Repairing The Hull

Repairing The Hull

Help! i need some information about repairing a ferro cement hull. here in holland there are not much people who now something about this material. there is not even 1 warf specialiced. it is very confusing, i have asked many people and everyone gives a differend answer. i am talking about a hartley tahitian. build in 1977 on a warf in south afrika, natal. we asked around how you can see if the hull is in good shape. the answer we got was that the hul has to sound good, bright. doing that we found two places were the first layer of cement chipt of and some rust is seen. both with a diameter of 5-7 cm. some people say this is easy to repair with epoxy morter (sikadur) other people say that a hull must be perfect otherwise it only gets wors and wors, and ther's no stoping it. who is correct?

Linda Moolenaar...lmoolenaar@freeler.nl

Hi Linda, the people who tell you it only gets worse are wrong, unless of course they mean it gets worse if you don't repair it. The repair is relatively simple from your description. Some of the earlier posts in this forum and my book 'Ferro-cement Boats', will help you find all the information you are seeking. Our Tahitian is a well proven boat, and that's only a minor cosmetic repair after nearly 30 years since build, and obviously a fair amount of ocean sailing if she is now in Holland! Regards

Colin Brookes...colb@xtra.co.nz

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