Thread: Ferro Yachts

I remember a few sinkings,,
you only have to look at cement house stumps, under old Queenslanders built around the same time, to see why,,

a fella spent 10 years building a 65ft vessel 2 doors up from me.

he finished about 10 years ago and still wanders around the Australian coastline in it..

was a roberts from memory and had a 65hp Volvo power unit.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

I remember a few sinkings,,
you only have to look at cement house stumps, under old Queenslanders built around the same time, to see why,,

Thanks. (I think).
Lots of yachts sunk. I dont think ferro sunk more than any others.
Dont forget wooden yachts got eaten by toredo worm like wooden stumps got eaten by termites.

Over the years I have seen a lot of ferro yachts. One I remember was in the same yard as I built mine, and was launched a few months later. Unfortunately, poor slinging resulted in it being cracked while being launched. Several months late the owner set off for Geelong from Williamstown under power, towing his dinghy. It sank half way, with a strong suspicion of it being an insurance job.

I think the reason you don't see many today is simply the fact that it is only a practical technique for amateur building - it is too labour intensive to be viable for a commercial build.

And I think this is related to something significant I noticed in my two trips up the coast. In 1987 I sailed from Melbourne to N.Q. and back, and in 1997 I sailed from Melbourne to Townsville and back to Tin Can Bay. On both trips I met a large number of other cruising yachtsmen. On the first trip, the vast majority of the cruising yachts I saw were amateur built, usually by the skipper. Only ten years later, there were quite a lot more people cruising, but hardly an amateur built boat to be seen.

Of possible building materials, ferrocement has one significant advantage. It is the only material that, if properly built, will be totally unaffected by absolute neglect. It will not corrode, nothing eats it, and it is unaffected by UV. Metals rust or corrode, wood needs painting and, as one writer says "it is biodegradable", and fibreglass is UV affected.

Ferrocement, has the advantage for the an amateur builder that it needs no heavy lifting (as does steel and wood), no special equipment (except a welder) and needs no moulds as does fibreglass. But these advantages are meaningless for commercial production.

The disadvantages of ferrocement are, as mentioned, it is labour intensive to build, it is difficult to achieve the ballast ratios that are possible with glass or wood or alloy, and it is less resistant to impact than is steel, or alloy. It is also difficult to make totally satisfactory alterations or repairs to damage.

John

Probably 40+ years in the making. Launching was a major undertaking.


Martyn

Thats a big yacht. 40 years
We had ours launched in 18 mths spare time work. Of course the fitout was a bit basic but I had heard we were getting a transfer to Bougainville and had to get it launched in time.
We built it on the Ag station 5 k from the water.
I found a few old ex war truck chassis and cobbled up a trailer, then had to dig two tracks under the hull for the wheels and use hydraulic car jacks to lift it as the trailer was backed under.

What would be the approximate weight of a yacht like the one above being launched? What was the average thickness of the hull?


Cheers, Mick.

was that the one Bushie where the approximate weight was too much?