Customer Reviews

Upgrading Your Small Sailboat for Cruising

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.