Steel Boat Building: From Plans to Launching [Paperback]

Thomas E. Colvin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1992

Combining both volumes of Colvin's masterwork on building boats from steel in one complete volume, this book offers the insights, experience, and mature thinking of a man who has been a merchant seaman, naval architect, yacht and shipbuilder, sailmaker, and consultant to shipbuilders and governments on matters of vessel design and construction.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There...is no one more uniquely qualified to pen the ultimate book on steel boatbuilding than author, designer, builder...Colvin. -- Cruising World

contains a wealth of expertise which was easy to absorb... which I...thoroughly recommend to would-be steel craft builders. -- Cruising Association Bulletin

the best I've seen on starting from square one....For people without experience...book provides a reasonable substitute. -- The Houston Post --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Thomas E. Colvin is a naval architect, builder, and consultant who apprenticed on some of the leading European yards after World War II and has since built numerous steel, aluminum, and wooden boats. He has been a senior designer at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, a consulting naval architect to Kaiser Aluminum Company, and president of his own boatbuilding and sailmaking enterprises. He lives in Alva, Florida.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Intl Marine Pub (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877423121
• ISBN-13: 978-0877423126
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,351,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steel Boat Building : From Bare Hull to Launching, January 6, 2000

By 

Bob Overgaard (Providence, Rhode Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Boat Building: From Bare Hull to Launching (Hardcover)

Steel boatbuilding isn't magic preformed with a wand. It is a very doable process achieved with cutting torch, grinder, and welder and Tom Colvin explains in exacting detail how to employ these tools and more in that process. If the devil is in the details, this is truely one hell of a book because it is filled with details. (Everything from how to select designers and plans to the types of paint to use and when and how to apply them. This book, which uses the construction of a 52 foot sailboat by a single person as it's model, was recommended to me by a man who has built more than a dozen offshore (50 feet or larger) fishing boats for service in the North Atlantic and still claims it is his bible. I am now working on my second steel boat under 35' and I am a believer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, April 28, 2000

By 

Arturo (s/v Siva Siva) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Boatbuilding: From Plans to Launching (Paperback)

Tom Colvin has succeeded in explaining a highly technical subject in a way anyone can understand. This book is not an evenings read but a reference source that will be used countless times.

Everyone in the business of marine repair will find it priceless at some point or another.

Anyone considering building or purchasing a steel boat will appreciate the clear reasoning of what they are looking at and how it should be vs how it is without being beffuddled with sales hype.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This fellow knows everything about steel boatbuilding., May 8, 2005

By 

Robert S. Vannrox (wrentham, ma United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steel Boatbuilding (Paperback)

Opinionated. Brash. Detailed, and interesting. All in a two volume set. This guy knows about aboats and the techniques needed to create them. He is the "GOD" of boat building, and he is also the leader in this field. After reading this book, I wanted to go and construct myself a small ocean liner. He is that good. OK, this book is great, whether or not you are building a barge, or an ocean sailing hull. He really does know his stuff. He comes from the "old school" and you can see it in his hull plans, and his treatment of the subject matter. These books are classics and they are worth every dime. I recommend them highly if you have serious dreams of the construction and creation of steel boat hulls.