[Alan Wheeler]

I agree, it does give FC a bad name. But one important point of looking at FC needs to made here.

It is not the material the boat is constructed from's fault that FC has a bad reputation, it is the Dipsticks that have no clue how to build a boat that have given FC a bad reputation.

Sadly today, the opposite of that statement has been used to describe FC boats and thus ALL FC hulls get labled as inferior. It is simply NOT TRUE.
I suggest that if any of these backyarder boat builders could have gotten there hands on Steel and GRP, then we would have seen poor workmanship with those hulls as well. And the thing is, I HAVE seen poor workmanship with steel. But we never see the same comment made about steel hulls.

By the way CSY, just to explain this guy's rust problem, it's most likely it has been poorly plastered over the chicken mesh. Usuallythe mess has not been tied back to the armature properly. The mesh does little but to hold the cement palster to the armature and allow fairing etc. But if the mesh has not been tied back fair itself, small pieces of wire sit out at the surface of the plaster and then start to rust through. Most likely, the internals are actually good, but the outside is an eyesore. His best sceanrio is to sandblast the hull and applied a barrier coat of epoxy to the cement surface.

Here are two other very important points. When buying an FC hull, you can safeguard yourselves buy asking for one of two things. A Hull build certificate if it has been proffesionaly built or, if built by an amature, a certificate from the Ferrocmeent builders association. They overlook the construction and will offer a certificate if done correctly. Otherwise be careful. However, that is not to say you aren't looking at a good hull. As I said before, most problems no longer exist. They have either been destroyed by themselves or by the owner. Actually there is another point that has given FC a bad name. I know of a few FC hulls that were not constructed properly and had been taken out a sunk. THEN the owners claimed insurance. Total fraud.