Customer Reviews

Choosing for Cruising: How to Select and Equip the Perfect Cruising Yacht

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The title of Roberts-Goodson's book sets forth the premise that "Choosing for Cruising" will be a useful guide for helping readers to select boats and equipment for cruising and providing opertional advice. In general, it falls well short on this goal in several areas. To begin with, the book is rediculously brief, (182 pages exclusive of appendicies)for a text that sets out to cover such a broad topical area and there is much space wasted on delivering up platitudes rather than useful advice. In contrast, Steve and Linda Dashew's "World Cruising Encyclopedia" is amost 1,300 pages and every word is crafted to convey a useful point.

I feel short-changed by this book. Such fundamental issues as hull design, hull materials and rigging are glossed over in the most cursory manner. Take for example the discussion about hull materials. The author mentions glass fiber, steel, and copper-nickel, but spends only a paragraph or two on each. Aluminum and wood hulls are totally ignored and the important subject of osmosis receives only a tiny note. A discussion of keel types merits two paragraphs. In none of the 15 chapters does the author do justice to the topics he sets out to discuss.

The overleaf of the book trumpets Roberts-Goodson's boat design experience pointing out that over 20,000 boats of his design have been built, yet there is little evidence in this book of any real expertise that would be useful in making decisions about cruising. Given the brevity of the book, there is little to praise. The sections on interiors and engines are the most detailed and there are a few observations in these areas that one might not find elsewhere.

In summary, the book contributes little to the subjects of boat design, equipment, or operational aspects of cruising and is so elementary in its observations that it cannot be recommended.

This book is just rehashed material from many resources, It offers litle insight into the requirements of serious cruisers. This book exists mainly to push the designers own plans. One would be better sticking to the Pardeys books for indepth information. Likewise Hal Roths books

The title of Roberts-Goodson's book implies that "Choosing for Cruising" will be a useful guide for helping readers to select boats and equipment for cruising and providing operational advice about cruising. In general, it falls well short on this goal in several areas. To begin with, the book is ridiculously brief, (182 pages exclusive of appendices) for a text that sets out to cover such a broad topical area. There is also much space wasted on delivering up platitudes rather than useful advice. In contrast, Steve and Linda Dashew's "World Cruising Encyclopedia" is almost 1,300 pages and every word is crafted to convey a useful point.

I feel short-changed by this book. Such fundamental issues such as hull design, hull materials, and rigging are glossed over in the most cursory manner. Take for example the discussion about hull materials. The author mentions glass fiber, steel, and copper-nickel, but spends only a paragraph or two on each. Aluminum and wood hulls are totally ignored and the important subject of osmosis receives only a tiny note. A discussion of keel types merits two paragraphs. In none of the 15 chapters does the author do justice to the topics he sets out to discuss.

The overleaf of the book trumpets Roberts-Goodson's boat design experience pointing out that over 20,000 boats of his design have been built, yet there is little evidence in this book of any real nautical expertise that would be useful in making decisions about cruising. Given the brevity of the book, there is little to praise. The sections on interiors and engines are the most detailed and there are a few observations in these areas that one might not find elsewhere.

In summary, the book contributes little to the subjects of boat design, equipment, and cruising operation and is so elementary in its coverage of the subject matter that it cannot be recommended.