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| The Complete Guide to Choosing a Cruising Sailboat | 
 enlarge | Author: Roger Marshall
Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.20
You Save: $11.75 (45%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 468750
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 214
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 7.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0070419981
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.822
EAN: 9780070419988
ASIN: 0070419981
Publication Date: April 30, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Do you hear the siren song of the sea? Prepare for your dream voyage--by finding your perfect sailboat. It's not as hard as you think . . . when you have a master naval architect at your side. In this one-of-a-kind book, leading boat designer Roger Marshall walks you through the process of choosing the perfect boat for your sailing lifestyle. Along the way, you will acquire a deep understanding of the many factors that go into a boat's performance, comfort, and seaworthiness, and learn how to choose among them to meet your requirements and preferences. Marshall takes you step-by-step as he conceives and develops five prototype sailboats with widely varying design objectives: a Weekender, a Cruiser, a Voyager, a Single-Hander, and a Cruiser/Racer. The 200 illustrations "take you aboard," showing you clearly how the choices and compromises of boat design are made and what they mean to performance. You'll learn about the features that make for a good cruising sailboat, from the basic choices (inshore or offshore), weekend or long-term cruising, occasional racing or nonracing) all the way to the finer points of hull shape and sail plan. And you'll gain a solid understanding of your sailboat-to-be: what it will do . . . what it won't do . . . and why. Seakindliness, performance, handling characteristics of different rigs, comfort on passages or weekends--it's all here, in clear language. Beyond the basics, you will learn how to judge any sailboat, new or used, including - How to pick the best keel shape for your sailing area
- What the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of comfort are
- What makes a cockpit pleasant and functional
- When a pilothouse makes sense, and when it doesn't
- How to estimate the total cost of buying a boat (not the cost the salesperson gives you)
- Why some boats sail better under almost all conditions than other boats, and why that may not be important
Plus, you'll learn how to determine in advance how much blood, toil, tears, and sweat your dream boat will cost you in maintenance (so small thing). Best of all, you'll find Marshall's 12-page comparison table of production sailboats from all over the world, packed with information about 130 boats--length, beam, draft, displacement, ballast, sail area, fuel and water capacities, performance ratios, capsize and comfort ratios, and more, all tabulated for convenient and revealing comparisons. With this book's help, you will board your own "ideal" vessel, satisfied that you're familiar with your boat from the masthead down and certain that it will bring you years of sailing pleasure.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Or how to BUILD a Cruising Sailboat? January 19, 2005
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
I eagerly added this book to my wish list based on it's title and found that what was inside the book was less about selecting your ideal cruising sailboat than it was about selecting a custom design, or perhaps directing the construction of your custom dream boat.
Those who have owned sailboats in the past would be less likely to choose this book than people like me, just getting started and looking for some informed help. Unfortunately, those needing this help most - people with the least experience - will be the ones least helped by it.
What was missing from this book (in my humble opinion) is a review of existing cruising sailboats, blurbs written by people who own and sail them, pros and cons about their design, sailing characteristics, and recommended modifications to make them fit various sailor's needs.
In all fairmess, I did learn about hull shapes and the like, but there was no "joining" of hull design factors to existing boats that possess these designs, making all the technical information in the book rather useless.
I'm sure many very experienced sailors will find this book fascinating and perhaps even incorporate some of the author's ideas into designs for their custom boats. Unfortunately, for the sailor looking to choose a cruising sailboat, this book falls short and is a dissapointment.
A good book about sailboat design September 20, 2004
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I was looking for a book that would help me select a cruising sailboat, as the title suggested. This is really a book about sailboat design and design features that must be considered for different types of cruising. The book was very interesting in terms of boat design, as it lays out the "design thinking" and use-specific features in the design of five different boat types. Because we already know exactly what sort of cruising we intend to do, this book didn't get us very much further down the "choosing a boat" path. It is, however, useful in terms of helping evaluate used boats and their design features based on the important features of his "model" designs. This book will educate, but won't necessarily help you choose from the wide range of used boats that are out there. The Used Boat Guide "from the pages of Sailing Magazine" is an excellent choice if that's the sort of help you're looking for. I give it three stars only because the title is a bit misleading - a better title might be "Choosing the Right Cruising Sailboat DESIGN".
Choosing a Cruising Sailboat??? September 13, 2003
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
My review is simply that this book was mis-titled. It should have read Designing a Cruising Sailboat not Choosing. It speaks less of real boats and more about 4-5 mythical boats of which the author walks you through the design process of. If you've got lots of cash and want to see your custom design come to life this book may be for you. The author even goes so far as to say that proper boat maintenance starts when you visit your boat builder while your boat is being built and blah blah...at this point I considered the book a loss.
 Missed the boat... Or at least a chunk of it! December 5, 2002
52 out of 55 found this review helpful
I eagerly dove into this book when it arrived, but... While Roger Marshall's book has some good general information about choosing a cruising sailboat, even that information is better addressed in Nigel Calder's "Cruising Handbook," or for serious interest in offshore cruising, John Vigor's "The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat." Marshall's book will be a dissapointing read for anyone that aspires to acquire a cruising sailboat with reasonable offshore capabilities at a cost that's affordable. Of course if you're wealthy, you don't need this book either, just hire Roger to design the perfect sailboat for you.Marshall develops concept boats for five categories. The first boat is a "Weekender" of 20 to 26 feet with "sail in the bay" kinds of systems. The second category is the "Cruiser" that is 34 to 36 feet long that doesn't range beyond 30 miles from the coast. The third boat Marshall talks about is the"Voyager" that's a very comfortable 45 to 47 feet long (Are we beginning to sense the missing bits?). Then we encounter the "Single Hander," a 45 to 50 foot boat that seems specifially designed for the Around Alone racing crowd. And finally, the "Racer/Cruiser" with a design of 32 to 36 feet and seems to be a reasonable assessment of the kind of boat that will be appreciated by those that want to race with the yacht club and still enjoy some coastal journeys. The missing chunk relates to blue water cruising or offshore sailboats of less that 45 feet. It's a disappointing omission. Especially if you consider that the average size of a sailboat that cruises away from the coast is getting larger, but only from about the 35 or 36 feet range to about 38 or 39 feet. If you are looking for a cruising sailboat that has offshore and passage capabilities and can't afford the 45' or larger "Voyager" category, you'll have to do a lot of interpolating between Marshall's design categories to glean the knowledge you're hoping to find.
 A rock solid guide for the deliberate sailor October 20, 2001
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
Naval architect Roger Marshall provides a substantive guide for the cruising sailor who chooses his boats based on their suitability to his purposes. In plain language and with clear supporting diagrams, Marshall explains the fundamental principles of seaworthiness, the elements of good design, and the ever challenging balancing act between speed, comfort and cost. I disagree with the reviews that say this book is only for cruising sailors with a large budget. I think this book is for sailors of any budget who take sailing seriously and who want to own boats that fit their exact needs. Considering how many boats are left to sit idle by their owners, it makes sense to realistically think though how one intends to use their boat and just what features are worth paying for. Frankly, most sailors will find they do not need the boat to end all boats if they only intend to putter close to shore on sunny weekends. At the same time, considering there is always the potential for a sailor to face the elements at their harshest, and considering some cruisers will want to push the envelope to its fullest, it makes sense to understand what exactly makes a sound, seaworthy boat and a worthwhile investment. I found that Marshall covers all these bases and more and I heartily recommend this book to readers.
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