Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat: 101 Ways to Make Your Sailboat Better [Hardcover]

John Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2000

Developed for cruising sailboat owners with 24- to 45-foot fiberglass boats, John Roberts' projects: *improve comfort, handling, seaworthiness, performance, and dockside appeal *show how to add attractive features such as a deck washdownsystem, a backstay self-leving radar mount, and more

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

It would be hard to convey to a landlubber all the different ideas, dreams, and emotions that the word sailboat evokes. Freedom, adventure, comfort, security, beauty, mastery, pride of ownership . . . a sailor hopes to find all these and more in a sailboat. Unfortunately, for most boatowners, a sailboat also represents compromise. Unless you are rich or very lucky, your cruising sailboat scales back some of your dreams and expectations to make room for others. Comfort versus performance, seaworthiness versus accommodations, ease of sailing versus appearance--let's face it, you just can't have it all. Or can you?

In Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat, experienced cruising sailor and author John Roberts outlines affordable techniques for transforming your sailboat from the one you settled for to the one you dream about. Drawing upon his extensive research among sailmakers, riggers, boat designers, boatbuilders, and, of course, other sailors, he describes methods for improving virtually every aspect of your boat and sailing experience, including comfort, ease of handling, performance, dockside appeal, and more.

Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat features hundreds of crystal-clear illustrations along with step-by-step instructions on how to complete more than 100 boat improvement projects ranging from quick, inexpensive improvements you can easily do yourself, like creating a pass-through porthole between galley and cockpit, to more elaborate projects you may want help with, such as installing a backup headstay.

Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat is the total-solutions guide for cruising sailboat owners.

101 Ways to transform the sailboat you settled for--into the one you dream about!

Every sailboat is a compromise, and few sailors are ever completely satisfied with their boat. In this do-it-yourself upgrade guide, you'll find dozens of proven, affordable ideas for enhancing every aspect of your boat.

Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat helps you develop a comprehensive wish list of improvements that can help make your cruising sailboat ideal. More than 200 illustrations show you 101 projects for improving your boat's comfort, handling, seaworthiness, performance, and beauty.

Praise for Roberts's previous book, Why Didn't I Think of That?:

"Extremely helpful information for anyone cruising off shore or close to home. . . . Every boater will find something useful in this book."--Ensign

"Over 1,200 helpful tips on almost everything concerning the comfort, safety, and enjoyment for the cruiser and the liveaboard."--Mariner

About the Author

John Roberts has been sailing and writing about sailing for more than two decades. He finished his 36-foot cruising sailboat, Sea Sparrow, from a bare hull and has cruised her more than 25,000 miles. His articles have appeared in SAIL, Yachting, and Sailing World. His other books include Fiberglass Boats: Construction, Repair, and Maintenance, Choosing Your Boat, and Why Didn't I Think of That?.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: International Marine Publishing (May 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071341145
• ISBN-13: 978-0071341141
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,188,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read, utility is variable, February 3, 2009

By 

Anthony D'Atri "Anthony11" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat : 101 Ways to Make Your Sailboat Better (Paperback)

There are many sailboat books out there that vary quite a bit in their grip on reality. Some of the things describe here are quite feasible, others are way out of reach unless one's already a pro.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great book, August 13, 2008

By 

J. H. Meyer "Princess" (California of course) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Optimize Your Cruising Sailboat : 101 Ways to Make Your Sailboat Better (Paperback)

This book is full of alot of very useful information, it has alot of tips for someone preparing to go cruising.