Isbn: 0026218801
Sales Rank: 922919

Isbn: 185223931X
Sales Rank: 1221921
Subjects:  1. Boating - Boatbuilding    2. Do-It-Yourself    3. Ships & Shipbuilding - Engineering    4. Sports & Recreation   

Reviews (1)

Mandatory for any wooden canoe enthusiast!
In the authors own words, he did not write this book "...to be the definitive history of the Chestnut Canoe Company..." but to providefuel for the fires of future debates, "...held in the Chestnut Pub,built from the old factory boiler room in Fredericton." Ken Solway hasachieved his goals in this book for sure.

If you have ever wanted toknow the history of Canadian canoe builders around Peterborough, Ontario,this book is a must read. From the inspiration of the Aboriginal dugoutsand birch bark canoes; through the all-wood Peterboroughs and Lakefields;and influenced heavily by the wood canvas canoes of Maine builders Gerrish,E.M.White and B.N.Morris; Ken leads us to Chestnut - a proud, oftencontroversial survivor in the Canadian canoe world.

It is refreshing toread the history of John Stephenson, Thomas Gordon, Daniel Harold, andWilliam English, and the great impact they collectively had on canoeevolution in the Peterborough region. These early builders took the nativedugout and applied English construction techniques, to deliver canoeing tothe elite during the Victorian era of canoeing. Chestnut took the nextstep, and brought the Canadian canoe to the everyday man, by building over60 models of practical, working canoes - taking over where these pioneersleft off.

In an admission of guilt that will make a Mainer both strutproudly and raise his hackles at the same time, Ken openly proclaims thatChestnut stole their first design from Maine builder, B.N.Morris. In afurther act of business guile, William Chestnut managed to convince ten ofOld Town Canoe's experienced builders to leave Old Town for Chestnut,across the border in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This act led to the firstof many legal battles the Chestnut name has continued to fight, even tothis day. Chestnut patented the process for building a wood and canvascanoe in Canada in 1905, leading eventually to the merger of thePeterborough and Chestnut canoe companies, and to some interestingpartnerships along the way.

History of the Chestnut family provides anice perspective on the forces behind Chestnut Canoe. The insight that Kenoffers on these dynamic Canadians, provides the backdrop for a canoecompany that fought on for many years, building canoes, snowshoes and eventoboggans, before finally succumbing to the economic pressures of the ageof aluminum and fiberglass in 1961. The rise and fall of Chestnut, alongwith their predessors in the Peterborough area, captivates the reader, andultimately leads you to the present day. Chestnut was ultimately split upand sold piece-meal at the bitter end, and Ken describes his currentoperation, where he builds Chestnut canoes on original forms and shipsChestnut labeled canoes, even though the trademark is not in his hands atthis time. The Chestnut trademark at the time of publication anyway, isstill in dispute.

Bonus chapters on Omer Stringer and Bill Mason supplyanother look at two of Canada's paddling giants. Personal observations thatKen shares with the reader will draw memories out of many of us, recallingour own often brief experiences with these remarkable men. I still smile atthe flashes of the past brought out by these short but honest recollectionsof the most influential paddlers Canada produced in this century.

Foranyone interested in historic canoe catalogs and the detail that comes withthem, there are over fifty pages dedicated to catalog reprints, with mostpages containing two or three condensed catalog images. These are some ofthe most interesting of the catalog pages from 1903 to 1936, and aresupplimented by a detailed chart with form measurements for every canoelisted between 1905 and 1955! Not stopping with just the technical facts,Ken goes on to describe the major models and popular options available overtime, and includes a few surprises that I'll leave for your to discover onyour own.

Reviews (1)

Reviews (2)

Both memoir and confessions of a boat owner
Rubin frames his story neatly by starting witha reminiscence of his childhood boat and concluding with a discussion of how his childhood led him to build "Algonquin".As a middle-class, middle-aged boatowner I found I could not put the book down.Most important, I believethat anyone who is interested in the memoir as a way to appreciate whatmakes people tick will enjoy this book.

A rambling memoir of the pains and perils of owning a boat
I picked up Rubin's little classic at a remainder table, thinking to peruse it when I ran out of other reading material.Shame on me.This is an intensly personal and delightful little book.Not for the non nautical,neither is it for the practical.If I could I would drop Mr. Rubin a shortnote with one word."Thanks."

Reviews (11)

The master of boatbuilding books
I loved the clear way the author explains the process of building wooden boats.His pictures were fantastic.His sailboat is beautiful.The only thing that threw me at first was the chapter on lofting, (drawing out the boat parts full scale on paper from grid measurements).I suggested to the author that he revise that chapter a little for novices like me, he may not need to do so.A reader might read one of the other authors' chapter on lofting to further understand the process, which I did.

Building Small Boats
This book has everything a person needs to build a small wooden boat from plans or kit.After building several small boats, and consulting other boatbuilding books, I always come back to this book for answers and techniques. Finally, I think Mr Rossel does the best job at explaining the process of spiling to obtain plank shape. Great book!

Reviews (4)

Great to learn from others
An encyclopaedic covering of various tactics for surviving storms at sea, the dashews succinct writing and cogent organisation drives this hefty book forward.while powerboats are nominally covered, this book is more squarely aimed at the community of ocean going sailboats.Anyone sailing into deep blue water should read this book.A few notes: 1.the conclusions are mature:there is no single right answer, but the best strategy is to experiment with all the tactics in moderately heavy seas before you eventually get caught out in the big one. 2.active strategies (beating in and running off) shine a little brighter under the dashews' light than heaving to or sea anchors/drogues; fair enough. 3.consequently there is a nice treatment of heavy weather sails 4.the book is full of instructive black & white photos that make one sufficiently happy to be drinking tea at home. 5.numerous interviews with salty sailors make for instructive case studies, though several times key details (size of boat, location, crew experience, etc.) are left out. 6.the only weakness is that its numerous interviews and articles largely focus on experienced sailors who have been doing everything right for so long that it's difficult to get them to remember the episodes that taught them.The book is quite thin on disaster stories -which are frequently the most instructive -- and instead spends a lot of time interviewing 100,000 milers who can't remember the last time they were scared.Thus `surviving the storm' tells you merely how to do everything right, not how to avoid doing the wrong things... for those many of us who find the fear of failing (or drowning) particularly motivating from an instructional standpoint, this is a lacuna in an otherwise fine book.Two other sailing books, "MayDay!" and Coote's "Total Loss" admirably fill this gap, but if the dashew's had hit this final nail on the head I'd petition amazon for a 6-star review. At the end of the day, it's a must-read.Rock on steve and Linda, I've got dockage in fort Lauderdale if you ever want to visit.

Fact not fiction!
With the advent of popular movies about horrific storms at sea that deal more in fiction than fact it is both refreshing and gratifying to read a book written for us ocean voyagers from someone who has actually lived it!. There are few sailors and even fewer authors that have the experience and dedication of the Dashews. In Surviving the Storm they combine their extensive experience at sea (over 200,000 miles cruising offshore) and their background in boat design and building (perhaps some of the finest sailing boats made) with other experts to separate the hype and fiction from the facts.

After reading this book I had a totally different outlook on most of the major storms we've all heard about and more importantly how to prepare and deal with heavy weather when and if I get caught in it.

As with all of the Dashews' books I've read, Surviving The Storm is written in an easy to read, conversational style with lots of real-world examples and there are plenty of illustrations and photographs to help you see what is going on. No detail is left out - I found this book to be an extensive, in-depth reference of the hows and whys of storm tactics and survival. At just shy of 700 pages it contains a ton of information.I especially like the summaries and numerous side-bar references - they really help.

If sailing is your passion as it is mine I'd suggest a few other Dashew titles as well.

Mariner's Weather Handbook is a great companion to this book and covers every aspect of weather for the sailor. Let's face it - it is better to stay ahead of nasty weather than get caught in it!

The book that turned me on to the Dashews was their massive reference: Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia - it saved me from wasting thousands of dollars and an equal amount of time readying my boat for offshore. It is an incredible book covering everything a cruiser needs to know BEFORE going offshore. I've read (and studied, over and over again) these 3 books and I hardly recommend them to anyone who likes sailing - it is money very well spent!

The One Book You Should Own
If there is one book you should study before heading to sea it is the Dashew's Surviving the Storm. Rather than taking a dogmatic approach to storm tactics, they cover every imaginable tactic, and how it is used in a variety of boats and conditions. The book starts with a thorough analysis of the problems encountered by a variety of boats heading between the islands and new Zealand in 1998. There are some sad stories as well as successes - we learn from both. They go on to make an elaborate explanation of preparation and equipment, anmd then cover tactics in detail.

The Dashew's repeat over and over that there is no magic bullet to heavy weather. You havew to be prepared to use ansd try different tactics as conditions change.

What we liked most was the intervioew format used extensively throughout the book. There must be 70 or more of them. Half of these are with professionals and their comments are very informative. The interviews with amateurs are also worth reading. Some did things the right way, others made mistakes, from which we can all learn.