Repairing ferro-cement question

[Capt Jim24025]

A friend asked me about repairing damage to a ferro-cement hull. He was looking at a boat for sale that had some hull damage below the waterlevel.Since I know nothing about this kind of material, I said I would ask on the website.Your comments will be appreciated.Thanks, Jim

 

[RichH]

THE problem with ferro-cement is that there

is NO way to analyze the condition of the underlayment steel armature. If the hull is compromised below the water line and corrosion has begun to penetrate along the steel armature there is NO means to assay the condition. Tell your friend to RUN not walk away from a used ferro boat especially one that has obvious below the waterline damage. Just ask yourself how many concrete highways built using the same methods of steel reinforcement last more than 15 years and then need to be totally ripped apart and totally rebuilt ... and they are not submerged or immersed ALL the time.

 

[Pete]

cement hulls

in addition to run away as sugggested in the previous post it is very unlikely that your friend will find any insurance company willing to write insurance of a cement hull for the exact reasons suggested be Rich H. I'm surprized that they are trying to sell that boat instead they would be better to give it away !

 

[Jay]

If God meant concrete to float.....

Forget repairing a concrete boat. There are plenty of dirt cheap fiberglass boats around that can be restored for less, with greater confidence,and be something you can be proud of when you are done

 

[JC on Bainbridge]

Wait just a minute...

There are a lot of concrete highways here in the Northwest that sits in the water 24x365. In fact, they float. They are our floating bridges. We have 3 big bridges, Hood Canal, Hwy 520, and I-90. Yes, the same I-90 that goes all the way from Seattle to the East coast. I-90 is a double set of bridges, one east bound, and one west bound. All these bridges carry huge number of traffics every day. Yes, they float and they are part of our major highway systems.Yes, once in a while, some maintenance guy forgets to close a hatch in one of those concrete sections, and they sink. Of course, when one section sinks, it pulls down the next section, then the next section, and then the next section, then they have to build a new bridge. BTW, under the current Hood Canal bridge, the old one that sank is just below it, sitting under water on the west end. Just ask Fred, he lives in Seabeck, pretty close to the Hood Canal bridge. Now back to concrete boats. I know there are lots of concrete boats out there, sailing for many years. However, in my mind, I just can’t imagine going to Home Depot to buy a bag of concrete to repair a hole in my boat. ;d Yeah, yeah, I know it is not the exactly same kind of concrete, but it is an interesting thought though.I would love to hear some people out there with concrete boats, okay, okay ferro-cement boats, and what they really think of their boats, and how well they sail. Or, do they just sink like a rock.