Classic Wooden Motor Yachts - Softcover

Mcclure, Ron

9780071390910: Classic Wooden Motor Yachts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 007139091X ISBN 13: 9780071390910

Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2002

Hobbyists will love this fully illustrated volume on pre-WWII boats. This gorgeous full-color celebration of wooden motor yachts and workboats built prior to World War II is sure to be a hit with mariners and landlubbers alike. Award-winning writer and photographer Ron McClure sought out the loveliest wooden motorboats on both coasts of the United States and Canada, and then chose the 45 most distinctive for inclusion in "Classic Wooden Motor Yachts". Lavish photographs take in each boat's graceful lines, while close-up shots of decks, interior appointments, and engines reveal the unique grace notes of brass, wood, and leaded glass that give these boats their charm. The accompanying text tells the fascinating stories of these beauties. Readers get full details of their specifications, design, and construction, along with their amazing, often bizarre histories, including accounts of decline and restoration. With its focus on boats of moderate size (under 60 feet) and the details of their restoration, this elegant landscape-format paperback with flaps is a great gift for boat lovers and a source of ideas and inspiration for do-it-yourselfers.

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Book Description:

Classic Wooden Motor Yachts is a full-color photographic tour of America's most beautiful wooden motor yachts, each one a floating work of art from a bygone era. Ron McClure, photographer and wooden boat aficionado, brings the reader on board and down below on 40 classic wooden cruisers and workboats, all of them built before WWII and lovingly restored to their original glory. McClure lavishly illustrates each boat with beautiful color photos. Wide-angle views show us each boat's graceful lines, while close-up shots reveal the unique details that give these boats their charm—the gleaming brass knobs of a vintage wheelhouse, a perfect teak deck, a working fireplace, a miniature pump organ. The accompanying text tells the fascinating stories of these beautiful boats: their specifications, design, and construction; their often amazing histories; and the ongoing story of their decline, restoration, and modern lives. The result is a gorgeous, four-color coffee-table book sure to be a hit with all fans of classic wooden boats. With its focus on boats of moderate size (under 60 feet) and the details of their restoration, the book will also provide a wealth of ideas and inspiration for boaters.With his twin talents as a photographer and writer, Ron McClure is uniquely qualified to create this book. The 40 boats include cruisers, tugs, and workboats. Cruisers are the famous wooden boats built as pleasure boats for the wealthy in the years between 1910 and WWII. The classic profile includes a long, sleek hull, a plumb bow (dropping in a vertical line to the water), a raised pilothouse, and an open cockpit at the stern. Classic wooden tugboats, many of them built in the late 19th century, are prized for their power and rugged construction. They also make for fascinating photography, and their histories are often rich and bizarre. The final genre is the classic workboat—boats built for fishing and other practical purposes that are increasingly being restored as pleasure boats. Many famous designers of the period drew just as many workboats as yachts, including Ed Monk, Ted Geary, and J. Murray Watts. Praise for Ron McClure’s Classic Wooden Yachts of the Northwest"A stunning collection of images and stories that no wooden boat lover should be without... Each boat in the collection has been lovingly photographed with a seemingly unerring eye for detail"—Nor'Westing"This highly satisfying book will leave readers with a taste for more"—Dockside

From the Back Cover:

From the burnished brass knobs of a vintage wheelhouse to the gleam of well-varnished woodwork, classic wooden motor yachts are nothing less than floating dreams and their stories can only be told in full color. This collection is lavishly illustrated with 250 photographs that show off each boat's graceful lines and reveal the unique details that give these craft their irresistible charm. Feed your fantasies with the dozens of boats here, including famous luxury cruisers, built for the wealthy in the years between 1910 and World War II; classic wooden tugboats, many of them built in the late nineteenth century and prized for their power and rugged construction; and workboats that, once used only for practical purposes, are today being restored and put to recreational use.

Accompanying the photos are the fascinating stories behind these floating works of art, from their specifications, design, and construction to their varied histories, and the ongoing sagas of their decline, restoration, and return to modern life. Come aboard the incomparable Thea Foss, custom-built for John Barrymore; the former fishing vessel Halcyon, found destroyed by fire, half-submerged, and now restored to its original beauty; the Pam, built for Hiram Walker's grandson, who used it to commute between Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada; and the resilient Spindrift II, survivor of the 1938 hurricane and two sinkings; plus dozens of other unforgettable modern classics and vessels of a bygone age.

This fabulous collection the result of thousands of miles of travel, hundreds of hours of interviews, and hundreds of rolls of film is one that no wooden boat lover should be without.

How many times, on seeing a classic boat, have you wondered what stories it could tell? In Classic Wooden Motor Yachts, dozens of the most distinctive wooden motorboats ever built tell theirs, from birth through youth, decline, abandonment, and restoration.

Ron McClure traveled throughout the United States and Canada to select only the most distinctive and historically significant boats for inclusion. Each one is uniquely elegant, sturdy, comfortable, and noble. Together they represent the culmination of the wooden boat building and yacht joinery arts, which achieved their highest expression in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This tour of wooden motorboats, above and below decks, will provide many leisurely hours of discovery and enjoyment.

Praise for Classic Wooden Yachts of the Northwest:

"A stunning collection of images and stories that no wooden boat lover should be without. . . . Each boat in the collection has been lovingly photographed with a seemingly unerring eye for detail." Nor'Westing

"This highly satisfying book will leave readers with a taste for more." Dockside

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