A Visual History The Building of Aslan

Books of Interest A listing of the books I've found useful, with links to reader reviews at Amazon.com Revised 10/07/00

The Gaff Rig Handbook, by John Leather.  This was suggested as the best resource out there on the gaff rig, and after a long wait while Amazon.com obtained this book from England, I can report that it is everything people say it is.  Great text, clear illustrations, and quite a bit of information not found elsewhere makes this my favorite of the books listed.  It is pricey, however, at about $32, and even Amazon.com doesn't offer discounts on it.  Others have told me that sometimes Amazon.com gives up on obtaining copies.  If you can't get it through Amazon.com, check to see if The Wooden Boat Store has a copy available.  I've included several of the illustrations on the Gaff Rig Page Detail Pages for your browsing pleasure.  A scan of the table of contents is here.  If you are serious about gaff rigs, this is the book to have.  If you can only afford one, this is the one.

Knowing the Ropes, by Roger C. Taylor, is a great resource for the essiential things you need to know about tying knots, anchor rodes, and even a bit on the gaff rig.  Chapter 15 includes information on attaching the gaff, mast hoops, bending and hoisting sail, trimming the main sail, amount of purchase required for your peak and throat halyards, and fitting a bridle to your gaff for the peak halyard.  Roger also gives some great information you don't see everywhere:  how to rig gaff vangs and preventer backstays for the gaff rig.  Good stuff.

Hand Reef and Steer, by Tom Cunliffe.  When looking for this book, make sure you note the author, and the subtitle, which should read "Traditional Sailing Skills for Classic Boats."  An out of print book with the same name is not gaff-rig specific. Click on the link to go to Amazon.com's entry for the correct Hand Reef and Steer.  I purchased this one from Amazon.com, and find it full of useful information.  At first glance, there seems to be a lot of historical information, but what Cunliffe has done is describe nearly every imaginable type of craft using a gaff rig.  Then, selecting the gaff cutter, he continues on to describe the rigging details of every aspect of that sail plan. Because the cutter has every rigging feature the other types  have, you immediately identify those rigging features you need to consider if you are planning on using a gaff rig.  This deals with the gaff rig exclusively, and contains many details not found in Knowing the Ropes.  Cunliffe also includes sail trimming and sailing tips, with a dose of humor.

The Rigger's Apprentice, by Brion Toss, falls into the category of general knowledge about all rigging (and knots, and ropes, and ...) with some information on the gaff rig just because Brion seems to like it.  Brion is a master rigger, author, public speaker and a pretty nice guy.  His web bulletin board, Spar Talk. is a great resource when you're trying to come up with rigging details.  Along with Brion's home page, www.briontoss.com,  this book and Spar Talk make a powerful resource.

The Arts of the Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith.  The paperbound edition was last published in 1990, a reprint of this 1953 classic.  Smith writes in a 50's style, so you think you may have tuned into an episode of Leave It To Beaver if the Beave had built a boat.  Because the gaff rig was still popular in 1953, this books contains some details of rigging.  But much of it is dated also, as most of us won't be using hemp rope.  Like Knowing the Ropes, above, this book is very interesting, and much for the novice to consider.  A good general resource that won't break the bank to buy!
 

How to Buy the Best Sailboat is a good resource to learn about the different parts of a sailboat, including what to reinforce when building one!  I may find this interesting just because I'll probably buy a bigger boat later on.  But I did get a lot out of the information on common structural errors.
 
 

Building Classic Small Craft -- very informative, techniques, methods, and more!

Building Small Boats -- mostly traditional wooden boats.  Very nice.

How to Build a Wooden Boat -- OK, do we see the theme here?

Lofting -- a difficult process for the traditional wooden boats (although well explained for the Weekender plans, the "plans" given in the books above are "offsets and lines", so you need to know how to translate that into 3-D wooden parts to make a boat.)