Ferro Concrete

Razorfish

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Hello Mark,

I'd try searching the forum for 'ferro' and you'll be suprised how often this question is asked.

I've often wondered about sailing off into the sunset in a ferro boat myself, its the only way I'll ever be able to afford a 40 ft blue water cruiser.

Cheers
 

alienzdive

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FLOATING FOOTPATHS!

Some ferro boats have been built and still sailng today from over 200 years ago, others are just unfinished projects sitting in peoples yards.
 

Trevethan

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Try www.ferroboats.com

A lot of people not ferro, and there are some awful examples out there. But at the end of the day a good ferro boat is a good boat.

The things to look for are:

Is the design suitable for ferro cemnt and has the builder stick to the original design?

Was it yard built or amatuer buillt?
Yard-built are preferable, but there some good amatuer builld out there too.

Was the hull plastered up in one go? If not it will be weaker.

The great thing about ferro is that it is easy to repaiir and maintain and very hard to break!

The drawbacks It is a [oops not nice] to drill through for skin fittings etc!
The snooty attitude that some have to the material, which is reflected in low prices.
Can be tough getting insurance unless yard built.

People will say a ferro boat is heavy -- load of crap -- a 45 foot boat that displaces 20 tonnes dispaces 20 tonnes no matter what it is made of.

Of course ferro isn't suitable for building lightweight big volume vessels in the Ben JEn Bav mode, but it does make a great heavy displacement long keel boat.

Good luck

Nick
 

Stemar

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I've a mate who just bought a 34ft RORC ferro boat for change from £20,000. It's a lot of boat for the money, and on the delivery trip, we had just a breath of wind and she was ghosting along at 5 knots, so that one, at least, certainly isn't hard to get going in light winds.

General consensus seems to be that if a ferro boat is professionally rendered, you're in with a chance. If she's more than 10 years old and doesn't have any problems, you've got a good'un. If you see any signs of rust stains on the hull that seem to be coming from within, or any spalling (the concrete is being pushed off the steel matrix by rust, don't walk away, run!
 

bedouin

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[ QUOTE ]
People will say a ferro boat is heavy -- load of crap -- a 45 foot boat that displaces 20 tonnes dispaces 20 tonnes no matter what it is made of.

Of course ferro isn't suitable for building lightweight big volume vessels in the Ben JEn Bav mode, but it does make a great heavy displacement long keel boat.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ferro IS heavy in the sense that a 20 tonne ferro boat will have a lower ballast ratio and be much less stable than a comparable 20 tonne GRP boat. (i.e. more weight in the structure, less in ballast)
 

snowleopard

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A good material if it's well built, crap if it's not. A survey is essential and be prepared to walk away if the news is bad. If you can see the mesh showing through the surface or there are unevenesses in the surface it's almost certainly a poor amateur job and not worth the survey fee.

They are cheap to buy and will never fetch as much as a boat made in other materials simply because most buyers assume they are all crap. That means you can get a lot more boat for your money.

A big cheap ferro hull to fit out is usually a bad buy. It costs just as much to fit out as a more expensive hull but will never have much resale value.

Below about 35 ft they are heavy relative to other construction methods but above 40 ft they can be lighter than steel or carvel.
 
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