The real question about ferrocement boats...

Echoes of the past we should not be hearing, a good point, and a needful post from Moldy Chum about politics and fly fishing (it also works if you substitute "Sailing/cruising" for fly fishing)...

From time to time I get a bit of derision on my stand that ferro-cement cruising boats are starting to make a whole lot of sense. Or, to be more accurate, that they have always made sense but due to irksome fashion, the marine industry, and too much undeserved word of mouth the idea of a ferro-cement boat is so unfashionable as to make the idea of building and cruising one problematic.

I mention this particular windmill I tilt at from time to time not because I actually have anything new to say about ferro-cement boats but because, all of a sudden, I seem to be knee deep in articles about redoing your bespoke kitchen with expensive cement counter tops, super-cool high fashion furniture built from cement, and cement as the basis for a whole new trend in art...

It would seem that cement/concrete seems to be the architectural/interior equivalent of this years "little black dress". Cement is HIP! So hip in fact that I recently read an article about concrete work surfaces and counters being installed in a megayacht spare-no-expense galley.

Fashion, as I've noted before, is an interesting thing. The idea of folks in places where hipness is important, apparently, can't rip out their mega-dollar kitchens fast enough to replace their counter top with cement and spend hellacious big bucks doing it.

Which, as a result, has me thinking about ferro-cement boats...

Fact is, a well designed and built ferro-cement boatis a thing of beauty which is just as strong or stronger than any other boat building material. On the other hand, in the late 60's and early 70's, a lot of bad ferro boats got built because people got greedy or tried to just cheap out on the cheapest boat building material around with calamitous effect. Of course, I've seen as many or more bad steel, fiberglass, wood, and composite boats built the same way and yet no one has anything bad to say about them (well ... yeah, everybody does seem to love to badmouth plywood but I'll reserve that sorry state of affairs for another post). I don't know about you but it does make me wonder...

Then there's the fact that back in the golden age of cement boat building the paints sucked, epoxy was yet mostly unknown in boatbuilding circles, and cement chemistry was actually kind of crude by today's standards. The point being that if you were to build a cement boat today you's have way better materials to build it with a lot more information available about how to build it better. For instance, look up cement and epoxy trade journals and you'll find that cement and epoxy not only work well together but are cutting edge tech.

Am I the only one adding 1+1 and getting 2?

For the new boat, (providing Trump has not destroyed the world before I can get around to building it) I'll be building a ferro-cement keel taking full advantage of the products and technology available today... It will be fast to build, relatively cheap, pretty much bombproof, and with foil shape that works... What's not to like?

So, the real question about ferro-cement boats is not whether or not one can build a good/great ferro boat and cruise with it but whether or not anyone is hip enough to do it.

Listening to Tower of Power (who are always  my go to guys on the matter of hipness)

So it goes...

Thrift is the new black...

Something often left out of discussions regarding cruising on a sailboat during the current zombie apocalypse is that of "style".

Well yeah, there is that one blog which is only concerned with style, hipness, and the coloring and re-coloring of hair...

So, just to bring a certain level of hipness to surviving the ZA on a sailboat in style, or to be more precise, bring fashion down to a level that boatfolk can actually deal with, may I offer some helpful hints...

As it happens, I've always been partial to facial hair but sometime forget just how much personality can be brought to the table when needful... For some hints, take a look at these dudes. Throw an Aloha shirt on any of those guys, give em a rum drink and not only would they fit in at Bomba's full moon party, but they'd score!

Of course, knowing a little history about Aloha shirts is mandatory to get full advantage and be cutting edge. Just a warning but Aloha shirts (or the wearing of them) tends to be competitive so best to get all the help you can.

Shorts are de rigueur, but all shorts are not created equal... For ages, Columbia Sportswear have been the shorts by which all shorts were judged. Keep in mind that, whatever brand, white shorts are akin to social suicide.

Speaking of social suicide, pretty much any clothing that says "sail" or promotes a sailing product is verboten unless it was FREE or you stole it. It also helps to at least pretend you are on a budget so if anyone ever asks you where you got something or what it costs, explain that your Harken shorts were only fifty cents at a thrift shop for wayward cats. Thrift is so much the "New Black".

Last but not least, if you have any doubts about looking right here is a quick test...

Do I look like a tourist?

If the answer is yes you're in trouble!

Listening to Green Day

So it goes...

The minimalist conundrum...

I keep looking for more boat and island friendly shoes as I expect to blow out yet another pair of Tevas in the foreseeable future but I'm finding Minimalist Footwear to have very non-minimalist pricing...

That said, I really like the range of choice in the Vibram Five-finger models!

Steampunk bits...

Location independent living...

Since we were speaking about boating in hard times, it might be a good time to mention that living on a boat really does make a lot of sense... That is, if you don't try to turn it in to some sort of mirror image of living and working on land.

Boats are meant to be mobile and they do their thing best when they MOVE! I'll admit to having a bit of a problem with those who define themselves as "liveaboards". All too often liveaboard translates to living in an overcrowded, overpriced marina with all of the same hassles of going to a job, owning a car, commuting, and a landlord who does not fix stuff...What is the point?

Sadly a lot of people who take this route do so with the idea that it is a needful step to cutting the ties with shore before they sail off into the sunset and start living the life they want to live. In most cases it is simply a dead end and the list of excuses as to the why folks are still in some awful marina six years on is a long and an apparently endless list of "BUTS"

Not everyone may have noticed it but there has been a revolution of sorts over the last couple of decades... We now all have computers and it as easy for a lot of us to do business from some anchorage with WIFI as it is tied to that overpriced marina with the loud neighbors in the powerboat next to you. On the odd chance that someone anchors too close and you don't like the music they are playing, hey presto up the anchor and move a bit...The revolution goes further as it is not just computers and WIFI and while the US of A keeps talking about alternative energy at some undisclosed future the cruising community has been wired in to solar and wind generation for at least a decade. The days to be tied to a dock for communication and power is very much a thing of the past. What makes it even better is that with the right mindset and a bit of thought it is also a very affordable lifestyle with no need to give up comfort and needful things.

Not camping!

Then again a lot of liveaboard folk are still tied to their jobs and to cut that rather evil umbilical of being a wage slave means some serious looking outside of the box and, for what it's worth, some creative flair/skill as well which if I am not mistaken IS what your employer pays you for...

The really nice thing about living on a sailboat that moves is that you can be home and comfortable anywhere you happen to be. Right now we are weighing the pros and cons of where to be when the next hurricane season comes to the Caribbean. Right now it is a toss up between sailing over to Europe/Med ( we really like the South of France) or sail up to the East coast of the US of A and hang around with friends between Newport RI and the Chesapeake. The fact is that wherever we wind up we will be home doing business as usual!

Which is a long and roundabout way of mentioning a rather important blog (albeit not a sailing or boat blog) and website for people who want to look outside the box and sever that shore bound umbilical... Location Independent Living is a blog which should open up a lot of people's eyes on how you can take advantage of the current revolution in communication and technology to take off now and have a business that supports you in the process.

Speaking of Bowsprit accessories...

All this thinking of bowsprits has me perusing all the boats these days for clever (dare I say Cunning?) plans to get my Gennaker a bit more user friendly.

Coming into the marina the other day I could hardly miss this needful accessory...