Handbook of Trailer Sailing

Rating:
Summary: An excellent "how to have fun on a small sailboat" book.
Review: If you have, or are considering buying or borrowing, a sailboat, then this book is for you. While the focus of the book is on trailerable boats up to about 28 feet, many of the activities suggested are fun with a boat of any size. But again, the key here is how to wring the maximum enjoyment out of a boat that most people can actually afford. Mr. Burgess has had plenty of experience with this. He shares those experiences eloquently and with an eye for frugality. In fact, this book is a much better reference for sailing on a budget than "Frugal Yachting". This latter title focuses heavily upon boat selection. In "Handbook of Trailer Sailing" Mr. Burgess will tell you how to enjoy your boat no matter what the size. Best of all, he tells you how to inexpensively enjoy all of the activities which are possible from a small sailboat, not just how to sail cheaply. Whether you sail, want to sail, or just are curious as to what sailing has to offer, then you will enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: detailed, but didn't like layout
Review: quite good tho' curiously silent on the realities of trailering, especially topic of how to fit your choice of boat to your existing vehicle and vice versa. Just as Portland OR says elsewhere

Rating:
Summary: good tho' what about the trailer and tow vehicle?
Review: quite good tho' curiously silent on the realities of trailering, especially topic of how to fit your choice of boat to your existing vehicle and vice versa. Just as Portland OR says elsewhere

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not the best.......
Review: There are others that I have gotten more from, but I've already read them. This did add to my knowledge, especially as I am planning a Keys trip myself. This was the most useful part for me. Good winter reading!

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not the best.......
Review: There are others that I have gotten more from, but I've already read them. This did add to my knowledge, especially as I am planning a Keys trip myself. This was the most useful part for me. Good winter reading!

Rating:
Summary: OK book, but it's more about sailing than trailering
Review: This book contains a lot of practical advice about small boat sailing, and some information about dealing with transportation of the boat on a trailer. I was disappointed because I wanted more information about the actual trailering process - the book doesn't even touch on tow vehicles, and needs more on things like launching and retrieval, trailering different sizes of boats, safety with the trailer (like don't climb on the back of a boat on a trailer and tip it over backwards!), and so on. I'd also like to have seen more of an approach where there would be a statement of the problem, then here are different options to solve it, rather than Mr. Burgess' (admittedly inexpensive and effective) own way of solving the problem. I have to say this is the best book on trailering sailboats that I have seen, but there's a lot more that could have been included.

Rating:
Summary: Why Read this Book?
Review: This book is about live-aboard sailboats that you can trailer behind your family car. It tells how to select one to suit your needs, how to outfit it, how to trailer it, how to sail it, and how to have fun doing it. Hopefully, it will help you avoid problems before they happen, or to handle any that might arise. As the book's author, I've tried to combine everything of importance that I've learned on this subject into one compact handbook for those who might enjoy cruising inexpensively aboard a compact cabin sailboat capable of taking you and your family on sailing adventures near or far...limited only by how far the wind blows you or where the road leads you. (On your way to water you can live aboard your boat/camper even in small 16-footers!) Of course if you should find yourself in the Florida Keys, you may have to learn how to snorkel and catch your own lobster dinners. But then someone's gotta do it! I tell you how. In addition, the book is loaded with all the shortcuts, tips, and inside information that not only will let you get the job done safely, but as economically as possible. I've based the book on a lifetime of sailing experiences that began when my father let me make my first single-handed sailing voyage at the age of 6. That experience aboard a boat whose homemade sail was hardly taller than I was, was my passport to adventure. I've written this book as a passport to yours! Hopefully we'll meet each other somewhere out there along the way. Meanwhile, Happy Sailing!

HERE ARE SOME HANDBOOK OF TRAILER SAILING CHAPTERS: How to Decide on the Right Boat, Finding Your Dreamboat, Boat Buying Tips From a Brokerage Expert, The New Boat: Outfitting and Setting Up, Trailers and Trailering, The ABCs of Sailing, The XYZ of It, Anchors and Anchoring, Customizing For Comfort: Topside, Customizing For Comfort: Inside, The Care and Feeding of an Iron Wind, Open Boat Sail-Camping, Cruise Planning, Fun Afloat, Keys to Adventure, From a Bare Boat, Innovative Designs: Tomorrow's Sailboats; Appendix 1: Trailer Sailing Tips; Appendix 2: Oldies But Goodies: Popular Trailer Sailers of the Past. Index.

Rating:
Summary: detailed, but didn't like layout
Review: This book seems to have detailed information but as a certified instructor I only found a few sections that caught my eye when I was skimming through it. I don't particually like the way the book is layed out. Definitely not a book I would read cover to cover. There are better books out there...

Rating:
Summary: An excellent reference for the trailer sailor
Review: This is the third highest rated book in our Ensenada 20 library, just below "Frugal Yachting", which is just below "The Complete Sailor".

I would strongly recommend any would-be sailor whose considering to take the plunge, to get all three, read them cover to cover, and keep them close at hand always.

The Handbook of Trailer Sailing provides rafts of information that would otherwise be difficult to aquire for those who are considering purchasing a trailerable sailboat.

While it could provide more depth on the trailering aspect, it compensates with lots of real life experience in all the places a trailer sailor may end up going.