Basic book set

OceanSprint

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I am new to boat owning and am about to pick up a Jaguar 24. What books would be included in a basic set covering boat maintenance, grp work, electrics ?
 
Or better still ask the specific questions you want solving. You will get dozens of completely different solutions - some may even be for teh problem you have. You will also get chastised, praised, pitied, propositioned & accused. You will get a dozen unrelated comments & irrelevant opinions.

All you have to do is pick the bones out of that!
 
For general boating matters the Macmillan and Silk Cut Yachtsman's Handbook is excellent. Time was when this tome was included in their annual almanac, but to save space in the almanac they came up with this excellent book.

Not seen it around much lately, but if you can find a copy then I would definitely get one.
 
If someone wants to buy you a book as a present then go with above recommendations. However as said good ole YBW forum and associated internet links have almost everything you will want for free. I have "Cruising under Sail" but it is just so out of date. Indeed he says theya re even building boats out of fibreglass now. So not much use on modern rope and sail material. good luck olewill
 
For general boating matters the Macmillan and Silk Cut Yachtsman's Handbook is excellent.
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Not seen it around much lately

With a brand of fags in the name it was already sounding a bit 70s to me :)

Looked it up on Amazon, it's twenty years old. Has a special update on that newfangled GPS stuff that some people are starting to use :D

Pete
 
Or better still ask the specific questions you want solving. You will get dozens of completely different solutions - some may even be for teh problem you have. You will also get chastised, praised, pitied, propositioned & accused. You will get a dozen unrelated comments & irrelevant opinions.

All you have to do is pick the bones out of that!

I've got a complaint - I have never been propositioned on the forum!
 
Another vote for Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0713672269/dolcetto-21
Also Calder's Marine Diesel Engines: Be Your Own Diesel Mechanic goes into more detail: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0713682663/dolcetto-21

Both must-haves imho and under no circumstances to be confused with "Boatowner's Practical and Technical Cruising Manual" which seems to be Mr. Calder's rambling brain dump of opinions on all manner of long-distance cruising-related topics. Pat Manley's books are also worth a look, e.g.:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Boat-Maintenance-Yachts-Motorboats/dp/1904475027/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363863822&sr=1-7
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Boat-Electrics-Pat-Manley/dp/1904475175/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363863822&sr=1-1
Nowhere near as comprehensive as Calder's books but more user-friendly: Sticks to the common tasks with common systems with clear step by step photos.
 
Nigel Calder's books are strong on design, particularly on more complex equipment and highly detailed on some of the more basic stuff. For example, if you really need to know precisely how a battery is constructed, with minute detail on every nuance, then these are the books for you. However, when it comes to understanding that the black smoke being discharged by your engine while it struggles to pull half of its normal revs is probably due to salt deposits in the manifold, they are not much help. As has been said, this forum is probably the best resource you will find, with assistance from some smaller, more practical, books.
 
Many thanks for these links. Not sure the last one is too useful, unless you want to maintain a hawk missile, and I could not get the first one to work (yet) but the middle one is amazing.

Just one question - are these sites legal?
 
I had searched everywhere for a workshop manual for the Farymann engine driving my generator, when it turned up the sane engine is used on a US Army road pounding machine. And when I buy my Sherman Tank ...
 
The first does work but they are slow to download. The capatchas are quite tedious. I use my IPad and open them with Documents or Dropbox.

I would imagine the publishers won't be that happy that some of these are freely available, but they seem to be pucker sites. I have also checked for some of the titles on Amazon and they are not available as Kindle downloads, and the advantage us that even on this 16GB IPad I can carry loads for reading on the boat, train, etc.
 
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