During a technical cooperation project in India (TCP/IND/2307 (T)), 1984-87, the Food and Agriculture Organization prepared training notes on building ferrocement fishing boats, covering the practical aspects in the use of ferrocement.
This document is based partly on that work and on the authors' experience in working with ferrocement in boatbuilding for almost thirty years. Expertise in this field has been acquired mostly in the United Kingdom, but also whilst working in Canada, Denmark, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Malta, Spain, Sri Lanka and the United States of America, as well as training personnel from a variety of countries whilst based in the United Kingdom.
Craft constructed by the authors have ranged from small rowing boats up to 25 m powered barges. The majority, however, were in the 10-17 m range and include fishing boats built for Aden, Somalia, Kenya, India, Tunisia, USA, UK, Solomon Islands and Japan. The type of vessel built included trawlers, lobster boats, gillnetters, fishery research vessels, fish transport vessels, tugs used for pushing logs in British Guyana, a wide range of yachts sailed worldwide, canal boats for the UK, pontoons built for a variety of purposes, houseboats for use in the UK and France, and cruisers built for several countries.
The arrangement of this document is such that both the construction technique and related information should be of assistance to boatbuilders, naval architects and entrepreneurs when using ferrocement as a boatbuilding material.
