Cruising yacht books

I accumulated a few books about sailing, cruising and boat-building over the years.  Some of the first books bought were recommendations by Nick Skeates in his building notes. books were bought as they were required, to get the background and know the options before each stage of the job. Still there's no substitute for actual practical experience , whether it be through a job either paid or voluntary or a technical college night course.

A Bibliography list of some of my Book Titles is in the "Bookshelf" section down the right hand side bar of this blog.

I bought quite allot of my  books new through a company called "Boat Books". In the old days they seemed to have stores everywhere which was great as you could thumb through it before deciding to buy, but as the web evolved they closed down all the outlying branches, so now its just a few capital cities.  The local library is a bit lean on good specialized cruising books.

In Australia, one of our best known Authors is Alan Lucas, from his youngest days he's lived the life at sea he writes about. His illustrations are right to the point and shed allot of light on a subject. His boat-building titles show economical ways to do things for those of us on a limited boat budget.  I have some of his books already but recently wanted a couple more relating to fitting out - cruising. However, allot of these are out of print.

Annie Hill's blog had a link to "Abe books", so checked it out but being a bit IT phobic and unsure of it  left it alone till now.  I recently googled the books i was after and one of the hits was to Abe books too. So tried it out, it seems to be a UK based website that searches for books worldwide and connects the seller to the buyer. Results can be sorted by prices, shipping costs are also included. I tried it and found 2 books i was after at well below a present day price, in this case i selected books from two small secondhand  bookstores in small towns in NSW, but there's a big choice of prices/shipping costs and origins from local to overseas like the US and UK too. So coughed up and Abe books system sent the order off to the sellers to post it out. Abe's site has an estimated delivery date and a book tracker too. Web based services like this and search engines have improved allot with more retailers etc getting on board (along with my c-literacy) over the last couple of years.

Wed 18th Feb, Received my 2nd hand book "Fitting out below decks" by Alan Lucas, a couple of days ago. It was safely wrapped in postbag, cardboard, paper and inner waterproof bag. Just as well as the monsoon is in full swing here. The book was in near perfect condition with the dust cover 100%, and it's a good read for the uninitiated with many illustrations.

The 2nd book "Fitting out above decks" arrived soon after. It's also a hardback in very good condition. A treasure trove of ideas and ways to do things. He even has a page on the most practical type of fishing gear to carry.

Shed extension #4

Just finished the NE shed roof extension #4. It is about 8 x 13 ft in area. The sturdy frame ran directly off the low workshop roof and 3 good sized corrugated sheets covered it. Tek screwed every 2nd corrugation to fasten.

Extension # 4 framework. 

The beam is recycled hardwood 5"x 2" about 14 ft long. The purlins are recycled and new galvanized steel top hat.

Framework from north roof

Cyclone Dylan was heading for us on the 30th Jan, so battened down the wyloyard and home in preparation for it. (Astronomical King tides of about 4 m were happening too, so any storm surge would have had a big effect if the timing was coincident) The port of Townsville was cleared with all big ships steaming out to sea before it reached land. However overnight Dylan changed course, intensified to Category 2 and veered southwards to cross near Bowen on a low tide. It hammered in from seaward and Hamilton Island in the WhitSundays experienced 120 km/hr winds plus some damage. At Airlie Beach a few yachts broke off their moorings, with one 28 footer becoming a total loss. As Townsville was were north of the eye, we were in the navigable semi-circle, and experienced only 25-40 knot winds coming from the SW and minimal rain..the wind had to cross hundreds of km of land mass to reach us so got weakened by that.


After the cyclone all clear, i returned to make a hinged shutter window on the wall below extension #4. It is simply a corrugated iron sheet set horizontally, with two hardwood beams 3 x 1" across at each end. Two pivots were made of 10 mm threaded rod going through 12 mm holes drilled through the upright poles. 60 cm rods hold it up at each end in the open position to let the breeze into the workshop area. A fern garden just outside helps the natural cooling effect, it felt like having about 2 fans going. It drops down quickly to control temperature, if the winds too strong, at night or in driving rain squalls. It is tek screwed onto the upright posts to hold it fast in cyclones.

Finished extension with ventilation shutter and irrigated fern garden

Ventilation shutter from inside shed's workshop area

I first came across horizontal shutters on Manihiki Atoll in the Cook Islands in the 1970s, Many houses there had wide eves, lower walls about 1 m high then horizontal shutters above these. (no glass windows at all) The shutters were made of 3" x 2" pine frames, galvanized nails and masonite, then painted. A bolt each side for the pivots which were placed about 1/3 down from the top to give some balance. Inexpensive but quite effective.