American Small Sailing Craft: Their Design, Development and Construction [Hardcover]

Howard I. Chapelle (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From the author of Yacht Designing and Planning and Boatbuilding: the definitive history and survey of the great classic American small sailing craft. American Small Sailing Craft (originally published 1951) is considered the classic among small-boat builders and historians. In it Chappelle has documented many fast-vanishing working boats, making this the authoritative history of a passing maritime fleet. Illustrated throughout

About the Author

Howard I. Chapelle (1901-1975) was an American naval architect, and curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, he authored many books and articles books on maritime history and marine architecture, including Yacht Designing and Planning, Boatbuilding: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction, The History of American Sailing Ships,The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development, American Small Sailing Craft, and many more.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 363 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (December 17, 1951)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393031438
• ISBN-13: 978-0393031430
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #88,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #91 in	Books > Nonfiction > Transportation > Ships
  #67 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Outdoor Recreation > Boating
  #88 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Outdoor Recreation > Sailing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars classic, March 31, 2000

By	Mike (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Small Sailing Craft: Their Design, Development and Construction (Hardcover)

This is the classic book about classic boats. I bought it because of my interest in one particular boat and ended up reading it cover to cover. The author put together a large part of the Smithsonian's collection of boat plans and definitely knew his stuff. This is a great book if you are interested in a particular type of historic boat. It is also worth reading just to compare the relative merits of different designs. The lines and offsets given for the many of boats are enough to build from.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is no substitute for this definitive work, February 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: American Small Sailing Craft: Their Design, Development and Construction (Hardcover)

Howard Chapelle lived and wrote at a time when the fleets of working small sailing craft rapidly vanished. His life's work was to preserve a lowly, humble part of American maritime heritage, and his efforts are without peer.

In American Small Sailing Craft, Chapelle shows us a number of the plain work-a-day craft of the watermen of old. Although people of those times took little notice of such common, plain, ordinary vessels, we modern readers are left to marvel at their seaworthiness, sturdiness, simplicity--in short, their consummate practicality.

Any maritime heritage enthusiast will love this classic book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Source, June 30, 2006

By	Mtn Boat Builder (Catskill Mtns, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Small Sailing Craft: Their Design, Development and Construction (Hardcover)

For anyone interested in small American sailing craft this is the definite volume. As a small boat builder and model builder there is no more comprehensive source of information.