The Complete Guide to Choosing a Cruising Sailboat (Hardcover)

by Roger Marshall (Author) "How do you tell the difference between a boat meant to be sailed across lakes and bays and a boat intended for crossing oceans?..." (more)
Key Phrases: bulbed keel, freshwater tank capacity, capsize factor, Island Packet, Comfort Factor, Sweden Yachts (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Do you hear the siren song of the sea? Prepare for your dream voyage--by finding your perfect sailboat. It's not as hard as you think . . . when you have a master naval architect at your side.

In this one-of-a-kind book, leading boat designer Roger Marshall walks you through the process of choosing the perfect boat for your sailing lifestyle. Along the way, you will acquire a deep understanding of the many factors that go into a boat's performance, comfort, and seaworthiness, and learn how to choose among them to meet your requirements and preferences.

Marshall takes you step-by-step as he conceives and develops five prototype sailboats with widely varying design objectives: a Weekender, a Cruiser, a Voyager, a Single-Hander, and a Cruiser/Racer. The 200 illustrations "take you aboard," showing you clearly how the choices and compromises of boat design are made and what they mean to performance.

You'll learn about the features that make for a good cruising sailboat, from the basic choices (inshore or offshore), weekend or long-term cruising, occasional racing or nonracing) all the way to the finer points of hull shape and sail plan. And you'll gain a solid understanding of your sailboat-to-be: what it will do . . . what it won't do . . . and why. Seakindliness, performance, handling characteristics of different rigs, comfort on passages or weekends--it's all here, in clear language.

Beyond the basics, you will learn how to judge any sailboat, new or used, including

• How to pick the best keel shape for your sailing area
• What the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of comfort are
• What makes a cockpit pleasant and functional
• When a pilothouse makes sense, and when it doesn't
• How to estimate the total cost of buying a boat (not the cost the salesperson gives you)
• Why some boats sail better under almost all conditions than other boats, and why that may not be important

Plus, you'll learn how to determine in advance how much blood, toil, tears, and sweat your dream boat will cost you in maintenance (so small thing).

Best of all, you'll find Marshall's 12-page comparison table of production sailboats from all over the world, packed with information about 130 boats--length, beam, draft, displacement, ballast, sail area, fuel and water capacities, performance ratios, capsize and comfort ratios, and more, all tabulated for convenient and revealing comparisons.

With this book's help, you will board your own "ideal" vessel, satisfied that you're familiar with your boat from the masthead down and certain that it will bring you years of sailing pleasure.

From the Back Cover
Are you searching for a sailboat? Follow master yacht designer Roger Marshall's advice and find the one that's right for you!

The right sailboat is a job, but the wrong sailboat can be a source of unmitigated grief. The acid test of any boat is how it behaves underway--and whether it's the right boat for how you sail and how you live on board.

In this illustrated guide to cruising sailboat design, Roger Marshall shares the benefit of his designing and seagoing expertise to help you understand your options and make the right selection. Find out how to judge . . .

• The effect of hull shape on performance
• Seaworthiness, comfort, and ease of handling
• Deck design and interior layout
• Ease of handling the rig and sail plan
• Ease of maintenance

Marshall even includes a 12-page table rating 130 popular production sailboats for speed, seaworthiness, comfort, and other attributes.

The Complete Guide to Choosing a Cruising Sailboat will provide you with a thorough understanding of how cruising sailboats are shaped by their intended uses. Its clear, expert guidance will help you choose a boat that fulfills your sailor's dreams.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (April 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070419981
• ISBN-13: 978-0070419988
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #185,714 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Missed the boat... Or at least a chunk of it!, December 5, 2002

By	Marshall Linnander (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

I eagerly dove into this book when it arrived, but... While Roger Marshall's book has some good general information about choosing a cruising sailboat, even that information is better addressed in Nigel Calder's "Cruising Handbook," or for serious interest in offshore cruising, John Vigor's "The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat." Marshall's book will be a dissapointing read for anyone that aspires to acquire a cruising sailboat with reasonable offshore capabilities at a cost that's affordable. Of course if you're wealthy, you don't need this book either, just hire Roger to design the perfect sailboat for you.

Marshall develops concept boats for five categories. The first boat is a "Weekender" of 20 to 26 feet with "sail in the bay" kinds of systems. The second category is the "Cruiser" that is 34 to 36 feet long that doesn't range beyond 30 miles from the coast. The third boat Marshall talks about is the"Voyager" that's a very comfortable 45 to 47 feet long (Are we beginning to sense the missing bits?). Then we encounter the "Single Hander," a 45 to 50 foot boat that seems specifially designed for the Around Alone racing crowd. And finally, the "Racer/Cruiser" with a design of 32 to 36 feet and seems to be a reasonable assessment of the kind of boat that will be appreciated by those that want to race with the yacht club and still enjoy some coastal journeys.

The missing chunk relates to blue water cruising or offshore sailboats of less that 45 feet. It's a disappointing omission. Especially if you consider that the average size of a sailboat that cruises away from the coast is getting larger, but only from about the 35 or 36 feet range to about 38 or 39 feet. If you are looking for a cruising sailboat that has offshore and passage capabilities and can't afford the 45' or larger "Voyager" category, you'll have to do a lot of interpolating between Marshall's design categories to glean the knowledge you're hoping to find.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars well written, easily understood., May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This book is more than just choosing a cruising sailboat. It covers the whole spectrum of foils, hull shapes, deck layouts, sails, interiors, etc. anyone who is looking to buy a boat period, i recommend this book. Even if you are not planning to buy but just want to learn more, this is a must.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone looking for a boat., October 12, 2000

By	Leon Steyns (Lent, Gelderland Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Normally a book title is merely an attractive phrase to sell a book, but in this case it's lengthy title leaves no doubt: it's exactly what it says! To me, this is a perfect example of a perfect book.

It is for starters a very well designed book: nice hardcover, a handy format and a pleasant layout with lots of drawings that makes it an easy book to read. Secondly, the content is so well formulated that despite the extensive technical nature of some of the chapters, it can easily be understood by anyone seriously interested in buying a sailboat.

In my view, there's even a philosophy behind it all: in order to really understand what kind of boat is right for you, one must be able to understand some of the design charactaristics and it's effects on the way that particular design will behave in the water. It's not a coincidence that there are so many recent yachts for sale: people tend to rely too much on manufacturer's colour brochures and end up buying the wrong boat!

After reading this book, I will never look at a boat the same way I used to. Instead, I will look for those specific details that divide a nice design from a great design. Even such simple practical issues as the positioning of winches or fairleads around the cockpit can make the difference between enjoying a boat or getting agitated every time you need to trim your sails!

But there's more: because of the theoretical approach you can even use those misleading colour brochures to calculate a wide variety of ratios that will tell you something about stability, performance, handling and comfort of your boat of choice. With these formulas you'll be able to really compare boats and truly understand which design will suit your demands. The final choice, of course, can only be based on the real thing: by taking her out on the water. But by using this book sensibly, you will save yourself a lot of trouble!