What are some good wood boat building books you can recommend?

I know a person that is getting into small wooden boat building, I'm not sure how small but this would be done within their own property so I imagine nothing massive. She currently owns a small sailboat with a cabin, like those 20 some feet long ones. Anyway, I wanted to get a comprehensive book about wooden boat building or two. If you can recommend any that would be great.

 

http://www.glen-l.com/

 

Welcome to the forum.

There's no comprehensive book that covers everything, every method or technique, though there are plenty that cover most with some detail.

The "Gougeon Brothers on Boat Building" is a standard reference on modern methods (epoxy). This is available as a free download (> http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/HowTo-Publications/GougeonBook 061205.pdf <)

There are also a number that cover more traditional styles of boat building, such as plank on frame, lapstrake, etc. and the book store here (> http://books.boatdesign.net/boat/bo...arch&Keywords=boat building&SearchIndex=Books <) or your favorite book seller can help.

This is a huge subject, so look around, but it would helpful to refine the building method and technique desired a bit, so your can narrow the search.

 

Another good source is The WoodenBoat Store http://www.woodenboatstore.com/category/boatbuilding
Any idea what type of construction she is interested in and how much, if any, woodworking experience?

 

Interestingly enough, if you look at the titles listed at WoodenBoat and our store, the exact same ones show up in pretty much the same order too (depending of listing preference). Buehler's book falls way down on the WB list.

 

There are really two camps, "Traditional Boatbuilding" using solid timber and mechanical fastenings, and "Modern Boatbuilding" using epoxy lamination. The two might overlap a bit in plywood on sawn frame construction. That's a vast generalization, but books will fall into one or the other camp. Steward is a really good start for Traditional construction, and the Gougeon Brothers book addresses modern construction in various methods.

 

I recommend Gerr's Boat Strength as an introduction. It is a sort of scantlings cookbook, but it does do a good job of getting the reader to think about how a boat's parts work together.

 

The Common Sense of Yacht Design by Herreshoff. It focuses on boat behaviour and design, but also on construction; particularly details and materials.

 

Even Chapelle's "Boat Construction" has good information, maybe Rabl's "Boatbuilding" still has value too. Your library can't be too big. FWIW, I own every book listed thus far, plus many more. I usually use one as a coaster for my beer, while in the moaning chair.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Simplified-Boatbuilding-The-Flat-Bottom-Boat/dp/039303173X

http://www.amazon.com/Simplified-Boatbuilding-The-V-Bottom-Boat/dp/0393031802

 

John Guzzwell's book has much to recommend it.

 

http://store.devlinboat.com/devlinsboatbuilding.aspx

 

There is a Navy BuShips three volume book on wood construction. Teaparty books had reprinted it a while ago, but by now it may be available online, maybe through NTIS.

 

Thank you all for the responses.

Unfortunately I am not sure what type of boat exactly she is trying to build.

I looked at some of the books, man they are kind of expensive, I had hoped to cover a wide area of material however it seems that I might have to just choose one, at least the V-hull / flat-bottom boats were sort of pricey if I wanted to cover both.

I'll look at the links/books mentioned to see what is a good general book with plenty of information. I'm thinking of a book similar to how The Lore of Flight is, where it covers a range of information from history to technology advancements... Although I suppose I'm more focused on how to build but as you guys mentioned not knowing what is being built is not very helpful.

 

I'm somewhat limited on budget, I decided on the two books for now:

Boatbuilding Manual Fifth Edition by Robert Steward
The Elements of Boat Strength by Dave Gerr

Thanks for the information guys

Perhaps one day when she has some progress, I can share pictures

Thanks again