Classic books on boating, boatbuilding, ship building and maritime history.
Practical Boat Building for Amateurs
The guidebook that launched a thousand boats. Probably many more. One of the most concise guides ever written to take the amateur boatbuilder through every step of the design and building process. Not a scan of the original, but newly edited for better graphics and readability. Originally written by Adrian Neison, Practical Boat Building for Amateurs was later edited by famed designer Dixon Kemp.
Practical Boat Building for Amateurs
Adrian Neison, Dixon Kemp
Paperback . . . . . $ 9.99 Learn more!
A Practical Course in Wooden Boat and Ship Building
First published in 1918, the course was conceived by Van Gaasbeek at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in response to the desperate need for new ships on the eve of the United States' entry into World War I. Van Gaasbeek developed the program "to assist the great army of house carpenters and other woodworkers in transferring from their usual occupations to the wooden boat and ship building industries." He saw the book "as a response to the demand caused by shortage of skilled labor in these industries."
Richard M. Van Gaasbeek
Paperback . . . . . $11.99 Learn more!
Small Boat Building
Harold Patterson's Small Boat Building was one of the first attempts to take the mystery out of boat construction for the average man. Emphasizing the "do-it-yourself" attitude that amateur boatbuilders must bring to their work, he explains the basic processes and techniques of boatbuilding to give the beginner a good understanding of what is involved and how to get through a project.
H.W. Patterson
Paperback . . . . . $12.99 Learn more!
Boat-Building and Boating
Boat-Building and Boating by Daniel Carter Beard is filled with ideas and plans to build simple boats: from a log raft to a full-size houseboat. Originally written for boys, and assuming a limited set of skills and materials, it's ideas and advice are timeless. Carter filled the book with his own helpful illustrations and plenty of information on the early forms of "quick and dirty" boatbuilding.
D.C. Beard
Paperback . . . . . $15.99 Learn more!
A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe
A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe by John MacGregor is the first book by the "father" of modern kayaking and canoe camping. Join MacGregor as he sails and paddles alone in a double-ended canoe on the lakes and rivers of Germany, France, and Switzerland through backwater streams, over waterfalls, past whirlpools, and into the history of the paddling sports. This paperback edition features an introduction by kayaking historian Brian Kologe.
John MacGregor, introduction by Brian Kologe
Paperback . . . . . $17.99 Learn more!
Down the Columbia
Down the Columbia by Lewis R. Freeman is one of those forgotten classics by a noted outdoorsman and riverman of the early 20th Century who tackled some of the most difficult rivers in the world. He began this adventure close to the headwaters in the Selkirk Mountains and then traveled the sometimes raging, sometimes placid river almost--but not quite--to the Pacific. Find out why.
Lewis R. Freeman
Paperback . . . . . $15.99 Learn more!