Customer Reviews

Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is excellent for what it is: tips & tricks on building lapstrake plywood boats. It's laid out in a topic-by-topic fashion, with nice bits of information on all stages of the building & finishing process. I'm just finishing up one of Oughtred's designs, a 14'6" Whilly Boat, and I've found it nearly indispensable.

That said, I don't think this is a good first book or only book on the subject- that book is Tom Hill's Ultralight Boatbuilding. I recommend that anyone building their first boat buy Hill's book, then Hill's video (...) and then this book. I have half a dozen other books on building boats, but those are all you need to do an excellent job with plywood & epoxy. After absorbing Hill's material, this will fill in little gaps and help you work quicker & more efficiently.

Enjoy!

(...)

I recently purchased a set of boat plans from Iain Oughtred. I developed a list of questions after reviewing the plans. The author's book answered all of the questions quite well. The illustrations are top notch and well placed throughout the book. The only complaint I have is that the bookbinding could be of a higher quality to withstand workshop use.

I found this book to be an excellent resource. Not only does it go through the complete process of building a clinker ply boat, but it also takes the time to address different methods for accomplishing various steps. For example, he goes over several ways of spiling the planks and makes recommendations in a reasonably unbiased manner (none of the "this is the way I do it so don't bother trying anything else"). I'd highly recommend reading this book if you are building or are interested in building a clinker ply boat, whether or not it is one of the author's designs. I'm currently building a design by another designer and this book is still throughly useful.

This book also covers basically any type of clinker ply boat including prams, flat bottomed dories, round bilged dinghies, and even has the occasional reference to larger (20' +) boats.

This book is a great cross reference to the Hill and Rossel books. Oughred relies on his photographs to convey the boat construction message and the result is a clear instruction manual. Boatbuilding can be confusing to the uninitiated, and Oughred's approach supplements the more detailed written accounts offered in "How to Build Glued-Lapstrake Wooden Boats" by Brooks and Hill and "Building Small Boats" by Rossel in a way that complements these other fine books.

If you're going to build an Oughtred designed boat, you'll find this book indispensible. Otherwise you'll find some good information, but not the best book on the subject. The layout and organization are very odd and hard to follow. Tom Hill's "Ultralight Boatbuilding" is a better book on the subject.

The 'workshop index', whereby you simply fan the pages with your thumb and the chapter title shows on the page edges is so good especially for those of us who cant be bothered looking up the conventional 'contents' or 'index' lists.

...

It is probably the best 'how to' text on this seemingly difficult subject I have read.

Well done Iain!

This is a beautiful book. Highly detailed, with great pictures of the lovely boats in various stages of construction.

What a shame the binding falls apart so easily! I'm tempted to buy another copy and try to find a way to give it a spiral or comb binding.

I also wish there were more details on the bigger boats -- only one picture, as I recall, of a completed Grey Seal cruising boat. The great construction details are almost all of small day-sailers.

Buy the book anyway, if you have the slightest interest in beautiful things made of wood.

I like this book/manual. It offers a lot of informaton. Sometimes the information could be more specific, there could be more detail. It has a lot of pictures which are certainly good to add and to study. The information is very compact.

I agree with the reviewer who found the organization difficult. I have about 20 books on boatbuilding and I seldom consult this one except to compare to what others have to say on a particular subject.

I find Thomas Hills' method more interesting and I find his instructions to be clearer (but not without leaving some questions).

Note to those who have trouble with the bindings: On any book I expect to use while doing something else, e.g. building a boat, I immediately take it to Kinkos where they cut off the spine and put one of those plastic combs on the book. Make sure the person understands what they are doing. Once they cut the binding holes on the side opposite the original binding. No wonder it was confusing!

I find it ironic that some of the highest quality writing is packaged in the poorest quality books.

Iain Oughtred's book, "Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual" is full of helpful hints and pictures explaining the solutions for many problems. The topics covered would be widely applicable in all manner of boatbuilding techniques. The solutions he offers are clear, succinct, and well illustrated.
I can heartily recommend this volume to anyone interested in building a wooden boat.