The books listed below have all been selected to help guide you
through your
entire boat building project and are the best books we can find on the subjects.
FIBERGLASS
WOOD STEEL
ALUMINIUM DESIGN
ELECTRICAL
CORROSION SAILS
MECHANICAL
VARIOUS
Title |
Author |
| Design Catalogue | Bruce Roberts International Over 100 designs, both power and sail for the home or professional builder |
| FIBERGLASS | |
| Fibreglass and Composite Materials | Forbes Aird This is an up to date book on the ever widening subject of composite materials. Well laid out with loads of information. |
| Fibreglass Boats | Hugo Du Plessis Comprehensive manual on all aspects of building a fibreglass boat |
| Fibreglass Boat Repair Manual | Allan Vaitses A guide to cosmetic and structural repairs of fibreglasses boats - large or small, sail or power. |
| Glassfibre Handbook | R H Waring Pretty near whatever you want to know about hand lay-up methods of fibre glassing. |
| West System Booklet | Fibreglass Boat Repair and Maintenance Excellent information in a compact booklet. |
| West System Booklet | Gelcoat Blisters - Diagnosis, Repair and Prevention The title says it all. |
| West System Booklet | Vacuum Bagging Techniques Information and tips on how to vacuum bag |
| West System Booklet | Final Fairing and Finishing A very good booklet on how to go about this labour intensive job. |
| WOOD | |
| The Gougeon Bros. On Boat Construction | A comprehensive volume covering the use of wood / epoxy material and techniques, from lofting and setting up through hull laminating and interior |
| Cold Moulded and Strip Planking | Ian Nicholson An informative and practical guide to both these methods of wooden boatbuilding |
| West System Booklet | Wooden Boat Restoration and Repair |
| Boatbuilding Manual. 4th Edition | Robert M. Steward A classic manual of wood boatbuilding as well as other methods. hardcover. |
| The New Cold-Molded Boatbuilding | Reuel B Parker Well illustrated and written this is an excellent book for those contemplating building a cold molded hull. |
| The Boatbuilders Apprentice | Greg Rossel The ins and outs of building Lapstrake, Carvel, Stitch and Glue, Strip Planked and Other Wooden Boats |
| Devlin's Boat Building | Samuel Devlin Everything that you need to know about stitch and glue construction. |
| STEEL | |
| Metal Boats | Ken Scott A marine engineer takes you through the building of a small steel hull along with chapters on designs and alloy boatbuilding. |
| Steel Away | Smith/Moir covers everything you want to know on steel boats and there building. |
| Steel Boatbuilding | Thomas Colvin Covers fully from buying plans to ultimately launching a steel built vessel. |
| The Complete Guide to Metal Boats | Bruce Roberts First released in July 1999 this is the latest 2006 edition. |
| ALUMINIUM | |
| Aluminium Boatbuilding | Ernest Sims Design factors, skills required, techniques, tools and machinery needed. A good primer. CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT |
| Boatbuilding with Aluminium | Stephen Pollard a groundbreaking book-the first one to unite the backyard boatbuilder with the ideal |
| DESIGN | |
| Boat Strength for Builders, Designers and Owners | Dave Gerr An amazing book. Covers not only strength but goes into woods, foams, paints, filling voids, etc, etc. |
| How to Design a Boat | John Teale The best small book written on boat designing. Inexpensive and easy to understand. |
| Principles of Yacht Design | Lars Larsson and Rolf E Eliasson If you wish to design your own yacht then this is the book for you |
| The Nature of Boats | Dave Gerr An extremely handy book on a huge range of topics regarding everything to do about building and understanding thing about the nature of boats. For experienced boaters and those just starting out. |
| Seaworthiness The Forgotten Factor | C A Marchaj How the search for speed has affected the Seaworthiness of the modern sailing vessel |
| Understanding Boat Design | Ted Brewer The classic primer for the boat buyer, amateur builder, and beginning yacht designer. |
| ELECTRICAL | |
| Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual | Nigel Calder How to maintain, repair and improve your Boat's essential systems. Possibly the most thorough volume on boat maintenance. |
| The 12 Volt Bible for Boats | The best basic primer on 12 volt systems. If you have no knowledge of 12 volt systems and are unsure how to go about planing and installing one then this is for you. |
| Boatowners Illustrated Handbook Of Wiring | Charlie Wing A user-friendly, roll up your sleeves manual for onboard electrical projects, from fixing loose connections to rewiring your boat - ever produced. Hardcover |
| The 12 Volt Doctor's Alternator Book | Edgar J Beyn Get to know your alternator - it could save your batteries life. |
| CORROSION | |
| Metal Corrosion in Boats | Nigel Warren The prevention of metal corrosion in hulls, engines, rigging and fittings |
| The Boatowner's Guide to Corrosion |
Everett Collier
A complete reference for boat owners and marine
professionals. UNFORTUNATELY PRESENTLY OUT OF PRINT |
| Understanding Boat Corrosion, Lightning Protection and Radio Interference | John C Payne A well presented and easy to understand book on the subject. Gives practical advice on protecting your boat. |
| SAILS | |
| The Sailmakers Apprentice | Emiliano Marino An excellent buy. Nearly 500 pages on sails, their types, repairs, maintenance, in fact everything you need to know about sails. |
| Sails-How they work and how to make them | Derek Harvey Everything you need to understand on how sails really work, and how to design, make and repair them. |
| The Complete Riggers Apprentice | Brion Toss Tools and Techniques for Modern & Traditional Rigging |
| The Chinese Sailing Rig. Design and Build your own Junk Rig | Derek Van Loan Exactly what the title states. Everything you need to know, written in a concise language for the amateur builder/designer. |
| MECHANICAL | |
| Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual | Nigel Calder How to maintain, repair and improve your Boat's essential systems. Possibly the most thorough volume on boat maintenance. |
| Propeller Handbook | Dave Gear A complete reference for choosing, installing and understanding boat propellers |
| VARIOUS | |
| Boat Joinery and Cabinet making, Simplified | Fred Bingham's Practical Yacht Joinery updated and revised-and at a new low price |
| The Complete Sailor | David Seidman An encyclopaedic guide and one of the most complete books on sailing there is |
| The Knot Handbook | Maria Costantino The easiest book to understand on knots, bends, plaids and whippings etc that there is. |
| The Windvane Self-Steering Handbook | Bill Morris Everything you wanted to know about windvanes and then some more. Written by a practical sailer that knows his subject thoroughly. |
| Nautical Dictionary | Graham E Mewburn One hundred pages of definitions on nautical words. |