Best boat desing books?

[stonedpirate]

Hello,

I am going to design a stitch and glue micro cruiser that is theoretically capable of circumnavigation, at the very least, capable of extended offshoring.

I know they are not popular boats, re uncomfortable, dangerous and to many, pointless, but i'm doing it anyway.

I surfed about for the best possible stitch and glue books and found:

Devlin's Boatbuilding: How to Build Any Boat the Stitch-and-Glue Way
The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction

They seem to be the industry standard books on this method and should arrive shortly.

Now I am after the best design books with an amateur in mind. No advanced naval architecture with complex physics for ocean liners and steam ships. Preferably ones that use pencil and paper drafting and cardboard and balsa modeling. Not that i dont like computers and CAD, but for a project this size, paper will be fine.

A couple have suggested:

The nature of boats by Dave Gerr
'How to design a boat' by J Teal

Are there any otehrs I should be aware of or are these the ones to go for?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[boat fan]

Skene's

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1574...01#reader-link

Old text , but written for pre computer , hand drawn plans.



How to Design a Boat

John Teale


http://www.amazon.com/dp/1574091573/...t_sb_ti_hist_1


Big learning curve , which ever text you choose.
The boat may be small , but its task is serious.
Not really worth going that way. Too much to go wrong without extensive training in N/A .

I know that you will ignore this anyway , but like it or not ,there are good reasons why N/A s
spend years to learn their art / craft / science.

You can fast track the build using modern methods of construction .But not the design.

Its your life , time , and money......

[tom28571]

While I agree fundamentally with boat fan, the truth is that all new boats draw heavily on what has been done before. Study the books mentioned and these are enough to start. Look at what has worked for others in the past and what has come to grief. When you can see what was right and what was wrong with these, you are ready to start designing your own. Otherwise, it might be best to work with a known successful design from the many available. You can tailor a boat to yourself and be fine if you don't screw with the essentials. The secret is to know what these essentials are.

[TeddyDiver]

And for starters while waiting the books to arrive you could make a 8' rocking settee with a locker filled with can food and drinks ready for a 3weeks study session..

[boat fan]

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&so...wk_bcTk1HGoAzA

[boat fan]

Originally Posted by tom28571

While I agree fundamentally with boat fan, the truth is that all new boats draw heavily on what has been done before. Study the books mentioned and these are enough to start. Look at what has worked for others in the past and what has come to grief. .................. You can tailor a boat to yourself and be fine if you don't screw with the essentials. The secret is to know what these essentials are.

Why re- invent the wheel....?
Again ......?

You have limited options with a ( 8 foot ) hull .
It will " sail " like a champagne cork , no matter what.

I think the best option is to ask the guys that have actually done it (before).
Do what they did ?

How insane must one be to just "think about" a 8´boat for which sort of cruising so ever?

[stonedpirate]

Because the wheel still needs inventing in this case.

The smallest circumnavigation in over 11".

None of the 8" designs have achieved it and the only ones out there dont make their plans available because they want to set the record and dont want competition.

The selway micro is 9"8 LOA and wasnt designed with circumnavigation in mind.

I have contacted the owner of gday88 with no reply and have joined the around in ten forum and am trying to absorb as much info from the handful of micro cruisers out there.

The only option is design it myself or pay thousands to a naval architect.
The current record holder designed his own boat and didnt even draw plans, just made it as he went using common sense.

[stonedpirate]

How insane must one be to just "think about" a 8´boat for which sort of cruising so ever?

You could say that about most human achievements.

Going to the moon, sailing off the edge of the world or whatever.

Fair enough stunts and record setting is unnecassary risk with nothing to gain but some people get bored

Ahaa....

vainglorious.......

to each his own.

[Chris Ostlind]

Well, if you'd care to do some reading of the strictly tongue in cheek, I have written a couple of articles on this topic of teensy boats in big oceans that may provide some measure of entertainment as you consider your adventure.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/05/...sis7/index.cfm


http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/05/...ncil/index.cfm

[capt vimes]

chris:
nice images... looks like a lot of fun to me...
going round the planet in a coffin...

well - some expensives saved when they find your rotten body eventually - put the lid on and bury the thing...

[Chris Ostlind]

Cap,

The guy on board Stasis 7 is not supposed to die. He's just submitting to an extended drugged state while the boat finds its way on its own.

Ya gotta trust in modern technology. He'll be OK... ;-)

[Chris Ostlind]

Pirate,

On a much more serious note...

If you have gone through the posts and information at the Around in Ten site, you'll, no doubt, note that there were a lot of excited parties when the concept was first presented.

Guys were falling all over themselves dreaming up special boats for themselves, making plans to avoid coastal pirates in various parts of the globe, looking for favorable weather and current paths that would whisk them on their way at a slightly bumped, prevailing current speed. They had all sorts of personal dreams and motivations that were going to sustain them through the looooong hours of doing nothing save managing bedsores.

They set a date for departure that had the maximum of favorable variabilities and got all worked-up as it got closer and closer. Then... it happened. Reality set in and one by one, the dreamers found themselves with other, more pressing, priorities when staring into the maw of the vastness before them. In short, it's more than likely that they uniformly came to their senses.

I'm not, at all, saying that you should be examined. But... it does take a very special kind of emotional and psychological state of mind to undertake one of these derivative exercises. Sure, go on some short trips in your small ocean ready boat. Build up to the very serious learning curve that separates the short trips from those that are very long. See if that special place is one in which you can really feel at ease, because once you start and leave the Continental grasp of emergency services, it's eventually going to be you, the very cold water of the Southern Ocean and all that loneliness.

I wish you well, whatever you do and may the winds and currents of the sea guide you safely to a friendly port.

[stonedpirate]

Thanks Chris.

Yeah, i bet they said all that to Sege before he left too, but he did it, survived and is glad that he did it.

3 years later he had a life changing experience, met his wife, sold a book and has travlled the world over and over in all kinds of boats.

Going the trade route would avoid the southern ocean.

As for the dreamers in around in ten, clearly it was more of an intellectual exercise for most of them and none of them really inteneded on doing it.

If your young, not married, no kids, dont have a mortgage, bored with conventional life and looking for adventrue, this is just as valid as any other extreme endurance test.