Metal Boats: A Practical Guide for Building or Buying Small Steel and Alumninum Craft - Hardcover

Scott, Ken

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574090828 ISBN 13: 9781574090826

Publisher: Sheridan House, 1999

Synopsis

This updated new edition covers the design, building and maintenance of steel and aluminum boats, both power and sail.

About this title

About the Author

A marine engineer with 26 years of service in the Canadian navy, Ken Scott is the proud owner of Scot-Free II, a 36-foot steel sloop designed by Bruce Roberts. Scott had the hull custom built and then spent three years fitting it out himself. During that time, he learned firsthand about the advantages of metal as a boatbuilding material, as well as the problems many amateur builders encounter. Since launching his boat, he has cruised more than 11,000 miles in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

Review

A concise guide to building or buying aluminum and steel craft. Scott dispassionately explains how to compensate for the metal's liabilities while taking advantage of its notable assets. Scott takes the reader logically from the basics about material qualities and how to prevent problems like electrolysis, through the entire building process. He deciphers some drawings and goes step-by-step through building the hull, installing machinery, insulation interior, then provides sources for designs and designers. (Cruising World)

It is a very useful little book to anyone involved in building or buying a metal boat or even for anyone who currently owns a metal boat and may be thinking of making improvements to it. The book provides a simple and very useful guide to the subject. It is well illustrated and covers almost every imaginable aspect of metal boats. (Fishing Boat World)

Steel or aluminum will give you many advantages over other boatbuilding materials, writes Ken Scott, who built his own steel boat 10 years ago and lived happily ever after. Why? No delamination of fiberglass; no gelcoat bubbles; stanchions and other fittings welded right to the hull without need for drilled holes and bedding compound; cheaper hull construction compared with custom fiberglass; more forgiving if you go aground or hit a ledge. If you ever wanted to know more about metal-boat construction, this is the book. Not a technical manual, but an overview, it is a guide to the plusses and minuses of metal boats, design considerations, steel and aluminum types, dealing with corrosion, welding methods, things to consider when having a metal hull custom built, joinerwork, installing engines and associated gear, and more. The explanations are simple and clear, with enough technical information to help you decide if this is a construction material you would be comfortable with, but not so much that the forest is missed for all the trees. In other words, this book is for those who want to know why they should consider metal boats, or why not, and how they should go about obtaining one home built, custom built, or a combination of the two if they decide that is what they want. Best of all are the excellent photographs of metal yachts under construction and a special section containing yacht designs, sail and power. (International Marine)

Edition details

• Publisher: Sheridan House
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1574090828
• ISBN 13: 9781574090826
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 216