Wooden Boat Building

Get started with your next home project—build yourself a boat.

Playing around on the water in small boats is a lot of fun. But what makes it even more special, is when the boat you’re in, is a boat that you built.

A small craft differs from other woodworking projects. Once finished and in the water, a boat comes alive. You will discover it has a personality of its own, the way it handles and moves at speed. Each hull is different. It’s easy to fall in love with a boat.

To create something that will take you places and protect you from the elements is rewarding and easier to do than you might imagine. With tools you may well have at home, a small amount of inexpensive material, you’ll be heading up the river in less time than you think.

This book is a guide to building small plywood boats. Inside, you’ll learn:

• Design considerations – building for speed
• Buy plans or make your own?
• What tools you will need
• Materials for your boat—that cost little
• How to build a craft, from anybody’s plans
• Building with stitch and glue
• Building on a strongback
• Best practices—working with epoxy resin and fillers
• Safety—how to protect yourself, so you can keep building
• Protecting your boat – paint options
• Another way to reduce the build cost

A practical guide to building plywood boats, written for the first-time builder. Learn how to build yourself a boat—at home in your garage.

Buy the book and get started this weekend, building a boat that will take you up the river.

View the contents and read the first 10% free

Follow the link to the book on Amazon in your country and click on the book to “look inside”. You can also download a free sample to read on your device.  

Building Tokyo Express

Building a home on the water

Building a boat is a dream I had for years. It’s an enormous job that takes years, so it is worth thinking through well before committing. Doing it yourself offers plenty of alternatives to reach the same goal and lots of ways to save your cash.

You can buy components off the shelf or make a lot of them in your shed. I had more time than money, so I built almost everything from scratch, even the steering wheel.

Everything “marine” seems to be 3x times the price of a similar automotive part, so I made what I could instead of buying it, and it worked. For $70,000 in materials and components, I created a 40ft cat which was my home for the next 5 years. After 23 years in the water, she still looks as good as the day I launched her.

This book is the story of building Tokyo Express, what I did, how I lived, the highs and lows of homebuilding. In the book is a timeline of how long each phase took. I discuss ways of building and how important it is, to find the right place to do it.

If the idea of building a boat sounds interesting, this book will give you lots to think about. Grab a copy – ebook or paperback.

View the contents and read the first 10% free

Follow the links to the book in your country and click on the image of the book to “look inside”. Or, download a free sample and read it on your phone, kindle, tablet or computer.