I have mentioned before (in glowing terms) David Gerr's Nature of Boats book. I had it in a stack of books on my desk that I had been referring to off and own. Dane ran across it and it struck his interest.

How many 7 year olds pick up Nature of Boats and proceed to start reading it? The first little bit he did out loud (some of the pronounciations are interesting :-)): read more »

Just my opinion here, but it is based on many happy hours -- and a few unhappy moments -- boating in various boats with just the Admiral and similarly boating with guests aboard. You will find that whenever you are there all your guests immediately visit the pilothouse and never leave. I suggest that you design gracious pilothouse guest seating for five. When underway with just your Admiral aboard, a cozy one guest pilothouse might be just dandy. If you go that route, I very strongly suggest a great intercom, so you can summon help when someting gets sticky, or at least you can get a cuppa without abandoning the helm. However, with guests -- like say two couples along for a boat ride -- they are all going to absolutely insist on hanging out wherever you are. Recall how everybody follows the host/hostess into the kitchen at a party, strategically stationing themselves directly in front of the stove, sink, oven, refrig. and liquor locker? If ya banish yer guests to the saloon fer that three hour cruise ya just might hafta face a scurvy buncha mutineers. Lead by the Admiral!

There are quite a few resources around online that you (the U.S. Government) has already paid for. Many of them are available free.

On the Origami List , a recent poster commented about:

U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers "THERMAL SPRAYING: NEW CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE" Engineer Manual ... it's relatively recent, being dated
29 January 1999.

It's available at:

http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-manuals/em1110-2-3401/entire.pdf

There are many other U.S. Army Corp of Engineers publications available at

• http://www.usace.army.mil

Other items can be found by searching the (pretty well done, actually) Government "search" site at:

• FirstGov.gov
  

Philip C. Bolger has been a designer for much of his long life, and a prolific one at that... he has literally hundreds of plans available. Eschewing the modern, on-line world, he works and interacts by mail and mostly fax . He doesn't have a catalog online (or even in paper, I believe). The preferred method seems to be sending him a fax describing what you want and he'll send you a listing and short description of various designs that he feels will meet your needs.

He also takes custom design work, but currently seems to have a large backlog.

Anyway, on to the book... Mr. Bolger has published several books of plans, of which this is one. It is a collection of 75 plans ranging from small rowing craft to fairly large voyagers, from sail to power. One near constant is that his designs are a bit unconventional. Mr. Bolger is known for his "slab sided" and flat-bottomed (with a "shoe") keel craft, but there are some much more traditional designs included. Each design has a commentary describing the plan, and often some background about how it came to be.

Many of these plans are re-published articles from various periodicals that Mr. Bolger contributed to over the years, including Small Boat Journal and WoodenBoat Magazine.

There are basic tables of offsets and line plans given for most (all?) of the plans, but you best have good ideas and a good bit of experience to build straight from what's in the book.

Regardless, I enjoyed reading his writing, seeing a wide variety of craft, and learning more of what I liked and didn't.

Also check out the Bolger group(s) on Yahoo! for more of his design work.

Plans: Mr. Philip C. Bolger, P.O. Box 1209, Gloucester, MA, 01930, Fax: (978) 282-1349

Here are 75 novel and wonderful boats--some strange, some beautiful, all of them paragons of Philip Bolger's form-follows-function design philosophy. A planing microtrawler; a glass-galleried, beachable birdwatching boat; a fully enclosed ocean-cruising rowboat; cruising sailboats that take the ground at low tide; power, sail, and rowing boats from 6 to 95 feet--these are boats as only Bolger's unfettered imagination does them. This is the first collection of Bolger's work in almost 15 years. It is long overdue.

"Bolger is an eloquent writer and his comments run the gamut from hilarious to profound."--The Ensign

"Bolger brings a kind of youthful feeling to yacht design--he would rather make precedent than follow it."--WoodenBoat

"Bolger has a way of seducing even the lay reader into thinking about and beginning to understand boat design."--Cruising World

"Boat lovers who are used to designers who conceive the same boat over and over, camouflaged with a face-lifting here and there, will be amazed at Phil Bolger's diversity."--Boatbuilder

Since we're on a Beuhler roll, I'll toss a quick mini-review in here.

This was one of the first "building" type books I picked up (ordered actually). Its an easy read, with a very down-to-earth style. Beuhler believes in a simple, rough and ready building style. Over build it, make it strong enough, and go boating. That's my own take, not his words :-)

Anyway, lots of good details, reasonable ideas, pointers to materials, terminiology and even several small plans in the back that you can build if you want (and have good eyes to read at that scale).

You can read Amazon's writeup or check their web page (click the book icon) and see other much more detailed reader reviews.