Ebook How Boat Things Work An Illustrated Guide Charlie Wing 8601406096233 Books

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Product details Paperback 176 pages Publisher International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (June 4, 2007) Language English ISBN-10 9780071493444 ISBN-13 978-0071493444 ASIN 0071493441

How Boat Things Work An Illustrated Guide Charlie Wing 8601406096233 Books Reviews

• I got this book as a companion to the book titled Know Your Boat by David Kroenke. This book spends less time than Know Your Boat explaining the "whys" of various boat systems but truly excels at showing you the "hows" by way of exploded diagrams. If you need to take something apart (and successfully put it back together), this book shows you all of the parts and how they interact. The only thing that would make this book better is a spiral binding so that you can lay it open while working on something.
• Great illustrations. Loaded with general information but nothing specific. For that reason, I do not find the book useful. I definitely would not buy it again.
  This book has a purpose but only for identification, not for solving problems or servicing equipment. In no way, can anyone troubleshoot with this book.
• Finally, publishers are formatting correctly for the ! This book is laden with acres of clear technical drawings of engines, toilets, water-makers and whatnot. In the version, the drawings all enlarge wonderfully. Further, the table of contents works.
  
  This is not really a reading-book, but is more of a reference. A discussion of membrane pumps is pretty darn dry, unless you suddenly need to know how to open the fool thing and fix it. Then, this book is just what you need. The author tells you he is discussing a certain model of pump or engine, but chances are yours is at least somewhat simular.
  
  I found the discussion of waste-water plumbing to quite useful. As I eyeball boats, I now have a clearer idea of what I am looking at. This book is more suitable for a boat-owner than a boat-shopper like me, nevertheless I found it worth my time.
  
  I cannot imagine not having a copy of this book on board.
• I may have reviewed this before -- but it is worth repeating how excellent this book is for the beginning sailor. This book may not be great for powerboater with a gas engine, either inboard or out board, but it is perfect for sailors with diesel engines. The way it describes the common systems found on a cruising sailboat is at the perfect depth -- enough to know how they work and why, and then how to research or discuss them intelligently when there is a problem. We like to give this to all of our students at our ASA Sailing School, Emerald Coast Yachts, ECSailing in Pensacola Beach Florida.
• Charlie Wing has done a little bit of public service with "How Boat Things Work An Illustrated Guide", although McGraw-Hill has done a disservice to their fine illustration department by not crediting their work by name. Books of this sort which are extensively photo-illustrated often make things harder to see and understand because of the issues involved with lighting small bits in enclosed spaces and/or scale issues. Clear-line illustration of this sort suffers from none of these drawbacks.
  
  Captain Wing--whose name is familiar to those of you nautically-minded as author of "Get Your Captain's License" and "The Boatowner's Illustrated Electrical Handbook"--reviews boat systems that you'd likely see aboard your 32'-class cruiser. Wing's no stranger to learning in extremis, either--indeed, as he makes clear, he began his journey as the systems aboard his own cruiser successively packed it in over the course of a season.
  
  Section I deals with propulsion, and his overview of the various folding/feathering props should disabuse you of the notion that installing these aboard your boat would be a good idea. (That's not what he says, it's what I inferred. Seriously, the diagrams alone are frightening. Why would you hang your boat's propulsion upon something that has that many teeny pieces and moves about?) At any rate, it's a good overview of propulsion. He uses the Yanmar 2GM as his example, and includes some sage advice--such as installing a larger primary fuel filter.
  
  Section 2 covers steering. I like wheels, but he doesn't cover tiller systems. He also explains servopendulum autopilots.
  
  Section 3 covers standing rigging, swageless fittings and tuning your rig. It's a brief chapter that's at best a big-picture overview.
  
  Section 4 is called "Line Handling", which is pretty ambitious--it includes basic deck skills like coiling down lines properly to making them off through knots, block and tackles and the set up of your running rigging. My nit to pick here is that Captain Wing doesn't review the fundamentals of reeving multi-part blocks. How many times has someone unreeved crucial blocks, such as at the mainsheet, and left you wondering how to get it reeved properly? His coverage of reeving to advantage and disadvantage is too short and too sparsely illustrated. This is a particularly salty skill and probably would have added fewer than 2 full pages to the text.
  
  Section 5 covers ground tackle--this is what sailors usually call the frayed mess of crap that they've shoved forward into the fo'c's'le. Ground tackle often merits little attention let alone discussion, which is a mistake. Regular practice with it will save your skin. I'd have liked Captain Wing's discussion of various moorings (in particular the Bahamian) to have earned a little more coverage, though. After all, as I tell my students, there's no such thing as a book called "101 Funny Anchoring Stories".
  
  Chapter 6 is the reason I bought this book. As the co-author of a book called "The 12-volt bible" you'd expect the Captain to spend some quality time on this subject. He does, and that's a good thing, since electrical systems are growing steadily larger and more complicated in small cruising boxes. I'd like to have seen an overview of basic tests that you would perform when tying up at dock--for example, how to use a multi-meter when checking for correct polarity.
  
  Chapter 7 is "plumbing", which offers a good overview of general marine plumbing systems. It is not, however, by any means a troubleshooting and repair guide.
  
  Captain Wing has done an excellent job of creating a high-level overview of major boat systems. It's an excellent companion for boat owners and those of you who bare-boat charter as a familiarization guide.
• Mr. Wing explains the what and why of boating operations. Explanation of the many things that are in the operation of a boat and the operating system that is contained within is GREAT
• Great product! as described, great shipping speed. I will shop from this seller again for sure!
• Book it okay but it really is for sail boats. Unfortunately there was not a way to tell that when I bought it. Not what I wanted but not much choice to send back.