case.

In many cases, the strongest selling point with a ferro boat is the low price, and because the cheapest buyers/owners get ferro boats on a low budget some of the boats lack basic maintenance, or in this case, lack of scrapping.

The seller of the boat was obviously in denial, and so was the buyer:
The low price, $15K sealed the deal, after all he got a lot of boat for the money.
If it would only stay float..

Again, don't shoot the messanger:
I have spent a few years of my life living on steel boats, wooden boats and fiberglass boats and they all have their problems, this thread however was about ferro boats and the above is a sad but true story.

Buyer be aware.

[NotQuiteLost]

FC boats can be absolutely gorgeous, and durable as any other kind of construction. But all the backyard jobs where the builders skimped out on buying the proper amount and quality of metal for the job really did screw the reputation up quite a bit.

Lots of boats, like the one discussed in this thread, were little more than a concrete form with a little rebar for maintaining shape. That's not a FC boat. Problem is, it's hard to tell if a boat is good when there's no pedigree behind it.

What are the testing procedures for determining FC build quality, anyways? I had always assumed the X-Rays would give a reasonable image, but is there a destructive test they can do like for steel hulls?

[Wand]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

Don't shoot the messenger...just passing on observations.

There was a scrap on the starting line the other night between a glass and a carvel boat. It's amazing just how quick a holed glass boat goes to the bottom. Crew were all plucked out of the pond okay but after seeing that I reckon you'd have to be a mug to buy a glass boat.

But don't shoot the messenger...just passing on observations.

Then again, the carvel boat of the first non-stop round-the-worlder Knox-Johnson sprung a plank mid-ocean without a rescue boat in sight. He didn't hit a nav light or anything - it just happened because the hull was built with nails. He had to jump into a shark-infested sea to hammer home the plank. Unless you're prepared to do that, I reckon you'd have to be a mug to buy a carvel boat.

But don't shoot the messenger...just passing on observations.

So come off it CSY. Put your gripe in context. Sure the old rusty hulk marred the view from your balcony for years but you can open your eyes now - it's on the bottom.