Facts & Falacies
Facts & Falacies
Ferro-cement boats
A 30ft 8ton displacement sailboat
Built in ferro-cement weighs 8tons. A 30ft 8ton displacement sailboat built in GRP/FRP weighs 8tons. A 30ft 8ton displacement sailboat built in wood weighs 8tons.
GRP/FRP (glass or fibre reinforced plastic)
Is a method of construction developed from SRP (steel reinforced plaster, now known as ferro-cement).
The advantage of the action of Osmosis on ferroboat hulls
Is reversed to a disadvantage on GRP/FRP constructed hulls.
A wood constructed boat
With a hole in it will sink at the same rate as a ferro-cement one.
Nothing lasts forever
Even a ferroboat.
The biggest disadvantage of a ferro-cement hull
In the eyes of the surveyer, is it's almost unique individuality.
An estimated 11,000 Hartley ferroboats
Have been built worldwide.
The first solo crossing of the Tasman Sea
Was made in a home-built ferro-cement Hartley 'Tasman 33'.
The earliest known ferroboat still in existence
was built by Lambot in France in 1848.
The country to have built the most vessels in ferro-cement is the UK
An estimated 9 million tons were built in the period Sept 1943 to May 1944 alone.
Boats have been built in ferro-cement from 10ft to 20,000 tons
For amateur construction using the standard 'Hartley truss frame', method around 25ft is about the smallest that can be built (smaller requires other methods).
The smallest and largest 'Hartley ferroboats
That have been designed are a 12ft dinghy and the 130ft Steam Yacht 'Blackwater Lady'.
The British designed a 120ft submarine in ferro-cement.
The oldest ferroboat still afloat and in daily use
Is probably the 'Violette'. Built in Faversham, U.K. in 1917 as a coastal freighter. She plied her trade for around 30 years before her machinery wore out and was retired. She is now a floating clubhouse on the Medway River.