Book review: Voyaging Under Power - Cruising Dream (TEST)

Ok, finally completed Voyaging Under Power. I did start a review here.

3rd Edition

So, this will come as a surprise seeing on how I started the review glowingly, so the first 6-7 chapters are very useful to get the understanding of what Voyaging Under Power means, all the coefficients and all the formulas to help you understand stability better.

Unfortunately the book, takes a disappointing turn after that. The 4th edition makes voyaging under power a snobby affair, I think Captain Robert Beebe would be turning in his grave. Although Denis Umstot, the creator of Passage Maker magazine, a good magazine, has has a lot of experience with living aboard and trawlering, makes this book caters to only the top 5% of the population. This is much contrary to Captain Beebe's original approach.

So, for this reason, I would instead recommend reading an older version of the book. They are available starting at $0.01 (yes, 1 cent) at amazon (used) section. I myself am reading an old copy form the library and notice the total difference in approach.

So, basically, if you have $1mil of floating cash, go ahead and follow the principles of the 4th edition of Voyaging Under Power, for the rest of us, look for simpler solutions. Many people voyage (maybe not across) oceans on Taiwan Tubs such as the Marine Traders, Albins, DeFevers, etc. Its unfortunate they totally miss this market.

Also many people do voyage across oceans on trawler without requiring the all full electronics of an RV: televisions, washing machines, dishwasher, etc. This is really where this book gets ridiculous. I dont remember if Kerosene lamps are even mentioned once in this book...they are other options than electricity and generators for everything.