There are two non-boaty books I think everyone engaged in sailing/cruising should read… Especially for those considering jumping into the craziness that is VolksCruising. One “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” you already know about. The other one is “Just Ride”… It’s sorta/kinda about bikes and bike riding but to be truthful it’s more about …
Another book that’s not about sailing but all about sailing… Read More »
Just maybe, the most influential book I’ve read relating to boats, boatbuilding, and cruising is not a book about boats or sailing at all… John Muir was a smart guy, a man who understood the importance of breaking things down to basic elements, and someone who never let someone else telling him something was simply …
Just about everything we do on boats is pretty simple so, every once in awhile, I find myself marveling at how difficult people make it or think it all is. It truly does boggle the mind… It’s not like the information is not readily available either. Most everything you need is either on the web …
The other day while I was shopping for groceries, a much talked about and often recommended book came to mind… The reason for such an event was my standing in front of the cabbages looking at the $1.19 a pound price. Seriously, $1.19 a pound for cabbage is frelling nuts! Hence my thoughts of “Sailing …
Jim Michalak is a designer who took Phil Bolger’s “Instant Boats” to heart and for years has been churning out various designs in the genre. Lots have been built and those using them have been happy. He’s also written a book “Boatbuilding for Beginners” on building boats of the mainly “Instant” variety which would be …
The current issue of WoodenBoat has a really good article about using galvanized wire for rigging… I mention this because I just spent a kiss over $50 each for four new 1/2″ stainless turnbuckles which, while cheap for stainless, it did not escape my notice that galvanized turnbuckles were a whole lot cheaper. Which underlines …
What do you actually need from a cruising boat? It’s a hard question. Mostly because it varies greatly from person to person and further complicated by the fact that most folks these days never really learned the difference between need and want… Personally, where I’m concerned, comfort is a big part of the equation and …
Anyone considering doing the whole VolksCruiser gig really needs to bookmark Atom Voyages and read it on a regular basis. Really. I’ve lost track of the number of clever and (dare I say it?) cunning ideas and projects I’ve found there that made all kinds of sense. Which, as you may have discovered, is something …
Here’s a simple boat. It’s a scow and it makes quite a bit of sense… Designed by Reuel Parker it’s a lot of bang for the buck and a very comfortable floating home… What’s not to like? Everything is simple, it’s easily put together, and as boats go, is not going to break the bank …
Speaking of VolksCruisers in general, a reader recently pointed out a book and asked me for my opinion and it raised a bit of a question… What the hell exactly does affordable actually mean? “Twenty Affordable Sailboats to Take You Anywhere” by Gregg Nestor is not a bad book… Fact is, we seem to like …
