You are on the right track here, but not necessarily with ferro cement.

You should not be putting more than about half of what you could scrape
together into the boat. You'll need the rests for repairs, upgrades, and
the unexpected. Not selling the house and renting it, or selling it and
putting the money away is sound thinking.

You are looking at a boat in the right price range if you can buy it without
selling the house. The price is cheap because the owner probably couldn't
give it away. Almost nobody wants these things and you'll probably have to
sail it uninsured. That doesn't mean an FC boat of the right design and
construction can't be a solid and seaworthy craft, just that the vast
majority of them effect the resale and insurance market.

Fibreglass boat prices (the real prices; not what you see in the ads) are so
depressed these days that you ought to be able to find a suitable boat for
about the same price. A huge part of the value of boats is the cosmetics.
The "owner finished" may be a big part of the cost equasion in the case of
this boat. Be sure you are comparing fiberglass boats of comparable finish
and systems and not just size.

I have a 32 foot boat ready and able to take me on some extended trips.
Moored right in front of the marina where my son works is a wooden Hereshoff
12 /12 daysailer that was purchased for four times what I could expect to
get for my boat in the presentmarket. Most of the cost of boats is surface
finish.

A good FC boat should be:

Fairly large since this makes the weight inefficiency less of a performance
issue.
Have good form stability (for the same reason) which generally means a
fairly traditional hull of a type originally intended for inside ballast.
Square welded mesh (run from chicken wire).
Professional construction.
NO rust showing anywhere. Rust expands. The slightest bleed means big
trouble.
Everything except hull comparable in quality and finish to any alternative
glass boats you are considering.
At his point in time, chances are overwhelming that, if the builder knew
what he was doing, he would have chosen a different material. Something to
think about.

Don't let this boat become the justification for doing somethign you can't
manage. Find at least a couple glass or steel boats you can manage and
would be happy with and see how low you can push the price. Don't worry,
that FC boat will still be there. As I said, nobody wants these things
unless they are uniformed dreamers.

"Strong as wood, light as steel."

--
Roger Long

--
Roger Long
"Josh Assing" wrote in message
...
My wife & I have been talking about moving onto a boat & sailing away for
a long
time -- the biggest stumbling block to buying a boat the size we'd need
for
liveaboard is $ -- we'd have to sell our house 1st & then buy the boat.

however, we happened upon a FC boat that we can afford w/o selling the
house.

I've spent about a month reading about FC boats and it seems that there is
a
common thread:
If the boat was home built -- run away
if the boat was professionally built - there's a very good chance it's
solid as
hell.
The only way to truely "check" the construction is to cut away the hull &
examine the steel beneath.

The hull was professionally built in Canada -- and then "owner finished"
the
interior. The standing rigging is overkill (bigger than needed, which is
fine
with me); the running rigging needs some tlc here and there.

So now I'm looking for people that have had experiences with FC boats
(good or
bad) to get an idea if we want to make the leap. We would be taking the
boat
on shake down cruises for the next year while still working & sell the
house;
once done -- sail off. So anyone with off shore sailing experience in an
FC
boat -- I'm very interested to hear from you.

Thanks
-josh