Make your boat shine again No improvement to a tired-looking boat will have a more dramatic impact than refinishing, and few tasks are easier. Here is everything you need to achieve a fabulous finish on your fiberglass boat’s bottom, topsides, deck, spars, wood trim, and belowdeck surfaces while saving time, money, and grief. What reviewers have said about Don Casey's boat maintenance books: “Astonishingly clear text and illustrations. The reader can almost feel the hand-holding this book provides through each step.”--Dockside “I own many books filled with advice, but I strongly suspect that this is the one I will consult most.”--Sailing “Casey makes tricky points clear in hundreds of illustrations and lively prose.”--SailNet “If you have an older sailboat, you need this book.”--The Ensign
A fiberglass hull's seamless nature leads many boatowners to conclude that repair must be difficult. Wrong. Here, clearly and abundantly illustrated, is all you need to know to seal joints, bed hardware, replace portlights, locate leaks, fix cracks and even holes, restore your hull's gloss, renew nonskid decks, and much more. You'll wonder what you were worried about.
Find a small cruising sailboat and restore it to pristine condition on a budget that won't sink your budget Small, trailererable cruising sailboats are more popular than ever as mooring spaces dwindle and marina dockage and winter storage costs soar. Fix It and Sail helps you discover boatloads of fun far less than a single ski weekend or golf club membership. Veteran sailor and journalist Brian Gilbert shows you how to select and inspect a boat, then restore it from keel to rigging. Gilbert's clear, step-by-step instructions guide you through every phase of the restoration process from repairing keels, hulls, ports, and cabins to painting, wiring, and sealing. You'll learn how to evaluate, repair and replace hardware, upholstery, canvaswork, and more. Profusely illustrated appendices give you a vivid picture of the costs, tasks, and labor involved in an actual restoration project.
The definitive guide from the world's best-known sailboat maintenance expert Don Casey’s Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual combines six core volumes into a single, utterly dependable resource that answers every frequent question, explains every major system, and helps you keep your boat and its components shipshape. More than 2,500 clear and detailed illustrations guide you step by step through every procedure. Casey’s technical virtuosity, his user-friendly explanations, and Peter Compton's diesel engine expertise make even the more complicated repairs and improvements easy to understand. This must-have guide saves you time, money, and grief as you learn the fastest, easiest, most effective ways to: Evaluate the condition of your boat or one you’re about to purchase Repair structural damage to your fiberglass sailboat Improve or repair your sailboat’s electrical system Troubleshoot, maintain, and repair your boat’s diesel engine Put a professional-looking finish on your boat’s hull, deck, spars, wood, and trim Make and repair sails, sail covers, dodgers, awnings, sailbags, and bimini tops
Restoring a fibreglass yacht is not something for the faint-hearted, even if you don't intend to do all the work yourself (you still need to understand the processes to be gone through). But the satisfaction of the job well done, not to mention the possible cost savings on buying a new yacht, are immense. Nevertheless, it is not something that should be undertaken lightly and without careful consideration. That is where this book comes in, as Enric Roselló takes you through his restoration of a 30-year-old 40-foot yacht. Broken down into 46 chapters, Enric details the stages of his restoration in chronological order. For each he starts with an overview of the task and the thinking behind the approach he took. Just these introductory pieces alone are ideal for someone contemplating a restoration (of all or part of a boat) to read before making the final decision as to whether to go ahead. For those who decide to take on the challenge, each overview is followed by an in-depth step-by-step account of what they did, accompanied by numerous informative photo sequences (with over 800 colour photos in total). The material in this book would be invaluable both to boat owners who are considering a complete overhaul and to those who have one or two smaller jobs to do. All possible subjects are covered, including dealing with osmosis, the interiors, deck, rigging, electrics and electronics, plumbing, engine, galley, heads and much more. The author is very honest about the amount of work and commitment required and also offers advice about when to call in the professionals and when to consider doing the work yourself. Anyone contemplating a complete or partial restoration is advised to read this book beforehand, so you know what is ahead, and to follow its guidance if you to decide to proceed.
Step-by-step color photo guidance for repairing and renewing fiberglass boats If you don't have the experience of working with fiberglass, any repairs to your boat must be done by high-cost professionals or left undone. This entry-level guide uses full-color, step-by-step photo sequences and line drawings to present you with the basics in an easily digested form. You will learn how to: Save money and time doing your own fiberglass repairs Improve the value, appearance, and safety of your boat Work with materials such as polyester, epoxy, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and core materials Fix annoying leaks; repair cracks; restore gelcoat; fabricate new components
An excellent manual for embarking on a wooden boat restoration project. The Big Book of Wooden Boat Restoration is the perfect introduction or reference guide for both novice and experienced wooden boat enthusiasts. Author Thomas Larsson, one of Sweden’s most experienced and premier wooden boat restorers, has compiled his knowledge of the craft for readers and placed it in this book. This ultimate guide to restoration contains useful facts and an extensive glossary, accessible to both new hobbyists and longtime boat lovers. Also within this book are chapters on boat care, including winter maintenance, racing, finishing, and stripping. Additionally, there is updated information on boat building, gluing, and tools. The most extensive part of this book consists of chapters that describe the detailed clean repair of wooden boats—everything from plug accession and bonding to changing socks and bottom engine installation. Larsson includes a history of boat building and provides a nice glimpse of different wooden boats with more than two hundred sketches and photos in both color and black-and-white. He explains how staying on top of maintenance keeps a unique fleet of wooden boats alive. With practical instructions and fact boxes with advice and tips, this book will teach you all about maintenance: surface treatment, scraping the hull, equipping the boat in the spring, and looking after it in the winter. Also included are tips on buying a boat, installing an engine, and more. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
How to select a boat, plan your project, finish the job, and actually head for the water. Over the past thirty to forty years boat builders, large and small, have produced tens of thousands of fiberglass boats. Many now sit abandoned, waiting for some tender care to get back on the water where they belong. Fiberglass unlike many other types of boatbuilding materials does not rot, rust, or break down over the years. Many people have realized this, of course, and have started what they think will be an easy project. They were wrong, and many well-intentioned renovations sit abandoned. Whatever the reason for wanting to take on the restoration of a project boat, proper planning and organization can make the difference between success and failure. Fiberglass Boat Restoration is about how to plan, organize and successfully complete a project boat restoration. It will explain why it is important to put your efforts and resources into some areas and not others. It contains valuable information about what to look for when considering the purchase of a project boat. Although the focus of the book is fiberglass, the information will be useful to anyone undertaking the building or restoration of any boat.
