Building Small Boats
'Building Small Boats' by Roessel is an excellent overview and essential reference for anyone interested in the tools, materials and techniques of building traditional small watercraft. There is plenty of practical advice and great descriptions here to get started. Other books on specific topics such as adhesives and lofting may be desired for additional detail but this one would be the first I would pick up. Consider this book the foundation of a small library on traditional boatbuilding. Excellent investment.

I bought this book in the hopes of learning how to loft a boat I want to build. Unfortunately, the author wrote the book for people who already have a broad knowledge of boat building and its terms. The author uses terms that he nether defines nor provides in his glossary. It was very disappointing and I found several other books more useful and less expensive.

This is the "must have" guide for all builders of small wooden boats.Tools,materials,plans and construction techniques- all are covered in an easy to read style.There is value for the novice and professional alike.A terrific book!

This is, quite simply, the most useable and useful book for small boat building which is out there. A legendary teacher at the WoodenBoat School, Greg Rossel uses his years of experience to take the reader through the whole process of constructing a wooden boat. The chapter on lofting alone is worth the price of the whole book. One might consider Chapelle's "Boatbuilding" to be Old Testament: accurate, certainly, but with many references which today the reader would find archaic. Rossel, however, is decidedly New Testament. He is a cheerful, witty, and knowlegeable companion who takes you from selecting a set of plans to finishing the brightwork. Highly recommended.

Gordon H.Hafner

This is, quite simply, the most useable and useful book for small boat building which is out there. A legendary teacher at the WoodenBoat School, Greg Rossel uses his years of experience to take the reader through the whole process of constructing a wooden boat. The chapter on lofting alone is worth the price of the whole book. One might consider Chapelle's "Boatbuilding" to be Old Testament: accurate, certainly, but with many references which today the reader would find archaic. Rossel, however, is decidedly New Testament. He is a cheerful, witty, and knowlegeable companion who takes you from selecting a set of plans to finishing the brightwork. Highly recommended.

Gordon H.Hafner

This book has everything a person needs to build a small wooden boat from plans or kit. After building several small boats, and consulting other boatbuilding books, I always come back to this book for answers and techniques. Finally, I think Mr Rossel does the best job at explaining the process of spiling to obtain plank shape. Great book!

This book has everything a person needs to build a small wooden boat from plans or kit. After building several small boats, and consulting other boatbuilding books, I always come back to this book for answers and techniques. Finally, I think Mr Rossel does the best job at explaining the process of spiling to obtain plank shape. Great book!

The book was selected because the search indicated it would provide information about building a curragh (or currach). For that purpose it was useless. Also, one needs to know a good bit about boat building before benefiting from this book.