Synopses & Reviews
Why is stitch-and-glue boatbuilding so popular?
Any number of construction methods will produce a beautiful boat. But for the backyard builder with limited experience and a tight budget, the choice is not so complicated. Traditional plank-on-frame and cold-molded construction require complicated lofting and building molds--to say nothing of expensive tooling and lots of time. Stitch-and-glue construction, on the other hand, can produce the same results with a substantial savings in time and money. The process is quicker, easier, uses fewer parts, and produces a boat that is much easier to maintain--without the building molds and with only the simplest lofting. For tools, you need little more than a circular saw, a sander/polisher/grinder, a block plane, a framing square, a level, and a tape measure.
Sam Devlin has elevated stitch-and-glue boatbuilding to an artform, and his graceful designs have attracted the attention of backyard builders across the country. Here is all you need to know to build the boat of your dreams, whether it's a 7-foot dinghy or a 40-foot power cruiser. Devlin's Boatbuilding: How to Build Any Boat the Stitch-and-Glue Way shares the wisdom of his 16 years of experience designing, building, and helping others build his fleet of small sail- and powerboats.
It's all here, from choosing a design and setting up shop to painting the finished hull and launching. There is also a gallery of Devlin's designs and a detailed appendix listing sources for tools and other materials.
Synopsis
Few people have done more than Sam Devlin to popularize wooden boatbuilding. For the past 15 years he has been designing, building, and helping others build his fleet of small sail and power boats. Ranging in length from 7 to 40 feet--so graceful, pert, and purposeful they seem to have been born on the waves--these boats belie the fact that they are built from sheet plywood using wire stitches and epoxy glue. In other words, anyone can build them, and many have. A 1988 WoodenBoat magazine profile of Devlin garnered more than 1,800 inquiries for his boat plans, an unbelievable response to any article in any magazine. Sailboats like Nancy's China (costs less to build than the reported cost of one place setting of Nancy Reagan's china) and powerboats like Surf Scoter are familiar, much-appreciated sights these days. Devlin developed this guide to building boats--his or any other designer's--from the building instructions he supplies with his plans. It is a mature, shop- and ocean-tested manual, covering everything from sharpening the tools to launching the finished boat. There is also a gallery of Devlin's designs and a detailed appendix listing sources for tools and other materials.
About the Author
Sam Devlin has been in love with boats since childhood--a fact perhaps influenced by his first bedroom, a ship replica complete with curved walls and a seaberth. The boatbuilding operation he started with his wife on a shoestring in 1977 has flourished, and Devlin Designing Boat Builders each year rolls out between 20 and 40 stitch-and-glue boats of various sizes from its shop on the shores of Puget Sound.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Introduction: The Magic of Boats
Chapter 1. The Advantages of Stitch-and-Glue Boatbuilding
Chapter 2. Setting Up Shop
Chapter 3. Selecting a Suitable Design
Chapter 4. Selecting Marine Plywood and Dimensional Lumber
Chapter 5. Epoxy Systems
Chapter 6. Fiberglass Cloth and Tape
Chapter 7. Scarfing
Chapter 8. Lofting
Chapter 9. Modeling
Chapter 10. Scantlings
Chapter 11. Building Cradles
Chapter 12. Stitching Up the Hull
Chapter 13. Bulkheads, Clamps, and Floor Timbers
Chapter 14. Filleting and Glassing Plywood Joints
Chapter 15. Rolling Over the Hull
Chapter 16. Removing Wires
Chapter 17. Cold Molding the Stitch-and-Glue Hull
Chapter 18. Keels, Rudders, Skegs, and Other Appendages
Chapter 19. Sheathing the Exterior
Chapter 20. Sanding and Fairing
Chapter 21. Marking the Waterline and Painting the Bottom
Chapter 22. Righting the Hull
Chapter 23. Interior Structures
Chapter 24. Painting
Chapter 25. Exterior Trim and Hardware
Chapter 26. Propulsion
Chapter 27. Launching
Chapter 28. Repairs
Appendices
A. Devlin's Designs
B. List of Suppliers
Index