Upgrading Your Small Sailboat for Cruising [Paperback]

Paul Butler (Author), Marya Butler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071567496 | ISBN-13: 978-0071567497 | Publication Date: December 19, 1988

In view of the sky-high purchase and ownership costs of today's large yachts, more and more people are opting to cruise in smaller boats, ranging downward in size from 30 feet to as small as 15 feet. In a boat with limited space, forethought and good design are particularly important for both safety and comfort -- but all too often these are precisely the areas shortchanged in fiberglass production sailboats. Upgrading Your Small Sailboat for Cruising is intended to bridge that gap, with dozens of projects to make a daysailer suitable for cruising, or a pocket cruiser more suitable. The book offers improvements in every area: masts and rigging, flotation, strengthening fiberglass hulls, bow rollers, enclosed cockpits, stowage tanks, water systems, seating and sleeping arrangements, lockers, bulkheads, canvaswork, hatches, and ventilation. These and many other details, taken together, can make the difference between pleasure and misery when cruising in small sailboats.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: International Marine Publishing (December 19, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071567496
• ISBN-13: 978-0071567497
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars on possibilities..., May 18, 2010

By 

Lawrence Bird (Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Upgrading Your Small Sailboat for Cruising (Paperback)

Paul Butler's little guide is not all inclusive, but if this doesn't give a do it yourself skipper respectable thoughts on how to upgrade a smaller sailboat for cruising, then perhaps the skipper needs to contemplate a different boat. One of the major things this little book provides is fairly realistic drawings of what the author is describing and he doesn't limit himself to the usual cabinetry and brightwork of many similarly titled volumes.

Butler provides guidance on reinforcing the often frail and leaking hull/deck joint, how to reinforce an oil-canning hull, thoughts on upgrading mooring bits, deck, rigging and stowage, etc., etc. It is too small a book to provide all the how-toos need, but there is more than enough information to get a practical and resourceful DIY skipper headed in the right direction on their upgrades.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little book with some neat ideas, April 3, 2008

By 

James A. Stevenson "cockey-i" (Brisbane, QLD, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Upgrading Your Small Sailboat for Cruising (Paperback)

Quite a useful little book for anyone thinking about doing repairs or upgrades to their small fibreglass yacht. The book covers glassing tools and techniques for hull and deck reinforcement, hull and deck fitting beds, bouyancy /water /storage tanks and a bit of canvas work, which seemed like an odd addition at the end of this book. You would be better off with Don Caseys book 'Canvaswork & Sail Repair' for this subject as it covers many more projects. If you are new to working with glass you should find this book quite valuable. The projects are good, the diagrams while not up with those in Don Caseys books are reasonable.

5.0 out of 5 stars Waaay better than many out there, this little book is full of great ideas., June 3, 2011

By 

Boating Devotee (Florida, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Upgrading Your Small Sailboat for Cruising (Paperback)

The Butler's book has detailed instructions for many simple but ingenious projects. These projects return big on the investment of small amounts of money and large amounts of time, in terms of making a standard, or substandard, fiberglass boat into a "real" bluewater cruiser. This is a book explaining the actual customization of a mass produced, coastal cruiser to make it a safer, more comfortable and more pleasant offshore cruiser. Many of the projects I found most interesting involved the combined use of plywood and epoxy in ways I would never have entertained. And the general instructions on working with these materials could easily be used to execute one's on innovations. The illustrations are great; very complete and thorough.

Another reviewer compared this book unfavorably with Don Casey's book on canvas work. While I do appreciate Casey's book, this one is much more comprehensive than Casey's. I own the Casey book and refer to it once in a while about canvas. It is not very complete on that subject, having limited options for canopies, dodgers and biminis. And it certainly can't compare with this book in terms of fulfilling the title's objectives. A better comparison would be between the Butler's book and Casey's "This Old Boat; Turn a Rundown Fiberglass Boat into a First-class Yacht on a Shoestring Budget", a classic in it's own right.

My only disappointment is that the Butlers have not come up with another book going farther on the same topic. Having so enjoyed this one, I am sure that their book on boat surface refinishing would be useful as well.