The Complete Rigger's Apprentice: Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging

If you want to simply understand how and your boat is rigged the way it is or you are doing your own work this is the book with which you must start,and probably, finish.

There's no reason not to buy this book, but a lot of them to buy it. Especially if you are into sailing and/or building boats. Goes good with "Sailmakers's apprentice". So buy them both. Why not?

Brion Toss has become "da man" in modern rigging in many ways, and a lot of that is attributable to this great book. It's a big, thick thing, loaded with information, not all of it easily absorbed on the first read. It's meant to give you a firm grounding in what rigging is, what it does, and how to inspect and maintain your own rig, how to adjust it, how to replace worn sections. Will it tell you everything you need to know to design a rig from the ground up on a serious racing yacht? Heck, no. It isn't meant to. What this book does is give you the tools you need to approach your own rig without fear and trembling - to realize that, after all, it's just a bunch of parts, and that you can comprehend and work with those parts, understand their roles, and get the most from your boat. Will you be forever independant of professional riggers? Probably not. But it goes a long way toward making that a realizable goal, if you apply yourself. And it should be known that this book is especially strong on traditional rigs, the more traditional the better. You'll learn how to worm, parcel, and serve, how to lace deadeyes, and why galvanized is great and stainless isn't stainless. And if that last sentence frightens you, you're probably not in the intended demographic. Rod rigging and carbon fiber masts are mentioned, at best, in passing, and largely for comic relief. Keep that in mind. Makes an absolutely perfect companion to Marino's "Sailmaker's Apprentice."

This is one of my favorite books--because it teaches and it makes you laugh. Brian Toss's book can teach a beginner sailor more in 15 minutes just scanning the pictures than they could learn in years just knocking around on boats. If you are like me and think traditional rigging and splicing is cool stuff, then you will love this book. The book includes some important basic things like sweating a halyard and less well known things like how to use a marlinspike and why your lifelines should be left a little loose, and more. I was pleased to see a drawing of what I called a bowline with a tucked tail--a more secure version of the bowline that I haven't seen in any other text. Much of the material is just not applicable to newer yachts, but there are many illustrations of innovative techniques that a modern self-reliant yachtman could use to replace, or repair, things that break. Reading this book will help you find solutions to problems you will face at sea. I don't think I saw anything relating to rod rigging or any discussion of modern fibers and rope. If you are trying to rig a modern sailing yacht, and think this book is your solution, you will be disappointed. I guarantee you won't regret buying the book.

A great book. This work, aimed at the beginner, teaches a way of THINKING about ropes and rigging. Thus, it has many varied chapters on, e.g., forces, knots, rigging principles, and one very characteristic chapter which starts with "Like all arts, rigging is an attempt to finesse coherence out of ornery chaos, and the strangest things can save the day." There are lots of examples and illustrations, more than enough for your usual weekend sailor. The primary virtue of the work is that it demystifies all this rope and wire-work, and gives the practical sailor the thinking and doing skills to tackle the job. Of course, not everything is in the book, and a few typos creep in. You should probably not base the rerigging of your China Clipper exclusively on one of his chapters, just as you should probably not read "10 Easy Steps to Self-Defense" and then initiate a punch-up in your local dojo. This would be contrary to the prudence and think-thru-itiveness that Toss preaches.There is even a chapter full of silly rope tricks to impress the younger generation. Rigger's Apprentice provides a mountain of useful information, then provides pointers to those who wish to go further into this fascinating practical art. I defy you to read this book, and not prop it up somewhere with a piece of string in hand, trying out some knot that Brion Toss is championing. It will convince your significant others that you really are going off the deep end with this sailing thing.