[.ca] Sailing Big on A Small Sailboat 3rd Edition (ISBN 1574092472)

too narrow:
For me this book was useful only in that it pointed out to me that there is such a thing as trailer sailing. All well and good. However I rapidly(less than a week) out grew the book's very narrow scope, and now have no use for it. Would even hesitate to give to a friend because all the boats he recommends are pretty heavy, hence require a reasonably powerful vehicle to tow. No where does he even acknowledge that there is a relationship between displacement and tow vehicle size. Most of us can't go buy a dedicated towing machine.

Too opinionated for it's own good:
While the subject matter is excellent, the authours opinion is too prevalent. JD Cardwell considers all sailboats under 22' as "not really cruisers". There are many on the water that would disagree. While a bigger trailerable may be more comfortable, it's also harder to tow, and more expensive. The authour needlessly runs the risk of pushing the dream beyond the scope of those with limited resources. This book may be considered valuable by those with or considering boats between 22 to 26 feet, but probably not to others. Lastly, the authour obviously places more importance on creature comfort than seaworthiness, O.K. for the marina crowd, but offensive to the true cruising sailor.

She was concerned that our 26 footer was to small.:
The larger boat crews, in my boating area, discuss construction quite a lot because there is concern that an older racing sail boat isn't strong enough for West Coast of Vancouver Island (British Columbia Canada) duty. My wife ordered "Sailing Big on a Small Sailboat" because she and I have always been concerned about our 26 footer; others being quick to say the boat is to small. Dr. Jerry Cardwell, who wrote Sailing Big on a Small Sailboat, was a Catalina 22 loyal. When Catalina changed the 22 mold, Dr Cardwell was NOT sure that this was an upgrade and did an extensive study of production pocket cruisers. He ended up strongly recommending the Mac26x, our vessel, while giving praise to many trailerable sailboats that owing to the riggors required for trailering are built stronger than many 30 to 60 foot sail boats. He states. "A common misconception about sailboats is that 'bigger' means 'safer' That is simply not true. ... In fact, there are sea and weather conditions when a smaller, trailerable sailboat may actually be safer than a much larger sailboat." The book is an especially exciting read for a Mac26x owner (there are over 5,000 of them) because Cardwell spends some time discussing the history of production in fiber glass and the history of MacGregor Yachts. The major finding regarding our vessel from his book is that dealers told Cardwell that the Mac26x has an additional layer of glass fiber throughout the hull than is normal for trailerables. This was done because there was a question about the vibration and pounding the hull would take owing to motoring at wide open throttle with the standard 50 hp engine. Dr. Cardwell was a guy who was to smart to buy new. He expected to purchase his Mac26x after others took the depreciation. He has quite a theory of buying used. I highly recommend the book even though I disagree with the buying used notion. You just do not see that much depreciation in trailerable boats. It is the engines that depreciate. While Cardwell never owned a Mac26x, he did make himself the authority. There are Mac26x factoids through out the work. Its a must purchase item for Mac26x owners but any used boat prospect will benefit because they will come to see trailerable vessels as more seaworthy than the waterbound. Highest rating. Read cover to cover and more than once!

Limited Inspiration:
This book was vital in making me realise that my 20 foot sail boat was just as "real" as those thrity foot plus expensive yachts. It was inspirational at a time when I felt I needed to get in over my head and buy a bigger boat. However, I agree with others who feel the book was a little narrow in its coverage and I confess the boats suggested are all very expensive in Australia and rare to find compared to other designs on the market. Nevertheless, the information is ideal for a beginner, someone contemplating getting into sailing rahter than an existing owner and his words are true, you can sail Big on a small boat.

Does it come with a mast?:
This book is a nice feature survey book of typical trailerables that I found useful as a dinghy owner looking to upgrade. It gives some sound specific recommendations: get a stainless steel swimming ladder so you can climb in when exhausted from working on the boat. I think the author keeps his boat at the marina though, because it's missing a couple of key topics: 1) what does it take to pull these boats (engine power, launching) and 2)how about raising the mast - do you need three people? Some sort of rig? Also missing is any real discussion of how do these boats handle in a knockdown/capsize.