"dave" wrote:

I recently purchased a 30 odd year old hartley queenslander ferro
cement sloop. I love it and so does my family and friends. Its a
funny
old thing, everything works, but all the know alls who own boats
built
of other materials look down their noses and all have some anecdotal
story about the woes of ferro construction. It sails beautifully,
motors with ease, is very comfortable.
Could someone who has owned , or does own a ferro share with me
their
trials and tribulations.

Basic problem with ferro is their is no non destructive test method to
determine if you have a good hull, thus insurance companies are
reluctant to insure them.

Everything is dependant on the quality of the workmanship and there is
no way to test it.

If you get a poorly built one, chances are it will crack at the worst
time.

About 20 years ago here in Los Angeles, a ferro boat a guy had spent
over 20 years building, fell off the truck on the way to inital launch
and cracked. It had just become a worthless flower pot.

If you are lucky enough to get a good one, you are a winner, because
among other things, concrete gains strength as it ages.

Years ago, there were some WWII ferro "liberty" ships they tried to
break up and couldn't.

Ended up sinking them to form a reef for fish, someplace off the
Oregon coast if I remember correctly.

Sounds like you may hace a good one, enjoy it.

Lew