 In Herman Wouks wonderful Caribbean escape novel Don't Stop the Carnival there is a rogue character who describes himself as "just an old truth teller." I like that. It is a self-assessment worth living up to. The current truth about boating is that it gets harder to afford from year to year. In the nearly twenty years since This Old Boat was originally published, the waterways and shorelines have gotten markedly less boat friendly (unless you are lucky to own a megayacht).
Do-it-yourself boatyards continue to give way to condominium developments. Marinas have succumbed to the immediate return of converting to high-priced dockominiums. Both gasoline and diesel fuel have increased from less than SI per gallon to more than $4. The price of a new offshore 35-foot sailboat has risen from an already astonishing S100,000 plus in 1991 to an astronomical $300,000 plus today and still rising. The cost of insurance also rising. Storage costs are up. Haulout costs are up. What bought a gallon of bottom paint in the '90s buys a quart today. Hell, even the cost of this book has increased (but not so much)...
The author himself combines about thirty years of sailing experience, an excellent sense of humor and a perfect writing style to deliver reliable and simple advice to the boaters.
 Here is the twenty-first century update of the world popular book written by the professional yacht designer to serve as a sort of guide to the safe and efficient offshore cruising yachts. It has been loaded with detailed technical information covering the design theory, construction and outfitting of the yachts. This book will be very useful to all people who are in the boat design and construction.
The publication has gained the popularity because of the author's approach to the important questions - he is actually looking at them at a slightly different angle, That is why the book is treated as a really great read for all boat and yacht designers and constructors. The style of writing used by the author has made this book very easy and interesting to read.
The way he explains the various design features of yachts and boats enables the readers to better understand the theoretical principles that are usually considered quite difficult. In his book, the author has covered the hull shapes, machinery, propulsion arrangements, sails, decks and actually all aspects one needs to be aware of in order to understand all design matters. Very informative and opinionated publication and a must-have for every boater due to a wealth of information provided.
 This history of this book started almost a century ago. The very first release of this publication is dated about 1923. The present contemporary edition of the book continues the tradition of representing a perfect reproduction of the most important historical works while maintaining the perfect format of the original publication.
We believe that this work is culturally important in the original form and therefore did not utilize the optical character recognition technique when preparing the electronic release of the book. In our opinion, it may lead to the sub-optimal results, such as improper characters, typo errors and confusing formatting results. The authors of the original publication included numerous data diagrams and images, as well as detailed working plans and drawings of various model yachts and various small ships that would be suitable even for the amateur builders.
It does not, however, even pretend to be a specific treatise on naval architecture or yachting; it would be rather addressed to that portion of the yachting world which is interested in the small crafts and boats that can be constructed by amateurs and not professional builders. The author of the book touched the most important and interesting aspects of the design, construction and sails, with some underlying theoretical principles...
 I adore secondhand bookshops—the smell, the atmosphere, and the low prices. In my time, I've found lots of great books about building small boats on their dusty shelves. Because many aspects of boating remain the same over generations and even centuries, older books on the subject can often be as relevant today as newer editions, and there's much indeed to learn from them.
However, I have come to dislike certain types of older books, particularly the ones on boat carpentry that are more discouraging than helpful. They usually start with an anecdote about how the author tried building a boat at a young age and failed. In some versions, the author's father, in a fit of misplaced and misguided rage, destroys the original boat with an ax because it's both shameful and unsafe; in others he burns it. Usually the experience leaves the fledgling boat-builder in tears but determined to win the father's approval. Stories like this make me angry because when I see them I know it's more than likely that the author, deliberately or not, is replaying the part of the angry father and making readers feel inadequate, as if they were kids unable to build a proper small boat. In contrast, the present book is meant to make readers feel confident about building small boats. It will explain them how to make the project go smoothly and efficiently, bearing in mind that mistakes are not the end of the world.
You can correct many with the help of good old cousin Poly Urethane, Uncle Epoxy, and Auntie Filler, so there's no need to fear potential blunders along the way. Thankfully, the bad old boat-chopping and boat-burning days are long gone. The methods I'm presenting here are tried, tested, and known to work. Over the years I've noticed beginners often wonder whether alternative cheaper materials and methods might work just as well as the ones I have included in this book. The answer is some will, some won't, and some will only to a point. If you have a slightly wacky idea about building a boat from expanded foam or using water-resistant (rather than waterproof) glue, ask about it on the Internet discussion groups...
 Well, it goes without saying that a name plays a very important role in the whole destiny of the ship, up to the very last day of the service. A well-designed one will be a finishing touch in the long-lasting process of building the boat and it will form the first impression of the boat. The name of a boat or a ship is referred to as a visible clue to the owner's sensibilities and interests.
Regardless of whether the chosen name is mythical, irreverent, romantic, classical or, say, whimsical, it will not be able to communicate such message without a good and effective design. The title of this book fully reflects the content. The readers will get to know how to choose the graphic style and lettering expressing their personality and boating aspiration the best way, how to work with various techniques of lettering, how to properly communicate their choices to a designer, or a letterer.
They will be offered a nice visual tour through the history of naming the boats and will be given a good opportunity to browse thousand and a half boat names and also explore the various resources for expanded search. Take some time reading this book and you will see how interesting the process of choosing the name and designing it can be.
 This is a classic and very rare book. It was first published more than a century ago, in 1911, and the original intention of the author was to help the kids construct small crafts that ranged in size from a houseboat to a log raft, Taking into account the average age of the assumed audience, it is quite understandable that the author could only use the most basic of technical skills from potential "boatbuilders", and his plans and directions which resulted from this approach, have become a real classic in the schools of so-called "quick & dirty" boat building.
This book will be ideal for the rafts and some basic crafts or any other similar structures. We would recommend all boat builders of the future shall to consider this book as the first primer due to very simple and easy-to-understand explanations of the various techniques.
This small volume even includes some basic information on sailing and nautical safety, seamanship techniques, rigging of a small boat and a handy guide to knot splicing for nearly any harbor or nautical situation. The building directions provided in this book include ones for war canoe, folding canoe, rowing rafts, slab and dugout canoes, canvas canoe and several other types of boats.
 And here comes the perfect and so easy to follow an understand guidance to building boats for amateurs. This book has become world popular among boatbuilders as a result of the simple and straightforward way of explanation. The authors of the publication presented all information using a tack-and-tape method as well the framing method, which is more conventional.
There are so many people who have managed to build the boats using the designs, techniques and data provided on the pages of this publication. The duet of authors consisting of the professional boatbuilder Harold Payson and professional designer Phil Bolger created a perfect reference source. the secret of the success of this book was the proper combination of the boatbuilding genius and excellent writing style of Payson with the amazing designs prepared by Bolger.
The general technical knowledge and a huge number of construction plans and drawings allows the boatbuilding enthusiasts to construct nearly everything from a regular six-foot boat to a twenty-five-foot classic schooner. The book is written having the newcomer in mind, that is why the authors preferred not to go too deep into technical information - all the construction methods presented there are fool-proof, practical and easy to implement.
 Sails are a boat's engine, and they produce power in one or two ways. If there is a wind coming from the side, it flows around both sides of the sail thus creating lift "pulling" the boat forward. Should the wind be coming is coming from behind, it "pushes" against the sail and simply shoves the boat forward. This belongs to the Keelboat series by US Sailing and covers the basic skills and terminology that are required in order to skipper a keelboat in a responsible manner.
The authors broke down the manoeuvers in a very understandable and simple way. The publication is popular in the sailing schools all around the country as the introductory textbook because of the easy-to-understand approach. Of course, it is aimed mostly to the newcomers; however, it will be useful even for the people having strong skills, since they still find there the information to fill in some gaps of their knowledge. We all know that the fastest way to learn something is to learn from the professionals.
This book will give the readers anything they need to know for the very first sailing. The text is truly outstanding. Some people say that in fact sailing is like chess, i.e. quite easy to learn and so difficult to master...
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