Newby to Ferro Yachts

[CSY Man]

Ferro can be brittle and the steel rusty...

[Celestialsailor]

Oh no...the cement boat debate again...Good grief

[Stillraining]

[pulyajibon]

What is it with you Sam Plan B. You wont or cant agree to disagree.

[Springbok]

So the negative experts have arrived!They obviously did not read ferrocement.com/index.html and get a full picture of ferro,its history etc,or they read it with their eyes shut.Also you never ever mentioned price ie money to be spent.A 20yr old Morgan OI or a Columbia are at least 40000k+ if in reasonable shape, at 25000k most large boats are a debatable buy.I repeat if the hull is not showing rust marks then it is probably in reasonable shape.YOU have to do your homework on any older boat you buy, regardless of hull material.I was on St Maarten in the Caribbean in 1995 when hurricane Luis a force 4 hurricane hit. There were 1200 yachts/boats in the "hurricane hole" Simpson Bay Lagoon.When Luis passed after 30 hours only 70 were still floating.All the rest were beached on top of each other all around the lagoon.My 58ft ferro was beached,2 holes above the waterline,whiched I fixed with 2 part epoxy and building sand(holes were not right thru').Most glass boats were rightoffs ie lost.They were salvaged onto an enormous graveyard of wrecks.Dignity was lying on her side but had taken no water.We refloated her (25 tons),thats another story,and used her as a workboat to get other beached boats back into the water.She had other damaged to her toe-rail stantions etc. We fixed everything spending 500 dollars. I maintained Dignity and sold her in the Caribbean 2 yrs later at a profit.A beautiful lady.
Keep Researching,
CLYDE

[pulyajibon]

Thanks clyde cole for you positive remarks. The more I investigate ferro boats the moe I like them. Even with ther faults. All yachts have good and bad points. the yacht I would like will be around 40-48 ft and up to 80k. I should be be able to get a good ferro yacht in this range.

[Springbok]

Correction.The ferro boat webpage is The World of Ferroboats. The photo shown to trash ferro is in my opinion not a boat as NO ferro boat is made with such minimal steel in its hull. The whole steel and wire mess is very dense before the cement is applied.Read the webpage.
Clyde

[CSY Man]

The photo shown to trash ferro is in my opinion not a boat as NO ferro boat is made with such minimal steel in its hull.

Hmm, you sure? Perhaps even the "experts" can be wrong?

Not sure the photo was shown to trash ferro, but rather as a warning to buyers out there.

The owner of the boat on the photo had it for 20 years and he swore up and down how strong it was and how much it could take, etc.
Then the boat glanced a navigation marker in the Bahamas at a few knots and the whole Starboard side crumbled.
The boat was trashed beyond any economical repair and almost sank as the damage continued below the waterline...

Stand by while I dig up a picture of the boat before it had a meeting with the nav marker.

[CSY Man]

[Springbok]

The boat in the picture looks like a Sampson Sea Strutter which was similar to Dignity. If the previous picture is really from her she was VERY amateurishly made.Dignity was beached with no damage and the "dent holes"above the waterline were caused by other boats smashing into her exposing a very strong steel-mesh to re-plaster on,nothing like the photo shown.Again any older large boat must be fully investigated regardless of hull material.Many older glass boats have many issues we could discuss.
Happy New Year,
Clyde

[Springbok]

If one visits the webpage www.feffocement.org and look under "methods of construction"-go to the 2nd page by clicking on "more"and there are photos of a ferro m/s rod constuction followed by the putting on of the wire mesh.The last photo shows this combination to be so dense that you can hardly see thru' it.The cement has still to be applied.This is what the photo of the "broken"cement construction DOES NOT indicate,hence my doubt or conclusion if it was from the ferro boat implied THAT boat was very badly made.Hope this clears up any misconceptions
Clyde

[CSY Man]

If the previous picture is really from her she was VERY amateurishly made.

Well, not a matter of IF: Same boat.
Look around on this forum and you may find a thread on the boat and her faith.

Yes, indeed built by an amateur, a school teacher in Canada and therein lies the problem with ferro boats: Most are built by amateurs, and mainly to save money. No wonder the quality is all over the place and no wonder most folks stay away from them except the bargain hunters.

The boat in the pictures was sold for $15K summer 2008 with an operating engine and some sails, spares and a dinghy. Even at that price it took a long time to sell it.

The owner had no idea how rotten the boat was and the buyer would not get it surveyed due to cost.
($20.00 per foot in Fort Lauderdale)

The boat is now on the bottom of a deep ocean as there was nothing left to repair.
The buyer is alive because of this incident: He had planned to sail it solo across the Atlantic and odds are good it would have broken apart in the first storm or in the first set of big waves if one is to judge general sea-worthiness from the first picture above .

I am kind of scratching my head on this whole ferro craze: If one have to build his own boat, why not learn to weld aluminum? (Fairly easy to cut with the right tools and last a long time)

The price of an engine is the same, so is mast, rig, sails, tanks, etc, etc AND an alu boat holds a much better re-sale value.

[Springbok]

Yes I remember the boat was basically sold on this forum to the first person to come up with the 15k.Thus the boat was bought unseen over the internet or if seen really not surveyed or any real homework done.The bargain price for such a large boat was the attraction.Again I repeat, if any large boat is for sale at a low price REGARDLESS of construction material one needs to check it out fully before any purchase is made.There is no ferro craze again that I know of.The construction done right "professionally"as shown on The World of Ferroboats shows how it should be done.This can apply to any construction material ie there are bad glass,steel etc boats out there due to bad construction methods.
Clyde

[CSY Man]

There is no ferro craze again that I know of

Perhaps not now, but in the 70s is sure was.
If ferro cement was so good, so strong, etc it would be the # 1 choice I would think.

Don't see many new ferro boats these days, whether pleasure or commerical. In the US especially it would be hard to get financing and insurance for a ferro boat and perhaps that is part of the reason they are not popular?

Does the banks and insurance companies know something we don,t or are they just biased because they dont understand ferro?

Whatever, ask brokers and surveyors their opinion on ferrocement boats, perhaps they have something to say about the subject as well.

[Cadence]

The best ferro I had seen was in Charleston, SC built in South Africa. I hope they made it back to SA. It was an aces job. Not your backyard job. Looked like glass on the surface. Penitration into the steel structure would be a constant concern once a breach is made electrolysis takes hold. One big battery.

For what it is worth.


I'd have to agree with Sam buy GPS.