Published by Gulf Publishing Company of Houston, London, Paris, Zurich and Tokyo, we acquired our copy through  Budget Marine, the Caribbean chandlery  chain at a slightly higher price than that marked on the cover, to cover importation, it was definitely worth it. 

Now here's a book that has, thus far, eluded our friends at Amazon! We'll let you know if they find any copies...

We found it made the subject clear and gave us the confidence to manage our own troubleshooting after letting other people convince us, for far too long, that it was a matter for the experts.

This is one of the books that helped to convince us that one should learn how to do everything on board oneself, not just the vital basics for safety, whether one intends to do things oneself or hire others - ignorance is not bliss, in the yachting world, it is potentially dangerous, frustrating and expensive. 

Amazon have managed to source copies of The 12-Volt Bible For Boats for those who have not already bagged themselves a copy elsewhere.

Whether you are starting from scratch,  re-fitting or just trying to increase the efficiency of the system you have, this is a very helpful book.

Unfortunately, Amazon haven't, thus far, managed to source this book but we'll keep you posted if they find a copy or two...

To sum up: if you are new to the world of outboard engines, this book will help you to get a basic grounding and learn to maintain your equipment properly as well as cope with most of the problems you are likely to encounter. It is not an advanced mechanics manual, however.

Amazon have not been able to source copies of this book so far and we rather hope you'll tell us about a better book on the same topic...

We have particularly enjoyed, and still do, the series called The International Marine Sailboat Library.

So far we have acquired five of them and we'd love to collect them all, however many there are - we paid the equivalent of about US$20 each for them, in chandlers' stores and they have been really helpful.

They are the best of their type we have seen - perfect for the beginner, the technophobe, the amateur and, even the professional  who can always learn a new trick from other professionals...
Whether you plan to do jobs yourself or to acquire enough knowledge to be able to tell whether the tradesmen you employ know what they are doing or not, these books are an invaluable resource.

Sailboat Electrics Simplified by Don Casey - ISBN   0070366497

Like all the others in this series that we have acquired, this book explains things in simple terms that a total layman can understand and is lavishly illustrated with explanatory diagrams and drawings. We were so impressed by Don Casey's style in Sailboat Electrics Simplified that we went in search of more of his titles.

Sailboat Hull & Deck Repair by Don Casey - ISBN   0070133697 

Here is an excellent book, again illustrated step by step, so that you can see exactly what is what. There are heaps of excellent explanations and blow-by-blow accounts of how to do things that we had previously imagined would be beyond our capacity to do. Having Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair around has saved us lots of pennies for our cruising kitty over the past few years!

Sailboat Refinishing  by Don Casey - ISBN  0070132259

This book is packed full of very useful techniques, drawings  and explanations about the properties of different coatings. Sailboat Refinishing starts right at the beginning, with the all-important preparation and takes you through to first class finishes.

Canvaswork & Sail Repair by Don Casey - ISBN  0071333913

This one takes you, very cleverly, through a series of useful and simple first projects, so that you have acquired all the techniques you'll need and then shows you how to apply those techniques to what appear more to be far more ambitious projects, to those who haven't gained the grounding you have been given - again, Canvaswork And Sail Repair is a first class book, full of step by step illustrations.

Troubleshooting Marine Diesels by Peter Compton - ISBN 0070123543

This book has got us out of more than one tight spot, we kid you not, and is also actually very useful as an aid to the prevention for any need to troubleshoot - again, all is illustrated in detail, step by step and the explanations in Troubleshooting Marine Diesels are excellent.

Find these books and others like them through Electronic Book World

This large, slim paperback was published by Adlard Coles Ltd., in 1987, and is a pleasure to peruse - lavishly illustrated with Frank Rosenow's drawings, showing blow-by-blow how each technique is used. 

Whether one is planning to take up these crafts or not, Canvas And Rope Craft is worth having for the comprehensive grounding it offers in the whole subject and for the pleasure of sharing the travels and experiences with which the reader is regaled throughout the book.

Taken from the 'Things That Work' column of Sail Magazine the ideas in this book are divided into three categories: Sailing Made Easier; Sailing Made Safer and Sailing Made More Fun. 

Most boat-owners will find at least some of these ideas very useful, not necessarily because they will use them (although many have done so and more doubtless will) but because they stimulate one to look again at things one has been 'putting up with' and figure out ways to improve on them! 

Our paperback copy was published by International Marine in 1994.   Readers wishing to order a copy can, apparently, do so by telephoning 1-800-822-8158 which is just as well because Amazon don't appear to have any copies on offer!

As a means of possessing a lot of knowledge in a compact package it is handy but seriously heavy - we would have preferred to see the book split into two volumes, not re-organised in any way, just literally sold as an inseparable two-volume set, Chapters 1 to 8 in the first and 9-16 in the second, arranging the appendixes however desired - even leaving them where they are, at the end of the 'second' book. 

We would have preferred it in paperback too since, to be brutally frank, the binding did not continue to retain all of the pages firmly in place for long and the hardback adds unnecessary weight. Nonetheless, we wouldn't part with the version we've got, unless it were to be in exchange for the design we've outlined - the contents are worth their weight... Amazon currently have several copies of Boatowners' Mechanical and Electrical Manual available.

We'd love to hear about practical books you have come across, to help those who want to tackle their own repairs, maintenance or even major boat construction jobs...
If every reader tells us about just one book (the more the merrier) all our readers will get to hear about books they might not otherwise have known existed and had the chance to enjoy - why not drop us a line, with at least the book's title, name of the author and ISBN details, and preferably with your description of the reason you feel the book is worthy of inclusion in the library... Don't wait to see if anyone else bothers - they may be waiting to see if you do!