Ferro Yachts

[wheels 543]

as they attract owners who are not interested in maintaining the boat

Yes, it's where many make a big mistake. Just like Royal, someone sees a big boat for the price and buys it and then finds it takes a hell of a lot of money to keep a big boat, no matter what it is biult from.

if you want to see Wheels get truly passionate, criticize ferro as a building material

Hmmm, maybe. I think I am more wound up by the fact that most negative comments made are from people that actually have had no actual experience. (I don't mean this as a swipe back at anyone that has made such comments.) I have seen a bad build myself, where a beach sand was used and the sand was full of Shell and Salt. I only know of one actual Hull failure from an impact that it shoulkd have easily withstood. So yes, I am aware bad boats were built. The Hull failure due to impact one now no longer exists and most all of those badly built boats no longer exist.

There is only one FC Hull I know of, that was good Hull and nice boat too. It was detroyed during a Cyclone in Oz many years back now. It actually disapeared and could not be found. It was only several weeks later that an Insurance assesor was assesing a 700Tonne barge up on rocks. At first he could not work out what some of the materials were sticking out from under the barge, till he realised it was parts of another boat. The Barge had actually washed up onto the FC yacht and crushed it underneath. But 700tonne i think would have even made a Steel hull look a little worse for wear.

[Guest]

I was brought up on a ferro boat, 35 years on my parents are still cruising the globe in the same boat and have been living aboard for 25+ years now. No one ever picks it as a concrete boat.

...........

 

I can vouch for that. Another Ferro boats in the same league is Okere - built, to Francis L. Herreshoff's Tioga design, by Jack Hargraves and Jon Olsen and launched in 1973.

 

I'm sad to report that Jon Olsen, a most generous and charming yachtsmen and friend, died suddenly last night.

 

Jon had always kept Okere immaculate - she did a circumnavigation in the 1970s, starting with the Auckland Suva Race - and, as Boo Boo says about his boat, no one ever picked Okere as being Ferro.

 

Jon also bought, and restored, and then chartered out, the famous Kahurangi, which he owned in the Med. for several years.

[GregW 28]

When I was a kid I remember reading the Samson Ferro Boat Book and Hartleys Ferro Cement Boat Building and thinking the whole idea was pretty cool., but there were unfinished shitters in peoples yards all over the place - including one in a property on Bucklands Beach You wouldn't get away with that now.

 

around the same time I talked to the owner of a trad looking H28 ketch that was tied up at the Panmure YC jetty, I was gobsmacked when he told me it was ferro - it looked like a well finished wood or FG hull. Around the same time (early 70s I think) Ev Sayers had a couple of semi stock ferro designs including 1 with a fin keel IIRC. And then there were the Davidson 41's built by layering the mesh over a male mould then plastered, one of which was for sale on TM recently.

 

And Helsal (also known as the flying footpath) won the Sydney Hobart (line honours) around the same time (1973).

 

Ferro boats have been tarred with the same brush that a lot of early multihulls were, based on badly built Pivers and Wharrams. The survivors are probably worth some consideration if a large cost effective boat for a live-abourd or cruising is needed.

[w44vi 17]

Wood rot's, steel rusts, fiberglass gets osmosis. ferro

[wheels 543]

ferro

OK, some negatives.

(and people say I am "passionate", no just want to ensure the entire story is told)

Ferro does not like Point impact. So something hard and sharp enough, can punch into the plaster. In saying that, the Steel should stop it from going right through. We had hit logs, and hit hard enough to cause damage on GRP and had only a mark in the paint. The concrete jetty in Gisborne when it failed, punched a 50cent size hole through the Hull into the anchor locker. GRP or Timber would be on the bottom, Steel would have been dented, not sure about Ally. That can be torn if hit hard enough.

FC's major enemy is Deisel. The engine room or where ever fuel is present MUST be protected with a coating. Otherwise a spill will work its way clean through the plaster and then you will struggle to ever get antifoul to take to the Hull.

Ummmm, I'm struggling to think of anything else.

[Guest]

David, sorry to hear about your friend passing.

[Guest]

Ode, I would love to see a photo of your yacht. I think its remarkable that when mild steel mesh is rendered with sand and cement it resists rust completely. apparently cement and steel expand and contract at the same rate so a marriage made in heaven but the corrosion resistance is magic as wheels describes above.

[Battleship 100]

Ode, I would love to see a photo of your yacht. I think its remarkable that when mild steel mesh is rendered with sand and cement it resists rust completely. apparently cement and steel expand and contract at the same rate so a marriage made in heaven but the corrosion resistance is magic as wheels describes above.

 

If you look at pretty much any modern concrete construction it should be evidence enough for you, they are all mild steel covered with concrete, don't see to many rusty motorway overpasses.

 

I built concrete swimming pools overseas for 15 years and occasionally we would need to modify and/or renovate them, it's amazing how clean and rust free the steel is even in a 30 year old concrete shell.

The only time you run into rust trouble is if there isn't a thick enough cover on the steel.

[Guest]

Have a look at Gisborne harbour breakwall, rust is busting it up. They may have used beach sand.

[Battleship 100]

Have a look at Gisborne harbour breakwall, rust is busting it up. They may have used beach sand.

 

Who knows, same thing with ferro boats if it isn't done properly it wont work, they may have tried to skimp on the cement content or didn't have a thick enough cover on the steel, never been to Gisborne but I'll take your word for it.

[wheels 543]

The Concrete wall is breaking up for another reason and the Rust is an after affect. Once the steel is exposed, then it will rust and then it will expand and break the concrete exposing more steel to rust and so on.

[rigger 47]

learnt awhile ago that they put an additive into cement that is used in constuction in the islands - they add a product called flatash - comes from Huntly - is gives the cement a smooth finish tht resists saltwater intrusion

[wheels 543]

I wonder if that is the same additive that is called "Polan". It used to be used in the early years, but deemed not neccessary. But I never found out what the stuff was.

[rigger 47]

But I never found out what the stuff was.

 

was told the flat ash is a waste product from the huntly power station

[sick of it 0]

Just to be a boring engineer.

 

There are materials that are both a substitute and additive used in concrete to improve the durability and permiability of concrete.

Flyash from Huntly is one. Pozzalans and Micro Silica are others.

 

In all marine structures the most important requirement is cover to protect the steel.