CYA Member 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.

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Product Description

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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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1019694 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

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

About the Author

Ron McClure spends his summers in the San Juan Islands living aboard a 45-foot wooden motor yacht designed by Ed Monk Sr. and built in 1933. He has owned and restored four classic wooden boats, and is the author of several books, including Classic Wooden Yachts of the Northwest. He is also a high school writing teacher and jazz guitar instructor.

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Customer Reviews

More (And Better) Classic Wooden Motor Yachts
Ron McClure's first book on old motorboats (CLASSIC WOODEN YACHTS OF THE NORTHWEST, Sasquatch Books, 2000) was a hit with vintage-boat fans, but it was limited to classics of Washington State and British Columbia.

His second take on the subject, CLASSIC WOODEN MOTOR YACHTS, is more broad-ranging in types of boats featured, and the author ranges across North America, from British Columbia to California to Connecticut, in pursuit of his subjects.

The new book is beautifully produced, and celebrates everything from old tugs and converted fishboats to small pleasure craft and huge motor yachts.

Quality of the photos is first-rate, and the images have been more thoughtfully laid out in this edition. (The first book included a few clunkers, and some of the detail shots were sized far larger than necessary. This time, everything's just right--like the boats themselves.)

McClure throughly enjoys the experience of assembling the book--going aboard some of the finest classics in North America, soaking up their ambiance and rich history--and his joy shines through in CLASSIC WOODEN MOTOR YACHTS, a must-read for those who appreciate beautiful and functional old boats.

Finally, the text in this edition is just as good as the photos, which is saying something.

Classic Wooden Motor Yachts
This is a delightful book, beautifully produced with a wonderful collection of wooden motor yachts. My only comment is that I would have liked to read more about the stats of each boat viz. how many berths, cruising range per tank of fuel etc. A plan of the layout of each boat would have been great. I wish Mr McClure would write a supplement including the above information and any more he has on each boat. I would certainly buy one.