Elevation and Plan
Banyandah is an aboriginal word meaning “home on the water” and was chosen from a book brought to our house by my first boss in Australia.
At that time Jude had just given birth to Jason, our first child and was already pregnant with Jerome. So a “home on the water” seemed appropriate indeed.
Banyandah was backyard built in Sydney, construction beginning late 1970, we launched June of 1973. There is a detailed work diary around somewhere, but from memory she took about 10,000 hours to complete and cost $15,000 back then. Of course, as we built everything and she had little gear, her costs were kept low.
Her first rig was heavy galvanized wire supporting a thin steel tube mast we welded up one weekend, complete with flat bar steps. This rig proved exceptionally strong, surviving a roll over when crossing the Pacific in winter near 50° north.
1982 - Plain and simple interior
Her original fit-out featured Fijian Cedar veneer ply bulkheads with poor man’s teak for trim, that’s what they called Blackbean then. Her power-plant, a straight six Perkins, we took out a truck and rebuilt. Heavy, but reliable. She carries 700 litres of fresh water in four separate tanks connected to the system by a manifold, and about 500 litres of diesel in two twin interconnected SS tanks. She’s built for long distance cruising.
Between the years 1974 and 1987, the Four J’s, as we were known then, sailed well over a hundred thousand miles! Banyandah crossed four of the five oceans and provided living quarters for our family while visiting more than 80 countries around the world.
In 1990, we craned her from the water and lived aboard her on our front lawn while we built our first land-based house. During the next 16 years, she was totally gutted, sandblasted, epoxied, and totally rebuilt with all new systems and then re-launched in 2005.
Major assets: clean deck - strong dodger - solid railing
Galley Forward, SS working surface, Red Cedar with Rosewood trim
Aft cabin with double bed
Our new aft deck tower
G’day Jack and Jude,
Banyandah looks to be a real nice, well cared for Ferro yacht, just the type of Ferro yacht I hope to own within the next year…Or less.
I found your statement interesting, when you say, you sandblasted the hull. I’ve read on, ferrocement.org I think it was, that sandblasted a FC hull is a big no-no. I’m sure others, besides myself, would be interested in hearing how you went about sandblasting and treating your Ferro hull.
Thank you for the good information.
Bill
Hi Bill
I’ve never heard it was considered a no no to blast a ferro hull.
If the ferro is good, then its hard and blasting will get rid of the coatings leaving a clean hull, in our case, we soaked that clean hull in raw epoxy the same day.
Where it was weak, around the bilge area, chain locker and where a hatch leaked, the blasting ate into the ferro, which is just what I wanted.
Of course, you need a man with some finesse. My man didn’t seemed to have any trouble at all. I had him go inside and blast that too. Coated both side of the hull after that.
Banyandah had already sailed 120K by this time, maybe more, and she was nearly 20 years old. Since then, she’s clocked another 20k hard miles in southern latitude.
Cap’n Jack
Hello Jack,
Thanks for responding to my enquiry on sandblasting the hull. Can you tell me how you went on to repair any damaged areas once the sandblasting was finished.
So it was good to find your blog and read that you had sandblasted the hull with no ill effects.
Bill
Just wanted to say your Blog is in my rss you got a way with words.. Cheers,