Doing regular maintenance and repairs not only makes your boat more reliable and enjoyable, we believe that doing it yourself gives you the experience to fix it when things go wrong. Every mariner should know how to keep their boat afloat and moving forward.
While we are proponents of ebooks for pleasure reading, we strongly recommend purchasing these books in hardcover form and storing them on your boat so they’re available when you need them most.
Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual
Six core volumes in a single, utterly dependable resource that answers every frequent question, explains every major system, and helps you keep your boat and its components shipshape.
Why it’s essential: You won’t find a more comprehensive resource that covers nearly every aspect of inspecting, troubleshooting, repairing, maintaining, and improving your boat.
Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual
If it’s on a boat and it has screws, wires, or moving parts, it’s covered in Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual. When you leave the dock with this indispensable resource aboard, you have at your fingertips the best and most comprehensive advice on all onboard systems.
Why it’s essential: If Don Casey’s manual is essential for maintaining the boat itself, then Nigel Calder’s manual covers everything else attached to the boat.
Marine Diesel Engines
The bible for do-it-yourself boat owners for more than 15 years has been updated with information on fuel injection systems, electronic engine controls, and other new diesel technologies, it has everything you need to keep your diesel engine running cleanly and efficiently.
Why it’s essential: Engines are intimidating to those that didn’t grow up tinkering with them. This book demystifies the iron sail and will pay for itself the first instant you open up the engine compartment.
The Complete Rigger's Apprentice
The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice, Second Edition offers today’s marine professionals a complete, up-to-date resource on today’s rigging best practices and traditions.
Why it’s essential: Rigging is the foundation for a sailboat’s primary propulsion system. While this is not the first subject a new sailor should learn, it’s essential to mastering the craft of sailing.
The Sailmakers Apprentice
Sail pro Emiliano Marino tells you how to select a rig, introduces you to sail shape and theory, and then shows you – step by step, with the help of over 700 detailed illustrations – how to sew patches, hand sew rings, fix tears or frayed edges, and stitch seams, not to mention how to make your own sails, canvas sailcovers, and sailbags from scratch.
Why it’s essential: You can’t sail without sails. Along with The Riggers Apprentice, this book belongs in the library of every veteran sailor.
Curated By
Brandon Keepers