Yacht Design According to Perry: My Boats and What Shaped Them Hardcover – December 12, 2007

This is an outstanding book for anyone who wants a practical understanding of modern yacht design. Perry is an excellent writer, clear, concise and thorough and his broad experience allows him to explore a wide range of designs and design topics.The book is organized in an interesting way. He intersperses chapters on specific makes of boats he's designed (e.g. Valiant, Passport and so on) with complementary chapters on yacht design principles (draft, transom shape, keels, etc.) I came away with an understanding of a sailboat as a unified system, rather than as a collection of separate parts.One thing I enjoyed in Perry's writing style was his directness in evaluating his own work. Maybe this comes from the years of reviewing the design work of others in the sailing mags. When he feels he nailed it on one of his boats, he says so, and when he thinks he missed the mark he says that too.He's pretty straight forward too about the colorful characters he's encountered along the way, especially the strong willed owners and builders that he admits he's had the good sense to learn from, or at times be pushed around by. Made me realize that building a sailboat is more of a collaboration than I first understood and sometimes a battle of wills.If you're interested in sailboat design, this boat is an excellent primer. If you're considering having a custom boat designed and built to your brief, then maybe you know all this stuff already. If not, this book is a must read.

For many of us, Bob Perry is an Iconic Yacht Designer. He was the catalyst for "performance cruising" yachts. He may well have designed more cruising yachts than any other designer In the book he weaves through his life, starting with how he began designing. A wonderful success story from a man self-taught. The chapters describe many of his significant production and one-offs, like the Valiants. As a subchapter to each, he discusses design parameters like displacement, water line, and righting moment mostly in terms that relate to the yachts in that chapter. That discussion also talks about the trade-offs of each. The discussion is clear, concise, and easy to understand. It became obvious to me that my knowledge even after many many years of sailing was a bit superficial. For us sailors, this book is a must-read even if you aren't lucky enough to own a Perry yacht.

While Bob's book is filled with really great anechdotes describing the coming of age of the performance cruiser, the technical presentation is the best I've seen for the intended audience (people like me). I have a modest collection of yacht/boat design books and Bob's is hands down the book I turn to when I need a REAL answer to a design question. Sure, there are the academic approaches to yacht design that require a 4 year degree and decades of experience to understand. Then there are the common sense approaches that Bob has given that ultimately arrive at the same conclusion, often with better results. Bob's been around and you cannot beat experience. He's seen the transition from the old ways of lofting lines full scale on the floor to designing in 3D and sending the data to a CNC milling machine. Unlike a lot of folks who are stuck in the 'old' ways, Bob has kept pace with the times and his designs and methods are state of the art.As an owner of a Perry Designed Sailboat (Baba 30 mentioned in his book in the double-enders chapter), it was great to read about the history of the type. Any Perry boat owner should read this book. It will answer a lot of questions.For those of you who know how prolific Bob has been, stay tuned for his second book which he has threatened to publish.As a friend and colleague of Bob's I may be a bit biased, but as yacht designers go, Bob stands out as an exception in the boating community. His willingness to share his insight into all things boat related (mostly sail, but powerboats too) has done more to advance boating than I think he realizes. Don't get me wrong, he's not humble. But that hasn't stopped him from sharing his enthusiasm for boats and he's always willing to listen to others' ideas. Good ideas and dumb ideas alike will tender appropriate responses.Bottom line, if you can't find this boat instructional and entertaining, maybe boats just aren't your thing and you should consider something like watching Full House reruns instead.

This book by Robert Perry is very technical and highly detailed, and yet is easy to read and enjoyable. The best book I've ever read on sailboat design. Mr. Perry explains complex aspects of naval architecture in a manner that even a layman can grasp. His personal backstories about his designs provide an amazing insight into the business of being a yacht designer, and an excellent micro-history of the boatbuilding industry in Taiwan. Whether you're a fan of Robert Perry's designs or just like reading about boats, this is great read.

If you sail, like boats or want a history according to Perry of fiberglass boat building then this is a must read.If you are in the sailing yacht buying category then this book is a must read.This book presents design concepts based on Perry's boats that can make the reader into an informed buyer.However the line drawings are not easy to read and it would have been interesting to see several more sheets and details of some of the yachts that are briefly discussed.The essays on hull and keel design could go on! Maybe this will be reprised and expanded at a later date!

This book is excellent if you are designing a monohull. The author and highly successful naval architect shares his secrets with depth, breadth and clarity. If you are a multihull designer, this book will not be of much use, but it is definitely a treasure for monohull designers.