Looking for a boat designing book.

[Lowell Bernhardt]

I'm interrested in purchasing a good boat designing book. I have Chappelle's Yacht design and planning. However, I'm looking for something a little smaller. Something with the basics about boat design. I have a few ideas rattling aganist the sides of my skull, but dont have the knowledge to make them happen in wood.

I would also like to purchase a good book about boats in general. You know a book about what makes a Scow a Scow, and what makes a dory a dory, etc.,etc.,etc.. Preferably a book that out lines everything.

Thanks again,
Lowell

[A. Mason]

What size boat did you have in mind to design? I asume it would be a wood boat? Chappelle's book is an excellent one, and has been a reference book for decades. Anita

[Steve Paskey]

Re the question about a "general" book. I don't know of anything short and to the point, but if your interest is primarily in sailing and rowing craft rather than powerboats, I'd highly recommend Chappelle's "American Small Sailing Craft." Almost anything you'd want to build or design is based on or derived from boats described in that book, and there are scores of illustrations (often with offsets). The one area where his coverage suffers, though, is dories, as he doesn't talk much about the round-sided dory derivatives, i.e. swampscotts, gunning dories, double-ended surf dories, etc.

The two volumes of John Gardner's Building Classic Small Craft (available as a single book) are also worthwhile. Gardner includes small powerboats (garveys, semi-dories, etc), and he doesn't neglect the round-sided dories. Another source that might be helpful is the three WoodenBoat design catalogs. Even if you don't buy a single plan, just reading the commentaries and looking at looking at the lines is well worth the price. I've spent so much time browsing through my copies that I've broken the spine of one book.

[ 09-20-2002, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[Lowell Bernhardt]

I've got 2 of the WB design catalogs, also. I think I'm missing 30 wooden boat designs? I also have Designs to Inspire. (awsome book)I also have 2 of Chappelle's books, Wooden Boat Building, and as mentioned before Yacht design and planning. I have paged thru Gardner's books also, but at the time I wasn't really thinking "design". I'm looking for a book that has all of the mathmatical "how come and why" of boat building and making hulls efficiant.

As to what type. Right now my brain is on a powerboat kick (getting ready to start building Bolger's Diablo, soon, HOPEFULLY). Smaller powerboats say 18' or less. I'm really interrested in finding out all that I can about tunnel hulls right now.

Thanks, Lowell

[Bruce Taylor]

As Rich says, Dave Gerr's "The Nature of Boats" is your first stop.

I've been using John Teale's Designing Small Craft (1975), which has helped a bit. Don't go to a lot of trouble to procure it, though...there just isn't enough there. I've seen another book by Teale with a similar title -- How to Design a Boat (1998) -- but don't know if it's the same book in a different package.

[ 09-20-2002, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: Bruce Taylor ]

[Tar Devil]

The Teale book is nothing but an exercise in sheer frustration. He assumes and presumes all through the book with no justification for his assumptions, and frequently refers to graphs without an ounce of explanation about how that data was developed.

Once you have accumulated some foundation for boat designing, you may find the book interesting, and there was, in fact, several chapters there were somewhat informational, but nothing you can't get in better presentation from Gerr's book. Teale's book is fine if you need to fill a hole in your bookshelf.

Later,

Phil

[Mark Van]

As mentioned before, Dave Gerr's "Nature of Boats" seems to be the closest to what you want. Understanding Boat Design by Brewer is another good one. Any book by Bolger. I probably learned more about boat design through his books than any other source.
Mark

[mmd]

For basic naval architecture of small planing hulls for non-engineers, try to find a copy of Frank Bailey's "Small Boat Design for Beginners" (1980, A.H. & A.W. Reed Pty. Ltd., Sydney, Australia). It is a wonderful book. It covers linesplans, hydrodynamics, stability, powering, drafting, mechanics of planing,and most elusive of all, how to create developable surfaces for ply construction. Straightforward, practical, not a tome of mathematically expressed theory. IMHO, it is the book you are looking for. I can see Dingo's chest swelling now with national pride! :D

[ken mcclure]

There's one out by Ted Brewer, and Harold Payson had a real basic one that actually seems to cover a lot of basics in a little book. Payson's was called "Go Build Your Own Boat" and is probably out of print. I found a copy at the local library.

[mmd]

I am sorry to say that my copy is the only copy I have ever seen, and I ain't parting with it! :D I picked it up at a used bookstore in Halifax a few years ago. Maybe one of our Oz forumites would know, or could find out, whether the publisher is still in operation.

[B. Burnside]

Three more for you:

Skene's Elements of Yacht Design by Skene and Kinney.

Elements of Yacht Design by Skene. This is a paperback reissue of the edition by Skene himself. It is available through WoodenBoat Store.

Principles of Yacht Design Larsson and Eliasson. Also available through the WoodenBoat Store.

[ 09-21-2002, 01:13 PM: Message edited by: B. Burnside ]

[ken mcclure]

Hee-hee! Better warn him about the math in the Larsson/Eliasson book. It's REAL technical.