Robert Steward - Boatbuilding Manual

Boatbuilding
Manual

The Beach Pea, a lapstrake-plywood boat. (Doug Hylan)

FIFTH EDITION

Robert M. Steward
with Carl Cramer

Copyright 1970, 1980, 1987, 1994, 2011 by International Marine/The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-174463-8
MHID: 0-07-174463-0

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INTERNATIONAL MARINE PUBLISHED the first edition of Bob stewards seminal Boatbuilding Manual in 1970. At that time, I was an avid reader of anything to do with boats, especially yacht design. skene, Chapelle, L. Francis herreshoff, The Rudder, and Yachting were my primary sources of inspiration, until that first edition of the Boatbuilding Manual appeared.

International Marine and Bob steward continued this proud legacy through four editions, with the fourth edition being published in 1994. More than 75,000 copies have been purchased to date, making it the most popular and invaluable contribution to boatbuilders to date. Sadly, Bob died in 1996.

The genesis for this particular edition came from a simple question I asked Jon Eaton, editor at International Marine, in 2009: Jon, will you have a new edition of Bob stewards book any time soon? Jon replied that there were no plans to, although there was a definite need for it. At some point in our conversation, I vaguely remember Jon asking if Id like to take on this task.

Ive never been particularly good at saying no when asked, and I did feel the update was and is past due.

I consider this contribution of Bobs to be boatbuilding 101110, and seldom have such golden words (his) about this topic been in print. Please view it in that perspective. Its not going to teach you everything you need to know about boatbuilding, but it will teach you all the rudiments, both historical andto a degreecurrent practices. Much is evolving right now. If you want to outfit a state-of-the-art, systems-heavy boat, you will need other, more-current sources. And evolution is what we must recognize, if not necessarily adopt for our own boats. That is our choice, and this is yours as well. More to the point, you just need to decide to do it. Roll up your sleeves and get to work. Build the boat of your dreams, and learn from and enjoy your accomplishments! And then build another, putting your experience to work for you. Now, you are a boatbuildercongratulations to you, and welcome to the family.

Bob, I hoist a glass to youfor all your knowledge, inspiration, and passion. Ive tried to keep your spirit intact wherever I can. And to my wife laura, for her forbearance throughout this ordeal of editing and updating. And to my extensive family: we devote major parts of our lives to boating, and to the enjoyment of what I consider an important endeavor. And, without fail, to my other family, Woodenboat Publications, Inc. for their tolerance of me. They havent caught me yet, even after 22-plus years of employment and fulfillment. (As Im fond of saying, Jon Wilson picked me up out of the gutter and gave me a career.) Its become much more than that, and I am eternally grateful.

Bob set me on the path that became my career, and I am so thankful for that. I suspect there are many others on whom he had the same effect. May Bob rest in peace, knowing that he has inspired so many of us. Thank you for all that youve done, now and in the future.

Lets just boat, and build boats. I hope to see you out there, using the boats we build from this tome. I will be, and I look forward to seeing you there.