Posted on 06/06/2019 12:23:00 PM PDT by Red Badger
In high school, I was on the boating team and we had a cement canoe...it was nice...
A very rich friend of my parents (and to a degree me) had a huge yacht built for him out of concrete - built in Florida. He kept it on Lake Superior, and then after ten years or so he donated it to the University of Minnesota’s oceanography department.
I recall my dad telling me how he got to fly down to Florida for a few days with him on the private jet to go look at it during construction. Probably 1980 or so. Of course as a kid and hearing about a concrete boat I thought “that can’t be right!”
I got another idea for you... mix some hollow rubber balls into the concrete mix. Yes, it will reduce the structural strength a little bit, but it should also reduce the weight of the ship without changing the displacement or the permeability.
I’m no engineer, but my intuition says reducing the diameter of the balls would also reduce how much they affect the structural integrity.
The reason that I asked is that about 25 years ago at least one of the “cement ships” was still in the Pacific “Inter-island” trade, according to a commercial marine newsletter.
(I once even knew the ship’s name but “I’ve slept since then.”)
Off of our TX coast there are at least two such ships, that were sunk & are part of an artificial reef.
(Believe it or not, TP&WD biologists say that marine life starts “moving into” the new “underwater structure” within 24 hours of a ship/tank/truck/car body being sunk.)
yours, satx
The ship in the top picture lies on a reef off the coast of Bimini. I scuba dove around it years ago.
Growing up I recall a concrete ship (broken in half) located as a fishing pier near Rio del Mar beach south of Santa Cruz, California. Many kids dropped their first line in the ocean from the old discarded WWI ship.
That’ll buff right out. (I’m the first to post this? REALLY?)
Jeanie did everything she could not to let Major Tony Nelson get on a concrete ship.
Yep.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: granite ships.
Began my usual scan of posted replies and got to thinking about the concrete ship I’d dined aboard as a kid growing up in FWB. Then your post and picture appeared to satisfy my curiosity. Thanks Red Badger.
When I was oh-so-many years younger, I remember reading an article in a magazine (Popular Mechanics? Popular Science?) about how to build a ferrocent boat, including pictures of some that were already afloat.
It’s still there........It is anchored and tied down in a small, possibly man-made, finger of water between Santa Rosa Sound and Highway 98, with Okaloosa Island between the sound and the Gulf of Mexico.
Back in 1995 when we had Hurricane Erin (and 2 months later Opal!) the owners of The Boat (that’s the name!) decided to STAY ABOARD IT DURING THE HURRICANE!
Little did they realize that it would be one of the scariest things they ever would do!
When the hurricane hit full force, the Tidal Surge came across Okaloosa Island like it wasn’t even there. Then the Sound filled up and all the boats that people had anchored in it, thinking it was ‘safe harbor’ started lifting from their anchors and were washed ashore winding up on Highway 98! That includes The Boat they were on, except it stayed put and the mooring lines were tighter than they had ever been intended to be. The people on The Boat, about six of them IIRC, were scared to death that they were going to become passenger on a short cruise across Highway 98 and into the parking lot of the businesses across the street! They watched as boat after boat came in from the sound and grounded on the asphalt of the main highway, thinking they would soon join them. The winds were a Cat 3 and the tidal surge had crossed the Highway 98 and was about to inundate the City Hall. Hurlburt Field Main Gate was under water, as was Liza Jackson Park, where it’s dock and restroom buildings were swept away. Which was okay since they were in really bad repair anyways!
But the mooring lines held and they were able to tell their story to the local fish wrap reporters the next day. They said they will NEVER DO THAT AGAIN............................
I must have missed that episode!.................
Very true. A boat that successfully made 5 trips was either considered “very lucky” or “out of luck”, depending on your point of view. Most Americans do not know the sacrifices of the Merchant Marine.
There is a type of concrete called AAC - Autoclaved Aerated Concrete. It is made by adding powder (aluminum I believe) to the mix and causes the concrete to create air bubbles. This type of concrete naturally floats.
See, this is why I’m not a millionaire. Every time I think I have a good idea, I google it and someone else beat me to it.
LOL yeah I know what you mean.
If it helps you to feel worse [snarky comment] the Romans were adding pumice stone to their concrete mix to create a lighter concrete kind of like your hollow balls aggregate.
https://hesspumice.com/pumice-pages/pumice-uses/pumice-concrete.html
The concrete mixture contained smaller particles of metal and also a polymer of some type that bound the concrete and was also supposed to keep the structure from corroding
We used three types of metal fencing (screening)to frame out the hull and interior walls. The concrete had to be pushed through the screening by hand and then troweled off for a smooth surface. Never did see the boat launched.
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