Gaff schooner sunk in Brixham

[Gary Fox]

Another sinking, if one was needed, to prove that somehow all the festering, abandoned vessels around our shores need to be removed. That will cost and nobody wants to pay.

I wonder, if the right person put the right spin on the project, they could all be put in a huge pile, and be re-categorised as a 'sculpture'? The Arts Council (taxpayer really..but what the hell) would cough up the enormous expenses and lease a field.
It could become an exciting new tourist attraction, with a funicular railway and a cafe/gift shop on the summit.
Piles of bricks are old hat, Tracy Emin's stinky quilt is so last-century , this is a seafaring nation!

 

[bedouin]

I did read that they had proactively taken off the boat prior to it sinking, the oil and diesel fuel, there is some contamination but they think that may be from oil in the generator onboard. They are looking at a bill of £100k to clear her.

That suggests they were aware there was a risk of sinking in which case it is strange they did nothing more about it. Surely it would have been cheaper to haul it out while still floating than to leave it to sink alongside a pontoon.

 

[Mark-1]

That suggests they were aware there was a risk of sinking in which case it is strange they did nothing more about it. Surely it would have been cheaper to haul it out while still floating than to leave it to sink alongside a pontoon.

Or were they more concerned about fire? Or was there simply not enough budget to haul it out and pay to store it ashore? Or did they figure that once out of the water it would be impossible to "sell". (Or rather give away in order to transfer the liability elsewhere.)

I suspect they will be insured for removal of sunk vessels, so this way is perhaps the cheapest and only solution for them.

Marinas with lock gates are lucky. If they see a wreck approaching with liveaboard written all over it they can just refuse entry. (A local liveaboard was telling me he got turned away towing a dilapidated 22ft vessel in to be parked adjacent to his mother ship. Lovely bloke, he was quite offended, but I really could see the marina staff's point.)

 

[Pete7]

Thinking about it, that boat has probably been moored in the outer harbour for over a decade, so may have arrived under her own steam and been in reasonable condition. There was an old chap on board last August. Watched him move tins of paint from one pile to another but couldn't help feel he was completely over whelmed.

If they can get permission, then cut the masts off and sink it in the bay as a local inshore fishing mark.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Marinas with lock gates are lucky. If they see a wreck approaching with liveaboard written all over it they can just refuse entry. (A local liveaboard was telling me he got turned away towing a dilapidated 22ft vessel in to be parked adjacent to his mother ship. Lovely bloke, he was quite offended, but I really could see the marina staff's point.)

There was a long and entertaining saga on line about a family whose dodgy and uninsured hulk Penarth Marina threw out after it sank. They had a website, protests outside holding company offices, questions in parliament, the lot. Googling "MV Picton Penarth" drags up the details.

There was an old fishing boat left sunken alongside the pier at Port Bannatyne. The owner of that flatly refused to move it, or even to sell it to the CIC which was rebuilding the pier and for several years it blocked most of the usable pier. It eventually disappeared one night. A few imprudent children said they had heard sounds like the engines of a JCB and a lorry, but Nobody. Saw. Anything.

 

[davidej]

Another sinking, if one was needed, to prove that somehow all the festering, abandoned vessels around our shores need to be removed. That will cost and nobody wants to pay.

Just come to the West Mersea waterfront and you will not be able to count them on the fingers of your two hands.

Luckily nothing on this scale. Most are under 20ft.

 

[Gary Fox]

Thinking about it, that boat has probably been moored in the outer harbour for over a decade, so may have arrived under her own steam and been in reasonable condition. There was an old chap on board last August. Watched him move tins of paint from one pile to another but couldn't help feel he was completely over whelmed.

If they can get permission, then cut the masts off and sink it in the bay as a local inshore fishing mark.

Less than a decade, and she was towed in by a BM trawler due to a broken injector pipe, I was one of the delivery crew on board and I organised the tow. Reasonable condition is debatable, but apart from the machinery needing a service she wasn't leaking, and we managed to get the main up, for what it was worth.
The injector pipe, No. 5 if memory serves, of the Perkins 6-pot non-turbo 6354 snapped off at the injector, because the anti-vibration clip was absent. The clip which holds all the injector pipes to each other, to stop them resonating. Probly costs 50p.
'For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost..'
Don't know about the old chap, the guy who bought her in Dover was quite young. Although the Sea Beast experience might have put a few grey hairs on his head

 

[HissyFit]

Except graphene concrete is electrically conductive so the boat’s steel structure will be slowly fizzing away on top of all the other problems!

There are solutions but the price would probably be prohibitive.
?

Did I say ferro-cement boats? The iron framework could become superfluous. The proportion of graphene to cement would have to be high for the material to be conductive anyway. The boutique bike manufacturers who already use graphene in the resin for carbon fibre frames have yet to consistently reproduce conductivity.

 

[Rappey]

and even then there are all the areas of cement between the bits of steel in the structure that are thus weaker.

And the bow of the fibreglass jet ski punched a hole in the hull (between bits of steel

Wow. There speaks your typical ferro armchair expert who has a mate but in reality has no idea at all what he is talking about, let alone any idea of how a ferro boat is constructed.
Shame on you .

 

[TernVI]

Plenty of things you can reinforce concrete with, like fibreglass for instance.
The point of ferro was the ease of building without a mould. Make steel armature, plaster it.
All do-able by low tech trades people.

These days if I really wanted to build a boat without using a mould, I'd make it of GRP sandwich or strip plank.
But why would you, when there are loads of cheap old boats around?

 

[Rappey]

The plastering needs a high degree of skill. That's where many failed.

 

[Frogmogman]

Wow. There speaks your typical ferro armchair expert who has a mate but in reality has no idea at all what he is talking about, let alone any idea of how a ferro boat is constructed.
Shame on you .

Er, Bajansailor is no "armchair expert". He is a Naval Architect and Marine Surveyor with many years experience.

 

[Rappey]

Er, Bajansailor is no "armchair expert". He is a Naval Architect and Marine Surveyor with many years experience.

So why has he repeatedly mentioned gaps between the steel ?
The biggest gap ferro would bridge without any steel would be mm,s
He may have many years of knowledge but it does not appear to be with ferro boats.

 

[Rappey]

Here is a ferro armature, 6mm stringers 2" apart and 8 layers of mesh.
I fail to see how a jetskis could puncture the hull " between the steel" ?

 

[dom]

Did I say ferro-cement boats? The iron framework could become superfluous. The proportion of graphene to cement would have to be high for the material to be conductive anyway. The boutique bike manufacturers who already use graphene in the resin for carbon fibre frames have yet to consistently reproduce conductivity.

My point is that elevating cement to higher production complexities obviates its cheap-n-cheerful characteristic which was, for a time, its primary interest to DIY enthusiasts.

For the big commercial players to take it up, they would need to see it outperforming GRP, Carbon, etc., both in terms of structural characteristics and price.

Anecdotally, I can see no sign of this whatsoever. Unless I'm mistaken?

 

[Rappey]

price.

The labour cost of building a ferro boat is probably the reason it has not taken off.
It would take longer to build a decent ferro hull than any other material.
Windboats was the only company I've heard of that built any professional ones.

 

[Pete7]

Here is a ferro armature, 6mm stringers 2" apart and 8 layers of mesh.
I fail to see how a jetskis could puncture the hull " between the steel" ?

You're assuming the boat in question was built with a fine multi layer mesh, or was it a bit of chicken wire and an old chain link fence.

 

[Wansworth]

The plastering needs a high degree of skill. That's where many failed.

Basically just a skim over the mesh which is the reinforced part,thick cement unsupported inside or out is just unsupported weight

 

[Wansworth]

At a cocktails party a friend was accosted by an Admiral “how do there’s concrete boats float”...

 

[DownWest]

Basically just a skim over the mesh which is the reinforced part,thick cement unsupported inside or out is just unsupported weight

Sort of...
Friend built a 34ft gaff ketch. Spent a long time getting the armature fair, then called in a pro team to plaster it as it has to be done in one go. The mix also has to be right and that means less water than you might think, so not thin enough to easily get into the matrix. Lot of poking and pushing to ensure no voids. After it is done, then it has to be kept damp for the cure. That means weeks.
His hull looked like GRP and was about 20mm thick, more near the keel.
Pretty boat and sailed well.