Our team selected these five must read books, perfects if you are looking for a good overview of all sailing and sailboat maintenance topics. Some top ideas for your “sailing gifts“!
Inspecting the Aging Sailboat (The International Marine Sailboat Library)
This book provides a good overview of what is and what is not important when looking for a used sailboat. It is not an entertaining read but its short chapters get right to the heart of the matter. Are those cracks just cosmetic or is there internal damage to the hull? Is there just a crack on the bow or does that cause damage elsewhere in the vessel? If you can’t answer these questions, you better read this book!
A sailboat restoration book. The author, Brian Gilbert, chronicles the restoration of a MacGregor Venture 222 he acquired for $500. The boat had been “stored” out in the woods and provided a tremendous opportunity for restoration. As can be seen in the table of contents the Author covers a wide range of topics. His treatment of these topics provide an entertaining combination of technical information and his personal challenges, this keeps the book from being a stale technical manual. He addresses the topics that would likely need to be tackled during a boat restoration project.
The great classic.. new edition. This new edition improves on the first by being a good deal larger than the first edition, having information that is more in-depth, and illustrations that are much improved. This second edition is revised from first page to last with new information on electrical systems, diesel engines, refrigeration, resins, plumbing and more.
A very good guide for the novice in looking into doing some fiberglass repair. It covers a lot of the fundamentals which is necessary. Are there hairline cracks in your boat’s deck or topsides gelcoat? Have her color and luster faded over the years? Does she have deck leaks? Has she been holed? Is her hull oilcanning in the sea? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, this book is for you.
Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual
Maybe the best boat systems maintenance book, perfect for anyone who wants to understand how to properly design, modify, maintain, or repair the various systems on their boat. The author, Nigel Calder is widely acknowledged as the world’s foremost writer on boat systems maintenance. A diesel mechanic for more than 25 years, he has also been a boatbuilder, cabinetmaker, and machinist. Calder is the author of How to Read a Nautical Chart, Nigel Calder’s Cruising Handbook, Refrigeration for Pleasureboats, and Marine Diesel Engines. He is a frequent contributor to boating magazines in the United States and Britain.
