Nautical > Nautical - Boatbuilding

This straightforward guide is designed to take the novice step-by-step through the stages of designing both power and sailing boats, explaining the reasons behind the procedures and using typical lines plans and working drawings to help understanding. Since it was first published, How to Design A Boat has proved itself to be a bestseller.

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For decades, boat building has catered for the rich and the elite, and has been out of the reach of ordinary people both economically and culturally. Iain Oughtred has challenged this philosophy by designing beautiful yet inexpensive wooden boats ideal for amateur construction, often basing the designs on traditional local craft. Iain has a cult following around the world as a result of his exceptionally appealing yet easy to build small boat designs, and this compelling book shows just why. The photography showcases the beauty of... read more

Ultralight canoes and small boats are things of beauty, their apparent delicacy concealing great strength. They are lapstrake-constructed from marine plywood planks, each plank overlapping the one below it in a gracefully curved hull. Epoxy glue along the laps gives the hull structural reinforcement, minimizing the need for framing and permitting an amazingly light structure. Round-bilged and elegant, they are built over jigs, but the method is straightforward and not time consuming. You can build a boat that will give you fun and ... read more

One of the most widely read texts on the subject, Boatbuilding Manual has been used for years as a standard reference at both boatbuilding and design schools. This fourth edition emphasizes traditional wooden construction but also surveys plywood, wood-epoxy, fiberglass, steel, aluminum, and other boatbuilding methods. The chapters on interpreting plans, lofting, and moldmaking are common to all methods. New to this edition are several chapters arising from the Miscellaneous Details chapter of earlier editions; an appendix on sharp... read more

A modern approach to this key skill for boatbuilders. The second book in our Classic Boat series aimed at traditional boat lovers, builders and restorers. Lofting is an essential stage in the transition between designing and building a boat in order to turn the design plans into boat lines plans to measure off and build the full-size boat. Its a tricky art, but this book shows exactly how it is done in clear, step-by-step diagrammatic stages. Aimed specifically at the amateur DIY builder, it will enable anyone to build a boa... read more

A handy guide to making sense of a nautical chart Whether they are paper or electronic, charts are the most fundamental navigational tool. Making the best use of them requires a great understanding of symbols and abbreviations, as well as an awareness of the limits of accuracy in positions and soundings. Understanding a Nautical Chart not only helps you to read a chart, it allows you to understand that information and use it to navigate safely. Learning the abbreviations and symbols are critical to anybody using a chart and before ... read more

How to Build Tough, Super-Safe Boats in Kevlar, Carbon, or FiberglassThe first quick-and-easy composite construction method for canoes and kayaks! This book is certain to appeal to any paddler with a DIY bent. Master craftsman Sam Rizzetta presents three attractive innovations: a new building method that makes Kevlar and carbon-fiber boats cheap and feasible for home builders; an ergonomically designed canoe that makes paddling easier and more comfortable; and a foam-flotation installation method that makes canoes and kayaks safe a... read more

Ted is the author of Canoe Craft, one of the top books on strip-building canoes. Kayak Craft covers four Steve Killing designs, including the 17' Endeavour. Also included in the book are lines and offsets for a 14' sport kayak, a 16'6" touring kayak, and a 20'6" tandem kayak.
If you have ever built a strip canoe, you'll want this book for the designs as well as the additional techniques for making the cockpit coaming, hatches, and decking. And, if you already have some of the building skills, getting the low-down from a buil... read more

Traditional Yacht Navigation combines two of Jeff Toghill's most popular books - Coastal Navigation and Celestial Navigation - making this the essential handbook about small-boat navigation. Most small boats are fitted with electronic navigation systems. But electronic gear is notoriously problematic in a damp or wet atmosphere and in the sometimes hazardous environment of a big seaway. Depending on their accuracy in such conditions can lead to life-threatening situations. With traditional navigation systems using compass and sexta... read more

This title includes full-sized plans for 8 canoe designs, most of which are the author's own adaptations. The step-by-step directions are accompanied by more than 100 photographs and illustrations. Covering everything from safety in the boat to shop repairs, Gil Gilpatrick thoroughly explains the whys and shortcuts learned from his experience in the shop and on the water. A Maine guide, he uses his own canoes and tests their performance on the challenging Allagash River every summer. It includes full-sized plans for 8 well-proven ... read more

Sailing: A Beginner's Guide takes the reader step-by-step from his or her first sail to an almost intuitive mastery of small boat handling. the delightful drawings combined with the author's appealing writing style successfully explain topics in manageable double page spreads. The book unravels the mysteries of reading the wind, guides the reader through his or her first tenuous steps aboard, and then beyond to navigation, safety, seamanship and even trailering, conveying the magic as well as the nuts and bolts of sailing. It is a... read more

John Masefields dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, butting through the Channel in the mad March days has become a ship type of universal appeal, both for its simple, functional beauty and its faithful toil before the advent of universal road haulage.

This is a unique, practical, hands-on guide to boat manoeuvring - ideal for cockpit use or as an aide-memoire. Manoeuvring a yacht under engine at close quarters in a marina close to other (expensive!) boats can be a daunting prospect for the inexperienced skipper - but it has to be done in order to take your boat off a pontoon to go sailing, and to berth her after a day on the water. Throw in fast flowing tides, and unpredictable wind which might blow from the bow or beam or stern, and the exercise becomes even more of a lottery -... read more

A practical step-by-step guide to sailing that every sailor needs on board. It enables you to learn every aspect of sailing. It includes the latest developments in technology, design and sailing procedures as well as advice and information on types of craft, from dinghies to large cruisers and over 1,000 photographs and full-colour diagrams.

Second-hand. Book is out of print. Fantastic computer graphics systematically explain how to tune-your-yacht, keelboat or dinghy. This beautifully illustrated and well-organised book shows the reader step by step, how to trim their sails and rig for maximum performance. Ivar Dedekam

Of all the hundreds of types of pleasure craft, large and small, that you can see on any given day in any given body of water, you may rest assured that the one that will draw your eye will invariably be a classic sailing yacht. And this is the case not only with sailors, who can be presumed to recognize a yacht's pedigree; the rankest landlubber almost always reacts the same way, in the universal spontaneous appreciation of beauty that we all feel when confronted with it. This book, then, is dedicated to a celebration of that beau... read more

This masterly work will continue to be an invaluable source of reference for anyone wanting practical advice on working with GRP, in order to make repairs and improvements correctly and thus extend the life of their boat. Since it was first published 45 years ago, Hugo du Plessis' Fibreglass Boats has become a classic, relied upon by owners, surveyors and boat builders keen to understand how fibreglass behaves, and obtain practical advice on working with GRP. In a deliberately non-technical manner, he explains the peculiar na... read more

Boat noodling. Boat lovers suffer universally from this benign affliction. In its mildest form, boat noodling is nothing more than wondering why that sloop in the next slip is faster than yours. In a more significant manifestation it could mean serious daydreaming - drifting off for extended periods, sketching design ideas on the back of an envelope. Chances are, if you've picked up this book just to see what's in it, you're beyond help.

Naval architect Dave Gerr offers the perfect antidote, a browser's reference to u... read more