The Elements of Boat Strength: For Builders, Designers, and Owners

As a person developing a design, I want to put my time into developing hull form, keel, etc., not into hours and hours of calculations about structure which for the moment serve no other purpose than the creation of a plausible weight estimate to be used in Velocity Prediction. Using Dave Gerr's scantling system, I can produce a good weight estimate, and even a good preliminary construction plan, relatively quickly, and put the rest of my time where it counts the most -- developing the hull form and keel, etc. As this is the only boat that I have the opportunity to design right now, and it is being done on speculation, there isn't that much time to begin with, and these savings really help. This is especially true in this case because, using Dave Gerr's scantlings, I am not only saving time but also setting the foundation for a good construction plan as well. The book itself focuses on good strong construction, but -- at least for the aluminum construction that I am focusing on -- also considers some options for lightening that structure considerably if that is the desired trade off. My thanks to Dave Gerr for putting together something that has been needed for a long time. David J. Fladlien

Dave Gerr seems to be good at a lot of things, but he can't begin to limit himself to just the information the title implies. Yes, he will teach you the elements of boat strength, but he will teach you, in addition, a great deal of valuable - and very interesting - information about wood, fiberglass, polymer and epoxy resins, aluminum, steel, rot and corrosion... with The Elements of Boat Strength you get everything you were promised and more. The technical details are plenty technical, but the more general information is well written and a pleasure to read, and the technical and the general are presented in separate chapters for ease of use. A superb companion to his The Nature of Boats.

It is always a pleasure to get comments from readers, but I'm afraid that Rick Burner is a mite confused. The Elements Of Boat Strength was specifically written to make it not only possible to determine the scantlings for any boat (from a coasting schooner to a skiff) but to make the calculations required relatively easy. For some reason, Rick's review indicates that Boat Strength doesn't provide you with the information needed calculate the scantlings for traditional boats such as those in books by, say, Howard Chapelle or John Gardner. In fact, Boat Strength provides exactly this information. What's more, you can not only calculate the scantlings for the original construction method but for any modern variant and/or for any other material, from FRP to aluminum.

This is a book about the structure of boat hulls that is easy to read and easy to understand. It's primary purpose is to detail the scantling requirements of nearly any small boat hull (10-120 ft) of virtually any material. Gerr has the gift of being able to convey his considerable knowledge to others, and he suceeds admirably with this book. It is well laid out, detailed without being budensome, has a wealth of useful information, and is easy to use. The index is complete. He even includes a short history of, and the advantages/disadvantages, of nearly all boatbuilding materials. If you want to build a reed raft, look elsewhere. Anything more modern than that (with the exception of ferro-cement) this book covers it.

Elements of Boat Strengh is the most comprehensive and easy to use collection of rules for figuring the size and strength of all type of boats I've seen. It covers almost every boatbuilding material, traditional and modern. The chapters explaining the use of specific materials and methods are worth the cost alone. This is a must read for anyone interested in boats. Highly recommended.