What should be in a Ship Builder's library?

I just read another post asking about how to build a boat. And I had noticed the one asking about scaling up and down.

OK.

What would I want in my library if I wanted to understand classic boat/ship design and construction?

Hopefully, it will be less than ten books ....

Thank you!

wayne

 

Ship or Boat?

For boats I recommend "Skene's Elements of Yacht Design" plus a few books about plywood boats, flat bottomed boats and the like to begin with.
Also a must have is by the U.S. Department of Transportation United States Coast Guard "SAFETY STANDARDS FOR BACKYARD BOAT BUILDERS" COMDTPUB P16761.3B

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/education_safety/safety/boatwater/backyardboatbuilders.pdf

 

"Classic boat building"?

1. http://www.amazon.com/Archaeology-Boat-Basil-Greenhill/dp/0713616458

2. http://www.amazon.com/Boatbuilding-complete-Handbook-Wooden-Construction/dp/B002JNCDBU

3. http://www.amazon.com/Dream-ships-Maurice-Griffiths/dp/0851770762
(I got mine given to me by a neighbor when he swallowed the hook. I wouldn't pay this price for it, but keep your eye out for it.

4. http://www.amazon.com/Yacht-Designing-Planning-Yachtsmen-Students/dp/0393332594

5. If plywood is classic enough- http://www.amazon.com/Boatbuilding-Plywood-Glen-L-Witt/dp/0939070073

6. http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Boat-Strength-Builders-Designers/dp/0070231591

7. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937822442...=24.95&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_2ibp1jd4n3_b


and because you want to be able to do something with it-

8. http://www.amazon.com/Chapman-Piloting-Seamanship-Small-Handling/dp/1588167445

9. http://www.onread.com/book/A-Treatise-on-Naval-Gunnery-830460/

 

NICE! And Phil is nice enough to include amazon links.

I enjoyed the Coast Guard manual. I will have to read that one slower in the future, to get the math. I had not thought about 'minimum' requirements being 'required.'

This is beginning to look like a library. This store in NZ seemed to have most of your books so far. http://www.boatbooks.co.nz/design.html

 

I have two basic categories of boatbuilding books in my library.

The first category consists of general and relaxing books that a boat enthusiast would enjoy reading instead of fiction. The two books I've enjoyed the most in this category are:
"The nature of boats" by David Gerr
"Boats with an open mind" by Phil Bolger
Don't treat these books as unquestionable truths. They are well written, enjoyable to read and probably 99% correct. David Gerr's book provides a good general understanding of boats and Phil Bolgers book provides a refreshing view on boats and the beauty of boats.

The second category contain the hard fact boat building manuals. My two favourites in this category are:
"The elements of boat strength" by David Gerr and
"The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction" by Meade Gougeon.

David Gerr's book contain scantling rules that are easy to understand, safe and good enough for an amateur boat builder.
Meade Gougeon's book is an instruction on how to use wood in combination with glass and epoxy when building boats. Wood/epoxy is in my opinion the modern way to build high quality wooden boats, very suitable to one-off boats and to amateur boatbuilding.

Erik

 

Erik

Is this the same Gougeon:http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/HowTo-Publications/GougeonBook 061205.pdf ? I read part of that and loved it. Very detailed and step by step.

Is it actually the same book as the published version? I would be surprised, but sometimes authors do place their published books online.

This book was easier & quicker to read, although he CANNOT SPELL, or use his spell checker: http://spirainternational.com/PlyOnFrameManual.pdf

And to be honest, I do not like the 'rocker' look he puts on his boat designs. I do not know if a rocker is good or bad, but I like a straight look along the keel.

 

Rocker or no rocker? It isn't necessarily a bad thing to have it but a lot depends on your needs. Among other old links within this thread see http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/hull-shape-hull-speed-13929.html for some good information, in this case displacement hulls.

 

Scroll down this page for "Similar Threads" for a lot of interesting questions/answers to them.

 

Yes, the book in the link to West System seems to be exactly the same book as the paper edition I have. I guess the book can be seen as a marketing effort for West Systems' products which explains why they would put it online free to read. In this case I'm somewhat of a dinosaur and prefer paper versions, so I didn't look for it online. The paper version wasn't expensive enough for me to remember the price anyway.

There are more cases where boat enthusiast gives advice and information free of charge and at the same time try to make some money in related businesses. It doesn't diminish the value of the information, rather the opposite as their businesses would be hurt if they are shown to be unreliable.

Now that we're sidetracked to internet links, this is a link to the home page of a canoe designer and enthusiast that I've spent many hours reading and enjoying. I'll build one of his designs this winter.

http://www.thomassondesign.com/

Unfortunately for many readers on this forum, the homepage is in Swedish. Maybe you have enough knowledge of other germanic languages to make some sence out of it.

Erik

 

The upper right hand corner of the link http://www.thomassondesign.com/ says Svenska | English. Click on English and it will translate the page.

 

Erik,

For the parts not in English, you can translate.google. http://translate.google.com/transla...tf=1&u=http://www.thomassondesign.com&act=url

Here is the youtube channel for Chesapeake Light Craft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwmAQzUta88

It helped me understand a couple of concepts I was not solid on.

 

As noted above the Svenska link provided its own translation.

 

Two more valuable boats for a boatshop

 

"Boatbuilding" by Chapelle
" Sensible Crusing Designs" by L. Francis Herrshoff
"Fiberglass Boats" by Hugo Du Plessis

 

Don't forget the jug of sippin' whiskey.