A builder and designer for more than 55 years, Robert Steward has rare abilities as a writer and draftsman. His phrasing is clear and easy, and he writes the absolute minimum necessary for a complete understanding of the subject.

This fourth edition, like its predecessors, emphasizes traditional wooden construction but also surveys plywood, wood-epoxy, fiberglass, steel, aluminum, and other boatbuilding methods. The chapters on interpreting plans, lofting, and moldmaking are common to all methods. New to this edition are several chapters arising from the "Miscellaneous Details" chapter of earlier editions; an appendix on sharpening tools; expanded tables of metric equivalents; an expanded and annotated source guide for plans, fasteners, hardware, wood, and other staples of boatbuilding; and a list of additional reading.

Praise for Boatbuilding Manual:

". . . the best building manual for wooden boats there is--clear, concise but inclusive, and written so the inexperienced boatbuilder can read it."--John Gardner, Mystic Seaport Museum

"I first got acquainted with the Boatbuilding Manual in the early 1970s when Murray Peterson, the yacht designer, gave me a copy saying, 'Read this. It's the best book on small-boat building I've ever seen.' I had to agree and it's still true. Steward's book is in a class of its own. It's the book I always recommend for boatbuilding classes, and we've used it to fine advantage at the local high school."--Sonny Hodgdon, Hodgdon Yachts, Inc., East Boothbay, Maine