Plug Nickel is a collection of columns written by author Joel Thurtell about the trials and tribulations of restoring a wooden Lightning sailboat. The "boat" was actually a mold used to make fiberglass boats in the 1960s through 1980s, but it just happened that the mold was the last wooden Lightning sailboat made by boat builder Nickels & Holman. hence the name. It was a male mold, and male molds are nicknamed "plugs." Hence the name, "Plug Nickel."The columns were originally published in the Lightning "Flashes," a publication of the International Lightning Class Association. The essays deal with the how-to of restoring wooden boats, the psychology and philosophy of collecting and fixing antique and the problem of time spent away from family because of an obsession.The book emphasizes trying to restore a boat economically, or "on a shoestring.' It's important to note that the author, Joel Thurtell, was a newspaper reporter and not a trained woodworker. Much of his how-to information is spiced with his own take on how to make things work on a sailboat when the fixer is a layman with no special boatbuilding training.