The Year of the Boat: Beauty, Imperfection, and the Art of Doing It Yourself

by Lawrence Cheek and Lawrence W. Cheek

Book Overview

Lawrence Cheek decided that he had to build a boat. Not just any boat, but a beautiful wooden sailboat. This despite the fact that he barely knew how to sail and that he was the master of so few... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570615446
• ISBN13: 9781570615443
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Book that is Worth the Read (and Price) !

Well written book about: building a wooden boat, sailboats in general, and dealing with issues of being "perfect." Read it soon, and enjoy the real-life adventure the author encounters.

Read this book only if...

Read this book if you are not planning to build a boat or read this book if you are planning to build a boat. In either case you will learn something about yourself as the author learns about himself in the process and cracks open a window into his soul. I got this book because I was planning to build a boat. Instead I began building, maybe rebuilding a little bit of me. It was a joy to read. If you are not planning to build a boat you will learn something about yourself and get to thinking about why you do some of the things you do. What motivates you to start something and maybe what motivates you to not. If you are planning to build a boat, this should be required reading as your first assignment. It will help you sort out some important things about yourself first. And it will inspire you to appreciate the process of creating a boat as much as having a boat.

Great book

Great Book ! The author does a great job describing the emotional roller coaster ride while restoring a wooden boat. Good mix of humor. Easy read, will make you smile if you've done it. I also recommend "Restore your Wooden Boat by those who've done it" particularly Chapter 3.

Tells of author Lawrence W. Cheek's struggles as he strives to construct his own sailboat

The craft of building sailboats was commonly practiced thousands of years ago; in the modern era, it is a lost art. "The Year of the Boat: Beauty, Imperfection, and the Art of Doing It Yourself" tells of author Lawrence W. Cheek's struggles as he strives to construct his own sailboat in spite of his ineptness at carpentry and even the act of sailing. A charming memoir about one man's efforts to construct a magnificent wooden vessel he could call his own (a plan that should have taken a hundred hours, but ended up taking him an entire year), "The Year of the Boat: Beauty, Imperfection, and the Art of Doing It Yourself" is a memoir that many can relate to. A top pick for community library memoir and nautical collections.

The Year of the Boat

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not a how-to manual, but a description of how he found himself building a small wooden sailboat as a first time boatbuilder, punctuated with philosophical musings and stories of learning to sail and other related experiences. I identified completely with the author in that I followed the same path of dreaming about the Haven 12 1/2, wondering about Sam Devlin's Nancy's China, and then getting realistic and choosing Devlin's Zephyr. The book is a well-written, personal memoir and should be read by anyone whose ever toyed with the idea of building a wooden boat.