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Price: $65.00 as of 11/21/2009 20:09 EST
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.84580922
EAN: 9780071579834
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0071579834
Label: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Manufacturer: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: December 17, 1999
Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Studio: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The fascinating story of fiberglass boats and the mavericks who dreamed them. Nine out of ten sailors today own sturdy, often beautiful fiberglass craft. Fiberglass brought boating to the non-rich, but the history of that revolution has never been told. Daniel Spurr rectifies this omission with his highly readable and affectionate account of the fiberglass boat, from its earliest incarnation in World War II to the present day. In the early days, when shoestring genius was unfettered by industrial efficiency, there were boats with tailfins, boats baked in ovens, and boats designed to be dropped from planes. The voyage from those first ugly ducklings to the graceful boats of the 1990s makes a riveting adventure of triumph and ruin. Along the way, Spurr profiles landmark designs that now set the standards in the used-boat market, and he portrays the revolution in human terms, introducing us to the vivid personalities who invented--often in their garages and rarely at a profit--the world of boating we know today.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
Anyone who loves boats, especially sailboats, must have this book. Dan Spurr does a great job of outlining the history of fiberglass boats, and the entertaining stories of the people who made them. I keep my copy close at hand and refer to it often.
Rating:  -
I was excited when I found a book devoted to the recent history of fiberglass boats. My enthusiasm was diminished by some of the incorrect historical information conveyed in the first hand accounts the author relies on. For example, on page 9 of the hard bound addition he quotes John Wills, "About 1942 . . . I was chief engineer and janitor for Western Plastics . . . That same year a small group from Cal Tech (headed by Dr. Wernher Von Braun, the rocketeer) called me to look at a jet assist take ... Read More
Rating: -
What a super book! It has everything the average sailor could want to know about fiberglass. I have no idea how Bob Perry (one of the editorial reviewers) could read this in one evening. It's just packed with information about most of the American (and some international) sailboat builders, their boats, and in most cases their demise. A lot of "experts" at my marina proudly profess knowledge about the histories of the different boats but, after reading this book, I've discovered that many of their ... Read More
Rating: -
This readable, well-researched, and often hilarious book will delight the dickens out of any boater, power or sail (great gift!!!). More broadly, anyone interested in business management -- what works, what doesn't work, and where technology fits in -- will find much to ponder in this book. Spurr chronicles the demise of dozens of failed boating companies; an all-too-frequent theme is the destruction that follows on a company's acquisition by a large corporation seeking to "diversify," which seems, inevitably, ... Read More
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