Boaters continue to tell us how much they appreciate the annually published Waggoner Cruising Guide and continue to send us accolades about the tremendous amount of work that goes into creating the guide each year that includes the latest information and important updates. The Waggoner editors and Waggoner field correspondents are always checking on notices and leads regarding changes and happenings on Puget Sound and the Inside Passage to keep boaters informed via the Waggoner Guide and our online Updates Table.
Every fall we work diligently to layout a new edition of the Waggoner Guide and Ports and Passes and rush these publications off to the printers in time for the boat shows. Not just to any printer, but a printer who can print, bind, and ship 7,000 copies of the 528-page Waggoner Guide and 6,000 copies of the 624-page Ports and Passes; it’s a huge print job. This year, publisher Mark Bunzel visited the Walsworth printing plant in Wisconsin for a first-hand view of the printing machines in action. It was impressive to see the scale of this print project and the size of the printing press. The team at Walsworth have the expertise to make the production of these books possible. The video says it all.
After the Managing Editors assemble all of the gathered research and updates, they edit and layout each page of the Waggoner Guide using the publication layout software, InDesign. Each page is carefully laid out with attention to keep text, maps, photos, and ads for each destination on the same page or two-page spread. PDF files are then created and uploaded to the printers. The printer in turn sends noted printer error reports to be reviewed and corrected as needed, such as margin errors, color issues (RGB vs CMYK, and Spot vs Process), and other noted items; each page often has 10 to 100 issues requiring attention. Individual corrected pages are then sent back to the printer as page replacements.
The print job is run on huge paper rolls with individual Waggoner page images in groups of 16 or 32 pages, called “signatures.” The Waggoner consists of 20 individual signatures and a cover. The rolls of paper for this press run are 32 inches across and 8 feet tall. Once threaded into the press, the paper is fed through multiple stations for each of the 4 ink colors that make up the print process. 7,000 copies are run for the first signature, then 7,000 copies of the next signature and so on. The printing process runs at 28,000 pages per hour. After going through the 4 color print stations, each signature sheet of paper is mechanically folded so that the pages are in the correct order, an amazing origami-like process. As a separate step, all the folded signature packets are collated for final assembly.
The cover is printed separately on a thicker paper stock and laminated with a thin plastic coating to help protect it from the wet marine environment. Once all printed pages of the book are assembled, the cover is wrapped around all of the collated signature packets. The assembled book is then “perfect bound” (glued together with the cover) and all 3 edges are trimmed off. For many books this is the end of the process. For the Waggoner Guide and for Ports and Passes Tide and Current Guide this is not the end of the process. The books are then shipped to another Walsworth plant where the perfect binding is cut off and each book is drilled with holes, and a coiled wire fed through the holes for what is referred to as “coil binding” for that easy open, lay-flat feature that boaters love.
The books are wrapped in plastic and placed into shipping boxes and stacked on palettes. The pallets are loaded into a 40-foot tractor trailer to be driven to the Waggoner/Fine Edge Anacortes warehouse, a critical step. We say critical because our production schedule often has our books being shipped in December from the Midwest to Anacortes, WA. We sweat this step because of possible snow storms that can cover the interstate highways between the Midwest and Anacortes. A lot can go wrong. Our worst fear is that an entire load of 7,000 Waggoner books and/or 6,000 Ports and Passes could end up in a snowbank alongside the highway. Our goal is to always have the latest editions of our guidebooks available at the Seattle Boat Show, Vancouver Boat Show, and for retailers by the end of January.
We have good news. The 2025 Waggoner Cruising Guides have made it through the whole process and have arrived safely by truck in Anacortes; and the Ports and Passes tide & current guides are on their way. You can order your Waggoner books through our new online bookstore at www.waggonerbooks.com, or pickup your books at our store located at 910 B 25th Street in Anacortes, WA, or visit us at the Seattle Boat Show, Booth No. 716.
Video: Mark Bunzel
Photos: Walsworth
