Good books on repairing/restoring wooden sailboats?

Question

My father has been sailing all his life (I'm relatively new to it) and understands how to do it. We've been given and old boat by a friend to repair. The paneling is cracked on top and stuff, but its structurally very strong. I'd love to help out because it seems like a great proccess, but I would like to have more knowledge about it so i understand why we're doing what we're doing!

So. Any books?

Answer 1

The most important book will be your check book. Seriously though restoring a wooden sailboat is an act of love which you will enormously appreciate when finished.

This page of tips will help you get started. http://www.helium.com/tm/377271/sailing-wooden-appealing-usually

There are some companies that specialize in restoring wooden boats that may offer suggestions.
http://www.woodenboatsnj.com/30to40ft.html
http://www.woodwindyachts.com/sailbts.htm

Good Luck and Happy Sailing!!!

Answer 2

Just a conservative estimate of having a wooden boat build is about $10000 PER FOOT so 400k to 700k is about right. But WHY would you want a WOODEN BOAT? Just the maintenance alone will cost you a small fortune.. about $500 to $1000 per foot.. EVERY YEAR and I can almost guarantee you that YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO INSURE IT.. and without INSURANCE there are no MARINAS that will let you tie up in one of their slips. And, you can not take passengers for hire, so you can't even make money from it. Besides that.. BOATS ARE DIRT CHEAP right now.. YOU can but a USED boat for a fraction of it's value.. OH.. one more thing.. a 50 footer is NOT FOR BEGINNERS.. I used to do charters on an Irwin 54 and it was way too much boat for one person and NOT something someone with just a few hours of training and experience could handle. That 54 Irwin was well setup for single handing and I still needed a first mate and a deck hand to operate it because it was just so BIG.. That 50 foot wood boat would need about a 200 HP Diesel engine just to move it against the tide in any channel and the sails would be so big you would be working with WINCHES the size of GARBAGE CAN and when you are playing with huge winches and sheets that are under several thousand PSI under load.. YOU CAN GET HURT VERY QUICKLY because on boats that big, when things happen, they happen in a hurry and you can get cut in two before you hear the line snap. Back in my younger, wilder years I did a SORC season on big boats and it was a real education.. to this day, I don't care for sailing anything over about 40 feet