Wooden Boats: In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard

Rating:
Summary: A finely crafted book
Review: "Wooden Boats" reminded me of similar extended narratives by Tracy Kidder (think of "House" or "Soul of a New Machine"). Quite well done, with a strong sense of a story being told.

Ruhlman comes to the topic with no experience in boat construction, or even boating for that matter, but gets to the heart of why some people become obsessed with these projects. (This is a book about wooden boats, but this kind of obsession is certainly not limited to nautical pastimes. Read Rebuilding the Indian for a similar story involving two wheels instead of a hull.)

Although the characters in this book spend an awful lot of time denigrating "plastic" boats, their enthusiasm for boat construction and traditional methods is hard to resist. What these throwback builders are creating are "plank on frame" craft, vessels sculpted out of traditional materials with every part unique and handmade, boats that will (according to their proponents and backed up by history) far outlive their builders.

As a sailor I found this book inspiring. Maybe someday.

Rating:
Summary: A finely crafted book
Review: "Wooden Boats" reminded me of similar extended narratives by Tracy Kidder (think of "House" or "Soul of a New Machine"). Quite well done, with a strong sense of a story being told.

Ruhlman comes to the topic with no experience in boat construction, or even boating for that matter, but gets to the heart of why some people become obsessed with these projects. (This is a book about wooden boats, but this kind of obsession is certainly not limited to nautical pastimes. Read Rebuilding the Indian for a similar story involving two wheels instead of a hull.)

Although the characters in this book spend an awful lot of time denigrating "plastic" boats, their enthusiasm for boat construction and traditional methods is hard to resist. What these throwback builders are creating are "plank on frame" craft, vessels sculpted out of traditional materials with every part unique and handmade, boats that will (according to their proponents and backed up by history) far outlive their builders.

As a sailor I found this book inspiring. Maybe someday.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: A nonfiction work, this reads like a well-padded magazine article written by someone who doesn't seem terribly interested in his subject matter. This of course makes you wonder why he bothered to write this book. (apparently in the past he's written mostly about famous chefs!) The book has its moments (few and far-between), but the author gets carried away with the research, giving you all the technical minutiae of boat construction--way more than you need, which will put most readers to sleep, even if they're boatbuilding enthusiasts. The real focus of the book (the lives of the men who build these boats) gets utterly lost in a morass of boring details. All in all, very unenlightening.

Rating:
Summary: Wooden Boats
Review: As a wooden boat enthusiast and long time woodworker, I read Michael Ruhlman's book with enthusiasm. I found it to be a wonderful piece of work that portrays woodworking, and boat building in particular, as dying arts that are not art for arts sake, but an art with an end result in mind. The boatyard in question is the Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway of Martha's Vineyard. This yard has been doing excellent work for quite some time and has aided in the renaissance of wooden boats that has largely been inspired by WoodenBoat magazine. Mr. Ruhlman does an excellent job of portraying the daily life of a boatyard, as well as a thorough history of G&B. The main thrust of the book however, is the now unconvential perspective that G&B has on their work and the world, which is to build something beautiful that will last for generations, and is ultimately perfectly suited for its task. In the end, I found myself wanting to quit my job and hire on with G&B. I'm still not sure I won't do that.

Rating:
Summary: Honestly
Review: I have not had the opportunity to read this book yet, so I will hold of reviewing its merits, or lack thereof, until I do. I have had the pleasure of living on Marthas Vineyard for almost thirteen years however. I never had the chance to work at the boatyard (my jones for wooden boats wasn't as well advanced as it is now) but I did happen to work a landscaping gig where Ross was hired as the carpenter to expand a shed on the property. Instead of demolishing the shed (and like most vineyard projects for off islanders, money wasn't an object) he sawed off the gable end, stretched the shed/garage, and reused the original structure to finish the project. Perfect, elegant carpentry that could only come from a master shipwright. I will read, and then review, this book soon. Until then, I can only recommend the subjects, who have kept one of the countrys best wooden boat harbors alive with a passion for traditional craftsmanship that is genuine and earnest. Plus, you can always park your car there for a few hours if you have to run to Falmouth to go to the dentist. In all seriousness, though, the yards commitment to plank on frame, wooden construction, including an affiliation with a source for hard to find materials, is insipiring and comforting. I might not be able to afford them, but I am glad they are doing what they do.

Rating:
Summary: Honestly
Review: I have not had the opportunity to read this book yet, so I will hold of reviewing its merits, or lack thereof, until I do. I have had the pleasure of living on Marthas Vineyard for almost thirteen years however. I never had the chance to work at the boatyard (my jones for wooden boats wasn't as well advanced as it is now) but I did happen to work a landscaping gig where Ross was hired as the carpenter to expand a shed on the property. Instead of demolishing the shed (and like most vineyard projects for off islanders, money wasn't an object) he sawed off the gable end, stretched the shed/garage, and reused the original structure to finish the project. Perfect, elegant carpentry that could only come from a master shipwright. I will read, and then review, this book soon. Until then, I can only recommend the subjects, who have kept one of the countrys best wooden boat harbors alive with a passion for traditional craftsmanship that is genuine and earnest. Plus, you can always park your car there for a few hours if you have to run to Falmouth to go to the dentist. In all seriousness, though, the yards commitment to plank on frame, wooden construction, including an affiliation with a source for hard to find materials, is insipiring and comforting. I might not be able to afford them, but I am glad they are doing what they do.

Rating:
Summary: Wooden Boats
Review: If you have a fondness for wooden craft, you'll find the book interesting, readable and generally enjoyable. From an editorial point-of-view, it's a little uneven. Partly a technical book, it suffers from the author's complete lack of prior background in his subject, resulting in too much concentation on fundamentals. But in places the book soars with a romance I did not expect from someone not "boatstruck." Perhaps this is born of the author's obvious respect, and I suspect, admiration for the men who build them. It's a good read, and one I'll hang onto in my library.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Boats
Review: This book documents the building of two wooden yachts in a boat shop in Martha's Vineyard.

At the beginning of the book, the author takes care to inform his readers that he is not a sailor, not a boat-lover, and in no way "boat struck". Yet he manages to convey the stately, majestic grace that a classic wooden sailboat alone can possess. I can only wonder if, after finishing writing, he has caught the bug.

The owners and most of the workers at the yard are exceptional sailors. They learned their skills "haphazardly" (and I mean no negative implication) while adventuring around the globe. Their skills at boat construction were also learned during their adventures, when repairs were needed. These things were learned as required. They are indeed "Ancient Mariners".

The author contrasts these blue-collared 'salts' with the yachties, those fortunate enough to afford the quarter-million dollar boats they make. And he documents the distrust and suspicion between the two groups: those rich enough to pay, those talented enough to build.

I thought this was an excellent book. My one complaint, and the reason I withheld a star, is that there was too much detail regarding various aspects of wood construction. Of course, some of this information is important, otherwise the reader would have no idea of the skill required, the costs involved, etc. However, I think there was too many little details, and this distracts from the "greater" story. Perhaps the author was torn between providing a book for a general audience or one for those with prior knowledge of boat building.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: This reads like an overly-long magazine article--it's greatly padded. The true focus of this book (the story of the lives of the men who build these boats) is often muddled, and displaced by excessive details on boat building techniques. Such minutiae serves to distract the reader. There is a book here somewhere, but the author hasn't quite found it yet. On the plus side, the writing style can be engaging at times.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book, tremendous story, wonderful read
Review: Wooden Boats: In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard was the best 2001 Christmas present I could have hoped for. It was read it with delight, enthusiasm and enjoyment and then immediately given away to the owner of the riverside wooden boat yard in Maine that shares in caring for my wooden boat. Then the same HARDCOVER copy was ordered for a friend who also owns a wooden boat. He too loved Ruhlman's writing. Then I ordered my self a new copy! Cheers for Ruhlman's outsider curiosity and courage to peer into, get dusty and dirty and come away intoxicated with the pine pitch, paint and varnish and cotton, sisal, hemp, red lead and hand and power tool; the appropriate technology we wooden boat owners love. When (not if) you buy this book, you will, I believe, agree that wooden boats are (mostly) crafted not just built, sailed (power too) not just driven and amazingly and appropriately simple not simplistic.