Six years ago, John Kretschmer and Sheridan House came out with a compilation of 40 used-boat reviews that John had written for Sailing magazine. That book, Used Boat Notebook, was (and continues to be) a valuable resource for good old boaters.

Now a sequel, The Best Used Boat Notebook, has made its debut. The names and covers look very much alike and are likely to be confused.

Don’t let yourself be confused. John has made a second significant contribution to the bookshelves of those good old boaters who are shopping for their next sailboat, by offering reviews of 40 more great and affordable boats.

Each book (both can be purchased from the Good Old Boat Bookshelf) comes with reviews of 10 additional world cruisers, for a total of 50 boats in each book. John also includes appendix items of interest: dimensions and ratios (he explains the significance of those formulas and ratios, such as sail area-to-displacement) and a glossary of terms. The newer book even comes with John’s ode to good old boats: an article written about the value and worth of good old used boats.

A minor rant: the boats covered in John’s books are getting larger as time goes on, and the reader has to wonder why he included 10 new boats suitable for world cruising in his used boat book when there are many older candidates just as suitable?

As I noted when I reviewed the first of this pair of books in 2002,  there is no sense in reviewing a book of reviews. Instead, I recommended the book highly and listed the boats that were included. I continue to recommend the newer book. Here’s the list of boats covered this time:

19- to 30-footers
West Wight Potter 19, Santana 22, Com-Pac 23, Nimble Kodiak 26, Grampian 26, Pearson 26, Bristol 27, Catalina 27, Nor’Sea 27, Newport 28, Catalina 28, J/29, Alberg 30, Dufour Arpege 30

32- to 36-footers
Contessa 32, Freedom 32, Jeanneau Attalia 32, Islander 32 Mk II, Caliber 33, Pacific Seacraft 34, Sabre 34, Hallberg-Rassy 34, Tartan 34, C&C 35, CS 36 Traditional, Morris Justine 36, PDQ 36

37- to 52-footers
Express 37, Lagoon 37, Pacific Seacraft 37, O’Day 37, Prout Snowgoose 37, Cabo Rico 38, Privilege 39, Cal 39, Passport 40, Pearson 40, Venezia 42, Beneteau First 456, Irwin 52

10 great new boats to sail around the world
Tartan 3400, Southerly 110, Hanse 400, J/133, Hunter 45CC, Catalina Morgan 440, Island Packet 440, Cabo Rico 42, Lagoon 500, Beneteau 523

The Best Used Boat Notebook by John Kretschmer (Sheridan House, 2007; 240 pages)