What are some of the best books for learning boat building?

[nbgen12]

Does anyone have suggestions as to good books on boat building to point me in the right direction??

I'm looking to get into boat building enough to hopefully build myself a 20ft+ center console boat, but as of right now I don't have any experience and need to be pointed in the right direction for a starting point on the learning process.

[TeddyDiver]

What's your choice for material?

[Surfszup]

Go to the library and check out some free books....as many different ones as you can and go through them all. You will soon decide what is an interesting style, material, or technique for you. You may then, in the future, be able to figure out what books you might want to spend money for. Then you can continue asking questions in the forums.

[nbgen12]

I would like to start off the wood/epoxy and obviously a smaller size boat somewhere between 13'-16'. Is that a good choice of materials for the inexperience beginner? Here are the 3 books I've ordered from amazon to start off and have an idea of what I'm getting into:

Complete Amateur Boat Building by Verney

Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction

Boat Building Manual by Steward and Cramer

[Submarine Tom]

Titanic!

-Tom

[Herman]

The Gougeon book will not disappoint you.

Also, to gather some knowledge quick, you can see if you can work part-time at a boatbuilder. Even by doing some small jobs under proper guidance, you will learn a lot.

[sean-nós]

I used Glen L boatbuilding with plywood and found it very good, their site is also a great place to get info with enough reading to keep you going for years.:D

[rberrey]

Go to Ed Horstmans site , he has two good books. The Bateau web site forum and tech help and this forum will let you learn from others and get good advice from N.A,s , designers , builders ect. rick

[carball]

Titanic! ??are you joking...

[Submarine Tom]

Titanic! ??are you joking...

Yes and no. It is wonderful to learn from others mistakes. What sank the "unsinkable" wonder ship? Anything to learn there?

-Tom

[Surfszup]

Build bulk heads which seal compartments completely.

[peter radclyffe]

marchaj,adlard coles,moitessier,lloyds, FAO,nevins,alden,herreshoff,leather,noble,underhill,mckee,ted frost, dave gerr,calder,warren,welsford,oughtred,smeeton,newick,greenhill,uffa fox,

[Submarine Tom]

Build bulk heads which seal compartments completely.
Ah, you don't miss a thing Surfzup. Anything else to learn there?

-Tom

[Surfszup]

Ah, you don't miss a thing Surfzup. Anything else to learn there?

-Tom

Unsure if you have sarcasm there.... but also keep in mind the question was about building small wooden boats and books for reference.

It doesn't have to turn into something similar to a kid choosing to play with the laundry basket or the big cardboardbox over the collection of expensive legos with instruction booklet.

Or if you want to play eclectic teacher, maybe you should lead with one of your learning points about the titanic and how it might apply to this wooden boat to be built.

I can also say an obvious learning point for the Titanic is never let your ego blind you into thinking your boat is unsinkable....even a small wooden one.

[graemery]

I would like to start off the wood/epoxy and obviously a smaller size boat somewhere between 13'-16'. Is that a good choice of materials for the inexperience beginner? Here are the 3 books I've ordered from amazon to start off and have an idea of what I'm getting into:

Complete Amateur Boat Building by Verney

Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction

Boat Building Manual by Steward and Cramer

Aside from materials, what method are you leaning toward? Stitch and Glue, Ply on Frame, Cold Molding, Strip Plank, Glued Lapstrake . . . . There are good books for each of these methods.

If you're not sure of the method, do you already have plans? The plans should tell you the method you'll be using (and may include or suggest some reading materials too!)

Sorry, you mentioned inexperienced beginner; you may not have known too much about the methods.

Just my opinion but for boat length you're referring to, the Steward book might be overkill. But if you have great enough aspirations, it may provide you with plenty of motivation.

I suggest Jim Michalak's Boatbuilding for Beginners (And Beyond) or, as a previous poster mentioned, Glen Witt's Building with Plywood. Michalak's book is more of a manual and comes with a couple of plans so I think its a great place to start.

Another great introductory book is Payson's Instant Boatbuilding with Dynamite Payson. This is mostly stitch and glue but it also comes with plans (shrunk to fit on the pages so kinda hard to read without magnification) for a bunch of boats.

There are more of course but these are a good start.

[Submarine Tom]

Unsure if you have sarcasm there.... but also keep in mind the question was about building small wooden boats and books for reference.

It doesn't have to turn into something similar to a kid choosing to play with the laundry basket or the big cardboardbox over the collection of expensive legos with instruction booklet.

Or if you want to play eclectic teacher, maybe you should lead with one of your learning points about the titanic and how it might apply to this wooden boat to be built.

I can also say an obvious learning point for the Titanic is never let your ego blind you into thinking your boat is unsinkable....even a small wooden one.

Surfszup, not really a lot of any kind of tone actually. Who am I to limit the learning potential of an event by giving my perception. Maybe I can learn something from your perception.

Generally, I find the more I talk, the less I hear, and the less I hear, the less I learn.

Enough said.

-Tom

[Surfszup]

Surfszup, not really a lot of any kind of tone actually. Who am I to limit the learning potential of an event by giving my perception. Maybe I can learn something from your perception.

Generally, I find the more I talk, the less I hear, and the less I hear, the less I learn.

Enough said.

-Tom

Were not the greatest learning moments in history when there were great forums of people coming together to share ideas? Learning is only limited in a forum if nothing is shared.

Titanic is a great word, but "sure I saw the movie" also limits the learning.

Learning from others is great too, and I'm sure you're quite smart. But you could stay that smart and not say anything to the post at all.

But that doesn't help the thread creator any with the question.

And with that in mind:

Realize you might be building for longer than you expect. I saw a great quote in the forum somewhere about build to your goal of a boat not to a deadline.
I'm sure your three books will give you some good information to get started. Keep posting as your knowledge grows and you are finding which building methods suit you and your workspace.

[cookiesa]

The books mentioned will be a great start. Another useful item is a basic "how to" on epoxy. Most of the manufacturers have a free or minimal cost book which outlines the use of the epopxies and various additives along with the various terminolkgies associated with filleting etc.

Something like a 8ft pram stitch and glue is a fantastic starting point. Very simple, inexpensive and covers most of the basics. If your planning a later build out of say strip planking then if you have access to a boat building course (often run through "boatworks and yards") then there is a lot of tricks you can learn there which will save hours for a newbie on their build!

These are Australian but you can download free plans to build a stitch and glue dingy from Mike Wallers design website. It is a little more complicated than a "basic" dingy but gives you a taste for several of the issues you can face when buiilding a shape that curves in almost every direction! lol

Main thing is pick something relatively easy and low cost to start with and go for it! (If you decide building isn't for you the investment is minimal) Your also likely to finish this sort of project reasonably quickly. Having the sense of achievement under your belt helps you get motivated to go for it. If it is too complicated or drags too long your likely to be put off first time round.

POly and epoxy are great as they are strong, durable and require very little in the way of tools or skills. If you don't already have a jiogsaw etc these can be bought cheaply or even substituted for hand tools (not recommended lol)