Designs & Designers

This is a fascinating and an authoritative history of the Purdy Boat Company, one of the most famous makers of custom yachts and racing boats in the 1920s and 1930s, based on official company documents and correspondence and on reminiscences of family members and boat owners, and augmented by many photographs and line drawings of classic Purdy boats.

Included here are detailed bid and estimating plans for a half dozen small cruising catboats, from 17' to 22'. They present a practical and functional approach to catboat design.

The full plan sets, with some drawings that are not included in the book, are available from the designers for those who would like to build their own catboat.

A catalog of plans for great cruising boats, sail and power, for living aboard.

First published in 1975 and since become a classic of its kind, Cruising Designs is a collection of basic boat plans of a variety of Benford designs, ranging in size from 7 to 131 feet in length, selected from the custom designs created over the past three decades.

Heavily illustrated with photographs and plan drawings, Cruising Designs is a classic wish book.

Cruising Sailboat Kinetics demystifies boat design terminology and concepts. It opens up for recreational sailors a new world of understanding why sailboats act the way they do. It explains how boat designers transform sailing dreams and abstract design criteria into today's sleek, functional three-dimensional craft.

The famed boat designer’s warm, entertaining and informative reminiscences of a lifetime enjoying boats.

In his own words, it is "an account of many happy years of building, designing and living with small boats; with plans and illustrations of some of these boats, and the circumstances under which they were conceived."

Along with his warm and cheerful autobiography go the stories behind the making of a dozen of his more famous ships, together with the drawings and details of their construction.

From the drawings presented, you can build a fantail steam launch (17' or 25'), working tugboat (14' or 20'), supply boat (20’), cruiser (14’ or 20’), long distance sailing cruiser (14’), or fantail catboat (20’).

This new edition incorporates updates and revisions to the boat plans offered.

Presents the boatbuilder and the dreamer with complete plans for each of the 15 small boats included in this collection.

Benford knows that readers will build directly from the book...In fact, he encourages the process by including full working drawings and tables of offsets for all of the designs. WoodenBoat

With a liveaboard focus, this book of study plans details tugs, freighters, ferries, excursion boats, trawler yachts, houseboats & fishing vessels—working vessels and workboat heritage yacht designs — from the boards of The Benford Design Group.

All of the designs have a refreshing frankness about them, absent any tricky styling, glitter or glitz.

Some are ideas, dreams of what might be or ought to be, and one just might be your own special dream boat.

A fitting subject in the current economy, giving people insight and how-to information on fulfilling their dreams.

Annie wrote this book to answer all the questions that always come up about what they're doing.

Annie and Pete Hill voyage on Badger, a Benford 34’ Sailing Dory. An income of £1,300 ($2,500) per year lets them do this without worrying about stopping to work.

Bill Garden's classic first volume, revised with double the number of designs included.

Dozens of detailed drawings plus delightful descriptions and reminis-cences of the boats and the people who loved them.

The core of the book is vintage Beebe: his designs, his research and his wonderful cruising stories remain intact.

What's new are details of the advances of the past twenty years: electronic wizardry for navigation and communication, efficient new engines, roll-prevention devices that virtually eliminate seasickness; propeller nozzles and bow thrusters that improve maneuverability and ease handling for shorthanded crews; bulbous bow extensions that improve speed, fuel economy, and sea-keeping ability.