This is the third major catalog of boat plans compiled by Cynthia Curtis, Doug Hylan and Mike O'Brien. Other books are 'Fifty Wooden Boats' and 'Thirty Wooden Boats'.

This is the first of three major catalogues compiled by the editors of WoodenBoat Magazine. The other books in this series are 'Thirty Wooden Boats' and 'Forty Wooden Boats'.

This catalog of plans for wooden boats includes an extensive bibliography of resources for use by the craftsman.

Assembled by WoodenBoat magazine, Forty Wooden Boats contains classic and contemporary designs of cruising boats, powerboats, daysailers, performance rowing craft, sailing and pulling boats, and canoes and kayaks.....Each design is given two pages, with profile lines and hull sectional lines so that the would-be owner can see the shape of the three dimensional boat. Honest commentary about the design particulars including LOA, LWL, beam, draft, displacement, and sail area are included, as well as skill level, type of construction, performance, and more.....Here are forty different designs, from old masters as well as from promising young architects, none of which are repeated in Fifty Wooden Boats or Thirty Wooden Boats.

"Former Mystic Seaport Curator Ben Fuller has selected and annotated 87 boat plans from the Museum's collection, plus plans for oars and rigging, with the amateur builder in mind. He offers a brief background on each boat, notes their strengths and weaknesses, and offers construction tips or suggestions for using the plans to help the reader select the right boat. The boats range from simple skiffs through handsome Whitehalls and sleek canoes, to a 20-foot catboat."

Clear concise manual for amateurs offers detailed illustrated instructions for building 16 basic wooden craft — rowboats, sailboats, outboards, runabouts, hydroplane, more. 15 halftones. 49 line illustrations.