Ferro-cement, Samson 36. Worth restoring???

[paulrossall]

Have posted a question about restoration of this boat on the pbo site and the advice is to do something else. Thought I might get a more sympathetic hearing on the site. The boat has stood in a yard for about 10 years and the fibreglass on the coachroof has cracked and some water got in. Coachroof/cabin structure has well constructed inside frame of about 30mm beams/side supports covered in plywood and then sheeved in grp. I think I need to strip off the grp and plywood, paint the beams, paint underside of new plywood (is exterior grade good enough?) and then, the bit I will find more difficult, sheeve the structure in grp.
Original fit out to very good standard, some water damage, new flloorboards required, interior repaint. Wireing seems to be good standard, only depth sounder remaining.
Hull has minor surface damage. Rudder pintols(bits attatched to hull it pivots on) sheared off and the shaft ends, top and bottom of lower part of rudder are very rusty. Engine BMC 1500 appears new about 15 years ago but guess less then 1000hrs. Has Vetus hydraulic steering. Masts and sails ok, galvanised rigging hand spliced needs replacing. Mast are about 40ft and 30 ft long. What will new rigging cost?
Go to www.ferroboats.com click on Samson Gallery and on page 3 look at the 3 pictures of "Lady Rose" You must agree that the hull shape "in martinique" does look OK! The boat I am looking at does not have the wheelhouse, otherwise is identical.
Guess boat will cost say £500, and one years hardstanding £1500. I reckon for less than £5,000 I can have a very sturdy boat.
Should I get it..advice on project...anyone know a good ferro surveyor? Paul.
PS I do know what hard work is.

 

[Mirelle]

I think you may very well be right on this project.

Things you have going for you:

1. It is about as "unfashionable" as you will find.

2. Your assessment of the structure "reads right" to me.

Dunno any good ferro surveyors (and I agree - the viability of the whole project hangs on how good the hull is) but see PM

 

[dickh]

I would double your budget for refitting - it just keeps mounting up as you go through the boat finding things that 'need doing'.
Check carefully on cost of insurance - it can be very difficult to insure this type of boat.
Check whether it was professionally built. Get it surveyed before purchase, which will help with getting insurance.
How far away from the boat do you live? If it is more than a few miles, consider getting it transported to your backyard(if suitable) or very local to you. Driving miles to do work on it will kill this project.
Check the engine carefully - although spares are still available for this engine, I would budget for either a rebuild(it'll still be a 60's design engine) or a new engine(say £4500).
Good Luck if you proceed.

 

[daveyjones]

I am about to begin construction of a ferro boat after several years of research on the technique. If your experience has been similar to mine, you will have had lots of negative remarks on ferro, invariably from people who know nothing about it, have no personal experience, and generalise from seeing a few badly-built amateur jobs. Ignore these people. 10 years is no problem for a ferro hull, as they just keep getting stronger. I would love to find a ready-built hull for renovation, especially for £500! It would save me a great deal of work. If I were in your shoes, and speaking as someone who has not yet built a ferro boat, only researched the subject, I would only concern myself with the state of the hull, and assume that everything else will need replacement or upgrading. This will give you a realistic budget. The main problem with ferro is the difficulty of surveying the hull. If there was no survey during the build, it is difficult to know about the composition of the mortar, whether properly cured , and the composition of the steel frame. You should definitely read Colin Brookes' books on ferro building, obtainable from the Hartley and Brookes website. I have recently been in touch with Tony Tucker, a yacht surveyor based in Hertfordshire, with a view to getting him to supervise and certify my project. He appears to be knowledgeable about ferro boats, so you might want to talk to him. He is listed on the YBDSA website, or email me if you can't find him. ps: hand-splicing rigging is very easy after a bit of practise, so you need only pay for the wire, thimbles and a bit of twine and tar to serve the splice. There are many books on this, but Hiscock's "Cruising under sail" has some photos, which was all the information I had when I did it, quite successfully! I'd love to know how you found the boat; if you know of any 40 ft ferro Colin Archers going cheap, do let me know. I'd be interested to know how you get on with this; you can contact me by email if you have a moment. Once again, take no notice of negative uninformed comments on ferro; if properly built it is a good material.

 

[graham]

I have never built or owned a ferro boat and only sailed on one one season.(Hartley 33)

I fully agree that it is a fantastic material that doesnt suffer from Osmosis Dry Rot delamination or any of the usual problems.

What it does suffer from is a bad image left over from lots of badly made home built jobs in the 1970s . This stigma will unfortunately attatch itself to any ferro boat no matter how well built and lower the resale value considerably.

If you see this as the only way to get the boat youve allways dreamt of then go ahead ,but just be aware that it is very likely to be a bad financial investment when you come to sell it.

 

[paulrossall]

Thank you all for the recent comments. I am just dashing off to my boat (the grp one) until Wednesday but I will respond in more detail on my return.
Thanks. Paul

 

[daveyjones]

Graham is correct when he says that a ferro boat will not fetch a good price on resale. This argument is often used against ferro boats. The corollary, however, is that they don't cost as much in the first place, so where is the loss?