Wooden Boats (Hardcover)

by Michael Ruhlman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Ruhlman (The Soul of a Chef) provides an insightful look at the life and work of legendary master boatbuilders Nat Benjamin and Ross Gannon, whose boatyard on Martha's Vineyard is the site of the most innovative work happening today. Ruhlman tells the men's stories through the boats that they construct, so a long chapter on building the 65-foot-long schooner Rebecca for a newly boat-struck buyer turns into an exploration of the unique connection between the rich people who buy boats and the working-class people who make them, as well as the slow and detailed work that goes into building a boat by hand. Ruhlman's discovery of the "extraordinary integrity" of Benjamin and Gannon's work, as well as "a parallel integrity in these boatwrights' lives," becomes "urgently important" to him "because this work and this kind of person [are] vanishing from our midst." Ruhlman is "not afraid to claim that the wooden boat is both ancient and great, that it connects us to the life that has gone before and that it's fully worthy of a life engaged in its construction." His ability to simply tell the boatbuilders story, making connections between boats and life, gives this sharply observed book its pleasures. (May)Forecast: Ruhlman, who has written extensively for the New York Times, should garner some attention, especially given the acclaim of his previous book and his author tour. The book's attention to manual labor, craft and the lives of men should interest readers of the more intelligent men's magazines.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
There are fewer than 10,000 wooden boats in America but the circulation of WoodenBoat magazine exceeds 180,000. What is it about wooden boats that has captured the popular imagination? With the "lively blend of reportage [and] reflection" (Los Angeles Times) that made his The Soul of a Chef such a success, Michael Ruhlman sets off to Martha's Vineyard-the location of a renowned boatyard-to find out.

As refined as a Stradivarius and as ruggedly powerful as an ocean vessel, wooden boats and the art of crafting them nearly fell victim to the modern era. Yet as cheap plastic and fiberglass boats proliferated the seas, a handful of craftsmen persevered. Today, the makers of these handmade miracles of curves and wood are highly sought-after artisans and wooden boats have emerged as a magnificent metaphor for the "old and true" in our homogenized, throwaway culture. At the heart of Wooden Boats is Rebecca-a sixty-foot modern pleasure schooner being constructed, with centuries-old techniques, to outlast any other boat today. Ruhlman follows Rebecca's construction and profiles the vivid personalities at work in a boatyard filled with stories of the sea. His exciting chronicle will enthrall not just wooden boat owners but also craftspeople of every stripe, nature enthusiasts, and seafaring and landlocked fans of compelling nonfiction.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (May 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670888125
• ISBN-13: 978-0670888122
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #962,495 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A finely crafted book, October 16, 2003

By	David P (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews

"Wooden Boats" reminded me of similar extended narratives by Tracy Kidder (think of "House" or "Soul of a New Machine"). Quite well done, with a strong sense of a story being told.

Ruhlman comes to the topic with no experience in boat construction, or even boating for that matter, but gets to the heart of why some people become obsessed with these projects. (This is a book about wooden boats, but this kind of obsession is certainly not limited to nautical pastimes. Read Rebuilding the Indian for a similar story involving two wheels instead of a hull.)

Although the characters in this book spend an awful lot of time denigrating "plastic" boats, their enthusiasm for boat construction and traditional methods is hard to resist. What these throwback builders are creating are "plank on frame" craft, vessels sculpted out of traditional materials with every part unique and handmade, boats that will (according to their proponents and backed up by history) far outlive their builders.

As a sailor I found this book inspiring. Maybe someday.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wooden Boats, January 9, 2003

By	M. Boutte (Houston, Tx United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a wooden boat enthusiast and long time woodworker, I read Michael Ruhlman's book with enthusiasm. I found it to be a wonderful piece of work that portrays woodworking, and boat building in particular, as dying arts that are not art for arts sake, but an art with an end result in mind. The boatyard in question is the Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway of Martha's Vineyard. This yard has been doing excellent work for quite some time and has aided in the renaissance of wooden boats that has largely been inspired by WoodenBoat magazine. Mr. Ruhlman does an excellent job of portraying the daily life of a boatyard, as well as a thorough history of G&B. The main thrust of the book however, is the now unconvential perspective that G&B has on their work and the world, which is to build something beautiful that will last for generations, and is ultimately perfectly suited for its task. In the end, I found myself wanting to quit my job and hire on with G&B. I'm still not sure I won't do that.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enter the world of the prefiberglas boatwright, January 30, 2001

By	busmun (Carrboro, NC United States) - See all my reviews

The subtitle,"In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard" sums it up. It's the lifestyle of the boatwrights at this small boatyard on Martha's Vineyard that stand out.They build 60' plank on frame schooners w/ century old techniques. The two owners of the yard learned boatbuilding by sailing around the world in their youth and being allowed to work on their own boats at various boatyards in exchange for their labor on boatwork in progress at the yard. The writing is elegant and clear, a series of profiles about people living what they believe. How the rich and famous are humbled in the prescence of those who design and build boats that will outlast everyone involved.