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Here's a great collection of books for sale available through CruiseMasters' The Captain's Bookcase in association with Amazon.com.
Space aboard a boat is always limited, so The Captain's Bookcase carries only those books we feel are essential, 'best in their class', or simply our favorites.
To purchase a book, or to find more information on your choice, simply click on the title and you'll be linked to Amazon.com's online catalog. Amazon.com provides excellent customer service and a wide range of shipping options and methods of payment.
Bookshelf Categories:
General Boathandling |
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Chapman
Piloting: Seamanship and Small Boat Handling, by Elbert S.
Maloney. 63rd Edition. This book teaches you the basics, and beyond, on every nautical subject you can think of. It is used as a reference for other nautical books. Fully ilustrated with pictures, diagrams, and drawings. Many people think of this book as the bible of boating. Safety, rules of navigation, docking, and navigation are thoroughly covered. Although you won't find specifics as to electrical or other specialized subjects, it does give you the basics, and priciples behind them. |
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Getting
Started in Powerboating by Bob Armstrong. The author's lifetime of small boat experience lends to his discussion of the basics of powerboating for beginners. This guide covers all powerboats-big and small, fast and slow, single engine, twin engines, outboard motors, and sterndrives. It points the boat shopper to the best boat for his or her needs and describes how to handle that boat. Armstrong explains how to dock and undock any boat, handle docklines, execute close-quarters maneuvers, anchor, run inlets, adjust trim for a better ride, and cope with rough weather. He offers hints for judging the quality of a boat and presents a gallery of good boats from each of the many types available. |
Mechanical and Electrical |
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Boatowner's
Mechanical and Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve
Your Boat's Essential Systems, by Nigel Calder. "Probably the best technical reference and trouble shooting book in the world" (Yachting Monthly). A real Fix-It-Yourself manual. Covers both power and sail boats on everything that has bolts, screws, moving parts, wires or grease, and can break. Does not cover marine gas engines, though, but excellent on diesels. |
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Marine
Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair by Nigel
Calder. Complete guide to understanding, maintaining, repairing, and overhauling marine diesel engines and small single-cylinder sailboat engines. "This is one of the best-illustrated engine books ever, Calder explains basic concepts in a thoroughly enjoyable way" (Ocean Navigator). "If the reader faithfully follows the author's maintenance procedures, he may well find that he need never call upon the services of a diesel mechanic, and that alone makes this book well worth the price" (Sailing). "This is one of the best-illustrated engine books ever, Calder explains basic concepts in a thoroughly enjoyable way" (Ocean Navigator). |
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Refrigeration
for Pleasure Boats: Installation, Maintenance and Repair,by Nigel
Calder and Stephen F. Pollard. Covers in detail, component by component, everything a boat owner needs to know for refrigeration self-sufficiency. A solid introduction to refrigeration cycles and variables is followed by an excellent chapter on building, modifying, and insulating the icebox, which must be highly efficient if the system is to work well. All system types are introduced and examined-engine-driven, 12-volt, AC-powered, etc.-and later chapters describe the care, troubleshooting, and overhaul of each component, including the compressor, the condenser, the receiver/filter/dryer, the expansion valve, etc. Calder even gives instructions for building a better holding plate. |
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The
12-Volt Bible for Boats, by Miner K. Brotherton. This is a primer on 12-volt electrical systems for boatowners who are not skilled electricians. It explains how 12-volt DC electrical systems work, how to maintain them in good condition, how to recognize when you have an electrical problem, how to troubleshoot, and what simple tools and techniques are needed. "A gentle journey through the complexities of electrical circuitry..." (Small Boat Journal). "It's the best value and has stood the test of time." (Offshore). |
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The
Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible, by John C. Payne. A concise, useful, and thoroughly practical guide explaining in detail how to select, install, maintain, and troubleshoot all electrical and electronic systems on a boat. Includes information on alternative energy systems, lightening and corrosian protection,refrigeration, water systems, radar, autopilots, position fixing systems,desalinators, computers, weatherfax, entertainment systems. |
Woodwork and Appearance |
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Brightwork:
The Art of Finishing Wood, by Rebecca J. Whittman. Few things transform a boat into a yacht quite as gracefully as the incomparable look and texture of oiled, varnished, and bare wood surfaces.There's no mystery to brightwork, but it's a finickly and time-consuming process. Drawing on over 10 years' experience, the author provides all the information you need to make your boat look elegant. |
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Boat
Cosmetics Made Simple: How to Improve and Maintain a Boat's
Appearance, by Sherri Board, James A. Ayers Still the only boat maintenance book which devotes itself solely to the cosmetic aspects of maintaining and beautifying a boat's appearance, this user-friendly guide is indispensable for every boat owner and boat maintenance professional. Includes information on environmentally safe cleaning products, detail, varnish, running and standard rigging, understanding bottom maintenance and electrolysis, and more. Illustrations. |
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Boat
Joinery and Cabinet Making Simplified, by Fred P. Bingham. This book is about building things with wood-from a new cup rack to a completely new interior, providing simple explanations for complex problems can transform a rank beginner who has never held a hammer into a journeyman boat carpenter, and a journeyman carpenter into a true craftsman. Today's cookie-cutter production boats, are cursed with a dull and impersonal sameness. This book can teach you how to visualize what you want it to be-and how to build it yourself. "The woodworking is discussed in such detail that just about anyone, including longtime professionals, is likely to find many useful tricks of the trade. Much more of this and pros will be a dime a dozen"(The Last Whole Earth Catalog). |
Enjoyable Reads |
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Island Time, by Hilary Stewart. When popular writer/illustrator of Pacific Northwest Native cultures Hilary Stewart retired, she fulfilled a dream by moving to a small island. Here Stewart gives us a peek into how life is lived on island time, based on natural rhythms--the vagaries of tide, weather, wildlife, and her fellow islanders--and her respect for all things bright and beautiful in the world around her. 150 pen-and-ink drawings. |
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to Juneau : A Sea and Its..., By Jonathan Raban. A journey from Seattle to Juneau becomes a vehicle for history and heart-stopping descriptions. More than just a personal travelogue,Passage to Juneau deftly weaves in the stories of others--from Indians whom white men formerly greeted with baubles set afloat on logs, to Captain Vancouver, who risked mutiny on his ship when he banned visits with prostitutes, some of whom offered their services for bits of scrap metal. Pressed into every page are intimate descriptions of life at sea. |
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Curve of Time, by Muriel Wylie Blanchet. Features stories from the summer adventures of M. Wylie Blanchet and her family. This accomplished sea woman and her five children braved the gulfs, straits, and fjords that separate Vancouver Island from mainland British Columbia, Canada, during the 1920s and 1930s on their 25-foot cruiser, Caprice. From searching for the elusive sea horse to following Orca whales through rapids created by swiftly changing tides, Blanchet describes a time so recent, and yet so very far away. This book is playful and exciting, a trip that unites the reader with a family of adventurers that is one of a kind. |
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There's always room in The Captain's Bookcase for more books, and your suggestions are most welcome. Simply click here and use the Comments Form to give us the title and author, and, if you'd like, why you're suggesting the book.
You can also use Amazon.com's powerful search engine to find any item you want.
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