The Practical Mariner's Book of Knowledge: 420 Sea-Tested Rules of Thumb for Almost Every Boating Situation

by John Vigor

Between these covers is the essence of centuries of seafaring experience, distilled into a concise, alphabetically organized reference for sailors and powerboaters. You'll find rules of thumb for hull thickness, bottom paint coverage, estimating distances, when to hoist and lower flags, predicting weather, which colors are unlucky, rope size and strength, anchoring rights, making a rum punch, and a lot more. This is either the most useful boating book ever designed to entertain or the most entertaining book ever designed to be useful. Open it to any page and browse awhile. You'll see.

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

Reviews

[Charles Rouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went through this at one rule of thumb per day till I finished it. If memory serves, I went through it this way twice. Terrific. I would say, if you have a boat, might get a boat, or are just thinking about it, get this book. It's one of the necessary books, along with nautical rules of the road, and boat maintenance.
Have you ever wondered how much paint to buy to paint your topsides? This book has that and so much more.

[Marshall Edgcomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is a great book to read while tied up, full of reference information and nautical tidbits. This is not the kind of book to check in an emergency. It's laid out alphabetically by subject.

[Alistair Cunningham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fatally flawed

This book contains plenty of good advice. Unfortunately it contains even more bad advice, anachronisms, and superstitious nonsense. For experienced sailors it's a waste of time. For inexperienced sailors, it's borderline dangerous.