Sunken Ferro Boat - Guernsey

Tim Good

Tim Good

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http://www.pbo.co.uk/news/four-saved-as-yacht-sinks-near-guernsey-24044

So... This feffo ketch ploughs into some rocks and goes down pretty quick by all accounts. Quote: "They appeared to have had no time to make any form of distress call or launch a liferaft.

Shall we discuss what would have happened if it were GRP? Clearly it depends where and how it was hit but in general what are peoples views?
 
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northcave said:
WEB_Melina-of-Fleet-sunk-at-Roustel-beacon-Guernsey-Herm-Island-in-background.-Credit-Tom-Harvey-533x400.jpg


http://www.pbo.co.uk/news/four-saved-as-yacht-sinks-near-guernsey-24044

So... This feffo ketch ploughs into some rocks and goes down pretty quick by all accounts. Quote: "They appeared to have had no time to make any form of distress call or launch a liferaft.

Shall we discuss what would have happened if it were GRP? Clearly it depends where and how it was hit but in general what are peoples views?
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If you hit anything hard enough, it matters very little what your boat is made of.
Discuss the art of not hitting things, or not hitting things badly.
Not so much value in thinking about the finer detail of wrecking different boats.

Unless the ferro-style of the boat was somehow instrumental in not being able to avoid the rocks?
 
I always thought ferro cement yachts were tough as can be. Then I read an article which pointed out that many are poorly constructed and not as tough as I thought. It would be interesting to hear more about this one but I have seen very little detail so far.
 
Steel probably gives you the greatest resistance to holing the hull but if you hit a rock hard enough any material can be holed.

They need to put a beacon on that rock :-)
 
mainsail1 said:
i thought ferro boats were made of concrete reinforced with steel rods.
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Chicken wire I believe or something similar.

Years ago I saw some rescue program where they were taking the crew off a dismasted ferro yacht mid ocean onto a cargo boat. During the process the stricken boat touched one of the ships propellers (stationary) and it holed the ferro boat and it sank in less than 30 seconds.
 
I saw a ferro wreck ashore in Porto Santo years ago. One side had been bashed in and there were nothing but lumps of cement held by chicken wire.It was like it had desintegrated. Not long ago a 16m ferro boat sank very quickly when it hit a buoy in Culatra.I've read that these boats are not very good in impacts as they shatter. Fiberglass boats can flex quite a lot and pop back into shape.
 
30boat said:
.I've read that these boats are not very good in impacts as they shatter. Fiberglass boats can flex quite a lot and pop back into shape.
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Yes this is what I was getting at when I started the post. You don't get points nor make a very interesting conversation to say all boats will sink with a hard enough impact.

But all the reports that I randomly read of Ferro boats sinking tend to happen very quickly... as opposed to GRP reports which tend to be either slow or time enough to do a patch job. I'm totally generalising there and have no reports to back it up buts that's the feeling I get.

I've seen plenty of images of Alu and steel boats with nice big dents rather than holes though.
 
I am sure that weight is a big factor. I try to avoid bumping into hard things but with Katie L - one tonne - she bounces off the bottom or rocks. I reckon that you would be hard pressed to get enough inertia to make a hole in her. I reckon in a four tonne centaur then it might be possible.

In my opinion concrete boats are easier to damage.

But as I have never owned one my opinions are of little value

D
 
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I suspect ferro boats vary quite a lot.
Particularly in terms of the amount of steel in them?
There are many that have done well in hard use.
There are others that are badly built and some notable failures.

Equally there are good and bad steel boats, some dodgy grp boats and some wooden boats that are past their sell by date.

The fact that this one sank does not mean it was a bad boat, it just hit a big rock too hard AFAIK.
 
lw395 said:
I suspect ferro boats vary quite a lot.
Particularly in terms of the amount of steel in them?
There are many that have done well in hard use.
There are others that are badly built and some notable failures.

I am sure that ferro boats vary greatly. My only experience was when the bow of our Snowgoose poked a hole (fortunately above the waterline ). Equinoxe was unmarked. The opinion of several experienced people was that the size of the wire was inadequate and the quality of cement unsuitable.
Equally there are good and bad steel boats, some dodgy grp boats and some wooden boats that are past their sell by date.

The fact that this one sank does not mean it was a bad boat, it just hit a big rock too hard AFAIK.
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I looked at a ferro cement boat several years ago, it had been professionally built and fitted out by a boat builder and it was very nice - we were very tempted until on enquiry found that it would have been difficult to insure so we did not buy it. Pity as it was beautiful and very reasonably priced.
 
Look at the materials.

Ferro cement is a crystaline structure so it cannot cope with any movement. it just spalls off the wire armature. Every other boat building material, GRP, wood, metal, elastoplast, cardboard etc has a laminar structure so it can cope with a certain amount of flexing.
 
michael_w said:
Look at the materials.

Ferro cement is a crystaline structure so it cannot cope with any movement. it just spalls off the wire armature. Every other boat building material, GRP, wood, metal, elastoplast, cardboard etc has a laminar structure so it can cope with a certain amount of flexing.
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A few years ago we sold a 25 year old fin and skeg ferro yacht (Hartley 39) that had by then done 4 transatlantic circuits, plus a lot of other longish-distance work. Funnily enough there were no crumbly bits coming off the very fair, fast and not especially heavy hull. If you drop a glass bottle it shatters, but it doesn't seem to stop people buying and sailing yachts where all the strength in the hull comes from glass.

There are many bad ferro boats about, but don't tar them all with the same brush.... There are also bad wooden, GRP and steel boats about.
 
michael_w said:
Look at the materials.

Ferro cement is a crystaline structure so it cannot cope with any movement. it just spalls off the wire armature. Every other boat building material, GRP, wood, metal, elastoplast, cardboard etc has a laminar structure so it can cope with a certain amount of flexing.
Click to expand...

Cardboard's out.
 
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