Ultralight Boatbuilding

This book is well illustrated but is not as easy to understand as others I've read. It could be that when I read it I had a cold and my concentration was distracted. It has plenty of pics tho. He modifies tools to make these boats and learning these techniques is worth buying the book.

Covers many of the same material as Iain Oughtred's "Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual" and Paul Fisher's "Manual of Clinker Plywood Boat Construction". Hill provides good details on planking and on developing the transom when lofting. The strength of the book is in the use of ribbands for spiling and beveling the strakes. Also good on cutting gains. Of the three books, Oughtred's was the most helpful. I am a novice at boatbuilding but somewhat accomplished at general cabinetry woodworking.

Very practical mentoring from someone who has built up great expertise by building lots of boats, with great observation and care about what works the best. Particularly liked his comments on why a clinker-built ply hull is so good structurally (as well as looking gorgeous). And no, I didn't expect to be hand-fed on who are the best people to buy materials from in 2014. Probably wouldn't help much in Australia anyway.

This book is not just good; it's an important text by a renowned designer. You need it (and others). That said, the text sorely needs editing. Not only is the style based on a liberal use of sentence fragments, even the proof reading was amateurish. Still, the author's distinctive voice is compelling and the information invaluable.

Nice book but no plans included

Excellent book, however assumes reader has a certain skill set regarding planes and beveling that remains a mystery to most amateurs myself included.

I enjoyed the author's approach and the clarity and precision of his writing. This book describes a specific method, and does it very well.

This book dates from 1987 when it may have been groundbreaking. It has not been revised since and needs to be. The opinions, materials and sources need to be updated for this book to be of current value. Ian Oughtred’s Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual was also first published in 1988 but was revised and reissued in 2004. It is the better book by far.

This book is a very clear account of building small craft from thin high quality plywood using glued lapstrake construction. The details on the tools and techniques used by the author are quite specific and it stands well ahead of many earlier descriptions of similar techniques.The new copies offered by Amazon are a facsimile reprint with fuzzy characters and poor picture quality. The original publisher's edition was more of a pleasure to read and own but this reprint is useful and well priced but the description on Amazon should highlight that it is a facsimile reprint with the shortcomings of that process.

Hill takes a no-nonsense approach in both his boat building and book writing - this book is squarely aimed at getting you off the sofa and into the workshop with a minimum of fuss.While relatively short at 111 pages (excl. appendices) the book is very much to the point and gives an excellent overview of the whole glued plywood lapstrake boat building process; from equipping your workshop to lofting the lines, building a jig, scarfing plywood and then the various stages of building the boat and planking it. There's even a short chapter on finishing!All you need to start building your first wooden boat is this book, an empty single-car garage, some basic hand tools, a set of construction plans for your boat and the contact details of a marine plywood supplier!

Great book.

A very interesting and informative book. A pleasure to read.

This is an interesting book about clinker/ lapstrake plywood boatbuilding but it is not about ultralight boatbuilding! Still worth reading but buy Ian Oughtred's book as well.