Build the New Instant Boats (Paperback)

by Harold Payson (Author) "Take a few sheets of plywood, cut them to shape from scaled up, carefully drawn plans, smear on a little glue, drive a couple of..." (more)
Key Phrases: bilge panels, chine logs, daggerboard case, Instant Boats, Phil Bolger, June Bug (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Clearly the best encouragement I have seen for those of us who want to get afloat at reasonable cost in the same season that we start building... Good advice abounds for the neophyte builder." -- Small Boat Journal

Review
``Clearly the best encouragement I have seen for those of us who want to get afloat at reasonable cost in the same season that we start building. . .Good advice abounds for the neophyte builder.'' (Small Boat Journal )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (December 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071559663
• ISBN-13: 978-0071559669
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #374,904 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Construction of simple, elegant designs explained clearly, November 25, 2000

By	"mctaggert" (Sugar Grove, NC United States) - See all my reviews

A great book about simple, straight forward boatbuilding. The author presents information and designs on building boats using a tack and tape method and a more convential framing method. I've built one boat from this book and am starting a second one. Payson's boatbuilding information or Bolger's designs alone are worth the price of this book.

I have to take to task the two reviewers who have indicated this book short changed them. For starters, I think the author is an honest person. In one reviewers case, the problem is a lack of plans. I've bought plans for both the boats I built because it makes building easier. For both boats, the plans were in the book. This is generous of the author considering he earns some income from plan sales. In the second case, materials price seems to be the problem. The book was published in '85, so some inflation should be allowed for. Even so, for half of his total investment, the materials for that particular boat could have been bought including epoxy adhesive and bronze oar fittings. The author also points the several levels of materials that can be used to build these boats, explaining how this affects the finished boat. Another thing the author points out is that boatbuilding takes imagination and perserverance. A lack of both of thse traits is the real problem facing the two reviewers.

If you want to build a Bolger instant boat, this book is great to have on hand. The author helped work the bugs out of these designs. You can't get better help than that.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Go build a boat!, December 19, 1999

By	dave nolan (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Harold Payson makes a first time boat builder a success.

I built Diablo in my backyard with hand power tools and fished the beaches for 9 years with a 25HP Mariner.

My advice- buy the book - build a boat. Start with a little design to gain confidence.

Use epoxy over fiberglass resin, on Marine Plywood and you'll have no problems...

Dave

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential boatbuilding, September 2, 2004

By	Doh (Pickering, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This is the best book ever written on making small boats for rowing or sailing using modern techniques. If you always figured you would like to build a boat, but were worried about making a success of it, this book, or the others in his series will ensure you get the job done.

Here are three reservations, just so you know:

1) The building method know as tack and tape is original to the Bolger/Payson duo, and isn't state of the art. Payson prefers working with fiberglass resin rather than epoxy, and those with an E allergy might agree. But for others, this may send you off in the wrong direction. Nonetheless the boats are great as designed, even if they could be better. For instance in epoxy it would be possible to drop the frames and add solid transoms to better carry motors or rudders. That's a better trade.

2) The designs are a little funky, which is good open thinking throughout, but for instance a person who bought one of these books because they noticed there was a sailboard would probably not be that satisfied, on the other hand it's a great plan to try out a little boarding on.

3)If you just wanted to build one of these boats, many of which are great like Diablo or Nymph, why not just buy the relevant plan?