Handmade Houseboats: Independent Living Afloat Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I decided to build my own houseboat. I found little on the subject untill I read this book. It gives construction information, suggests floorplans, and is a great guide for the uninformed. It is filled with practical information about houseboats, electrical information (including 110 vac, 12 vdc, generators and even solar) plumbing, and waste disposal. All in all, the best book on the subject I've found to date. I just returned this book to the Library and have just bought it through Amazon.com. I think that says it all. A must have for anyone thinking about building a houseboat.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Handmade Houseboats: Independent Living Afloat


Water-loving people of modest means have lived aboard houseboats for centuries, and why not? Unlike expensive, cramped, and hard-to-build liveaboard cruising boats, spacious, homey houseboats are easily and economically constructed from commmon lumberyard materials. And unlike those high-priced waterfront cottages, there's no lawn to mow and often no property taxes. And if you don't like the new neighbors, just up anchor and be off.
This book tells those who would live afloat how to design and build their own place on the water. There are detailed plans and building instructions for sample houseboats; help with designing a personalized houseboat from scratch; resource-stingy contrivances for easing life aboard, including a solar oven, a windmill-powered washing machine, and innovative power-, water-, and waste-management systems; and more.

Click here for more information about Handmade Houseboats: Independent Living Afloat

Read More...

Boat Joinery and Cabinet Making Simplified Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book touches on basic woodworking joinery. Its a good reference for novices. The only short commings that i could find were that it wasnt as advanced as i thought it would be.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Boat Joinery and Cabinet Making Simplified

Drawing upon his more than 60 years' experience as a boatbuilder/designer, Fred Bingham has revamped his classic "Practical Yacht Joinery" to appeal to a whole new generation of boaters. This new edition of the book "Yachting", called "an absolute necessity", not only is more attuned to the needs of boaters of the 1990s - and includes all-new material on building nautically influenced projects for home or camp - its price is substantially less than that of its august predecessor. This book is about building things of wood, from a new cup rack to a completely new interior, but it isn't just another project book.Bingham wisely assumes that many people want to be told how to perform neat joinerwork rather than what to build. By starting with a simple task, such as a cleat, deck box, or even a tool box, and then proceeding to more ambitious projects, you develop the skills you need to build practically anything you can envision. Bingham's joinery techniques and handy gimmicks (and they appear on nearly every page of the book) were born of trial and error; he provides realistic alternative procedures for many of the projects, telling how to make them by Method A, Method B, and Method C.As thousands of readers of "Practical Yacht Joinery" discovered, Bingham's gift for providing simple explanations for complex problems can transform a rank beginner who has never held a hammer into a journeyman boat carpenter, and a journeyman carpenter into a true craftsman.'The woodworking is discussed in such detail that just about anyone, including longtime professionals, is likely to find many useful tricks of the trade. Much more of this and pros will be a dime a dozen' - "The Last Whole Earth Catalog". 'One almost has the feeling that the author is right there, advising and encouraging, showing how to use a tool, helping lay out deck beams, pausing to tell how he did a job on such and such a boat' - "Small Boat Journal". 'A veritable encyclopedia of techniques, tools, gadgets, and gimmicks' - "Dolphin Book Club News". 'Takes over where boatbuilding books leave off' - "National Fisherman". 'Should interest everyone from the casual weekend tinkerer to the sailor who's building his own boat' - 'Yachting'.

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about Boat Joinery and Cabinet Making Simplified

Read More...

Voyaging Under Power Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Great book covering many aspects of go-slow, go-far boats: what to look for, how to test salesmen, how to check some basic designs, what to do while underway and how to do it, routines, etc with lots of personal examples. If you are interested in this topic and what it requires, this book is just about a "must." My only complaint, and I've only seen the 3rd edition, is the book smacks of Nordhavn advertising. Don't get me wrong, I've been on both the Nordhavn 40 and the 46, and they are unbelievably good boats. Personally, I like the 40' better even if it wasn't $120,000 cheaper than the 46: one head (if they aren't friends, don't let them on your boat!) with more headroom, better engine room, appears to need less elbow grease given the more industrial trim, and (personally) I like her looks better. Robert Beebe may have built Passagemaker for $43,000 in 1962. Nordhavn wants $429,000 for the 40 and $549,000 for their 46. The kicker? They suggest you tack on an additional $100,000 in "options" (half of which I don't really consider optional). Also recommend the "Troller Yacht Book" (ISBN 0393047091)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Voyaging Under Power

In World War II, aboard the aircraft carrier Saratoga, Captain Robert Beebe dreamed of one day retiring and cruising the world in a small boat. At that time world cruisers voyaged exclusively in sailboats. But sailboats are confined to narrow lanes of predominantly favorable winds, which can be unpredictable and difficult. Beebe wanted to arrive at distant ports relaxed and on time, not battered and two months late. He wanted to voyage under power..
Back in the 1940s, no suitable long-distance powerboats existed. Beebe literally had to invent modern powerboat voyaging from scratch. The design parameters he developed for long-distance powerboats are still in use by naval architects today. The resulting boat, Passagemaker, was home to the Beebes for many years and more than 60,000 ocean-crossing miles. What Beebe learned in those years of voyaging became, in 1974,

Click here for more information about Voyaging Under Power

Read More...

Boatbuilding Manual, Fifth Edition Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is (or should be) truly mandatory for anyone constructing a boat or rebuilding a boat (sail or power) made of wood. It is an invaluable reference, and has a wealth of information and tips for the most experienced boatbuilder. Most importantly however, is that it paints a remarkably accuate portrait of what is involved in working with the media of wood and water. It will either encourage the motivated amateur, or discourage him or her with its no-nonsense explanation of the nature of such an undertaking.
In short, it makes life easier for *anyone* who works with wooden boats, sail or power.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Boatbuilding Manual, Fifth Edition


Get the latest boatbuilding tips from this updated classic

Since its first publication in 1970, Boatbuilding Manual has become the standard reference in boatbuilding and boat design schools, in the offices of professional builders, and in the basement workshops of home builders. No other boatbuilding text has simultaneously served the disparate needs of professional and amateur audiences so successfully. Carl Cramer, the publisher of WoodenBoat and Professional Boatbuilder magazines, has fully updated thisfifth edition with the latest in boatbuilding techniques and developments.

Includes:

The latest wood-epoxy construction methods that make amateur building more successful than ever before
Recommendations on products and materials, saving you time and money substantial time and expense

Topics include: Plans, Tools, Woods, Fiberglass and Other Hull Materials, Fastenings, Lines and Laying Down, Molds, Templates, and the Backbone, Setting Up, Framing, Planking, Deck Framing, Decking, Deck Joinerwork, Interior Joinerwork, Finishing, Sailboat Miscellany, Steering, Tanks, Plumbing, etc, Mechanical and Electrical, Potpourri, Safety

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about Boatbuilding Manual, Fifth Edition

Read More...