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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 797
EAN: 9780071583800
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0071583807
Label: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Manufacturer: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: December 15, 1990
Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Studio: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Everybody has the dream: Build a boat in the backyard and sail off to join the happy campers off Pogo Pogo, right? But how? Assuming you aren't independently wealthy, if you want a boat that's really you, you gotta build it yourself.
Backyard boatbuilding has its problems. Building in fiberglass is itchy, smelly, and yields a product that yachting maven L. Francis Herreshoff once called "frozen snot." Ferrocement, once all the rage, has pretty much sunk from favor, if you catch the drift. But there's still wood, right? Ah, wood. Nature's perfect material. You can build in the time-honored traditions of the Golden Age of Yachting, loving crafting intricate joints in rare tropical hardwoods, steaming swamp oak butts to sinuous shapes, holding the whole thing together with nonferrous fastenings that cost a buck or better each. Does that sound like boatbuilding for everyperson?
What about the currently fashionable wood/epoxy boatbuilding? You butter regular old wood with Miracle Whip, stick it together in the shape of a boat, and off you go, right? Epoxy works, but They don't exactly give it away; nor is it exactly a benign substance. Suiting up like Homer Simpson heading for a fun-filled day at the nuclear power plant isn't exactly the aesthetic boatbuilding experience many of us are looking for.
Where does that leave us? In the capable hands of George Buehler, who honors the timeless traditions of the sea all right, but those from the other side of the boatyard tracks. Buehler draws his inspiration from centuries of workboat construction, where semiskilled fishermen built rugged, economical boats from everyday materials in their own backyards, and went to sea in them in all kinds of weather, not just when it was pleasant.
Buehler's boats sail on every ocean and perform every task, from long-term liveaboards in Norwegian fjords to a traveling doctor's office in Alaska. This book contains complete plans for seven cruising boats--from a 28-foot sailboat to a 55-foot power cruiser. All the information you need is here, including step-by-step instructions honed by nearly 20 years of supplying boat plans to backyard builders--and helping them out when they get into trouble.
Buehler is anarchic, heretical, and occasionally profane; his book is West Coast counterculture meets traditional hardchine workboat construction, leavened with hardnosed common sense and penny-pinching economy. This book is for those who look around them and see that much of what is done in the world today--whether in yachting or politics or economics or interpersonal relationships--is based not on logic but on conforming and meeting other people's expectations. This book is most definitely NOT about either. It is about the realization of dreams.
If you believe that everyone who wants a cruising boat can have one . . .
If you see beauty beneath the fish scales and work scars of a commercial fishing boat . . .
If you want to build a simple, rugged, economical, good-looking cruising boat--power or sail--using everyday lumberyard materials and few skills other than perseverance, this is the book for you. Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding tells you how to build extraordinary boats using the most ordinary skills and materials, with complete plans, instructions, and specifications for seven real cruising boats ranging from a 28-foot sailboat to a 55-foot power cruiser.
"Build wooden boats the Buehler way, which is to say inexpensively, yet like the proverbial brick outhouse."--WoodenBoat
Richly flavored with personal advice and anecdotes as well as a wealth of valuable information."--American Sailing Association
"Everyone will revere this book."--The Ensign
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding is a magnificent guide to thinking about the craft of boatbuilding, and a paen to the days of self sufficiency. There's a gleeful contrarian bent to this book, and Buehler's muscular 'sticktoitiveness' is nothing short of infectious. Halfway through the book I was levitating off the couch shouting, "You gotta believe!"
Buehler is a delightful pain in the arse. He recounts the various sins of modern boat designers, who, in the pursuit of creating a "boat for everybody" succeed in designing breakdown-prone 'hangar queens' that cost a fortune and satisfy very few. Buehler believes in designing them stone-simple and rock-solid. In his engine spaces you will actually have space to replace a secondary fuel filter in a seaway--try that in a modern production boat! A Buehler boat is built around the people (usually a couple) who will actually sail and use it. Buehler has harsh words for designers who compromise their interior spaces to fit around the visiting Hendersons and Joneses.
His designs, by his own admission, lack polish. I would more charitably say that he asks prospective builders to re-imagine polish. Yes, he uses loads of plywood and hot-dipped galvanized steel and home-grade lumber. This isn't "polished" in the traditional sense. But it does harken to the days of wooden ships that got their crews of iron men home safe in greasy weather, fresh winds, and foul tides. Survivability, maintainability, mean times between failure--those are elements of performance. Performance is its own polish!
I can't recommend Buehler enough. I've read and re-read this book and it's fueled more than one fantasy boat. For my money, this is the best money you can spend. Even if you don't buy into his particular designs, you'll be armed with a whole new attitude and know what to look for when you build someone else's boat.
Rating:  -
The content of "Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding" provides a structured, step by step, method for the construction of a single-chine workboat. The construction methods tend to focus on less expensive materials and methods for builders with relatively little experience. It effectively outlines virtually all elements of construction, from laying a keel and casting a concrete ballast, to rigging and wiring. The book provides an extremely important reference material to any boat builder; even, to a lesser extent, those constructing round-bilge boats. With a multitude of pros, excellently identified in the other reviews posted here, I will address some of the shortcomings I encountered with the materials.
Mr. Buehler included an in-depth treatment of concrete cast ballasts, however, he did not introduce other techniques, namely lead casting, in any significant detail. For the majority of his designs and builders, concrete ballasts work just fine, however, this may not carry through for some builders, other non-Buehler designs, and those using this book as a reference material.
I noted a few examples of his boats posted for sale and noted, as pointed out in other posts, that the boats do not appear to sell for much more than the cost of their materials. While you should not expect a valuable yacht quality result, their design employs massive timbers and does produce an extremely sturdy vessel.
He addresses the lofting process in an incredibly simple and brief manner. It provides an excellent introduction to the process and, unlike most other treatments, won't scare a first time builder. Unfortunately, the description does leave out a lot of advanced techniques. For the projection of the transom, frame curves, and bearding lines, etc. turn to Howard Chapelle's more difficult treatment in "Boatbuilding", as Mr. Buehler suggests.
The single most significant shortcoming I find in Mr. Buehler's work involves ... Read More
Rating: -
This book is just what it says a book on building a boat at home yourself. If your interested in building a boat you need this book. He directs most of this book towards large boats 30 to 60 feet but you can apply alot of this to smaller craft. He explains how you can build cheap and substitue materials to save money.
Rating: -
This is fine reading and a must for all considering building your own boat. As we say in the Elevator Trade, "That man know more tricks than a two-dollar ho!", ho ho Merry Christmas. Book is full of useful info and the book list in back is also how I found Harold "Dynamite" Payson's book 'Boat Modeling'...for building small versions from any plans using real boat building techniques. Buehler is a winner.
Rating: -
As always, George Buehler is a pleasure to read. From reading his other works, I know George likes metals as well as wood -- but he clearly loves wood, and this book is reflects that. While I'm planning to build in metal, the book is full of insights and useful information for all boatbuilders. On top of that, it's full of the common sense stories on material selection that every boatbuilder or restorer needs -- at least those of us who have any budget limitations.
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