> Hi! for my sixth grade math classes (who rightfully want to know,
> "why do we gotta learn this?!), I proposed the idea of building a
> kayak, and they loved it!! I started learning how to kayak in Alaska,
> where I taught this last year, and I now teach in my home area of Minturn,
> Colorado (near Vail). Can anyone help me with a great way to make their
> dreams come true? Please e-mail me at kdryan@earthlink.com--thanks!

Kirsten, My wife teaches 5th grade and I am a retired teacher. Right now, in my garage, I am building a modified Mill Creek 13 from the plans printed in Woodenboat Magazines back issues May/June 1997 (#136) and July/August 1997 (#137). You can order these back issues from Woodenboat or the full plans from Chesapeake Light Craft, Inc.. When I told a friend of mine who is a 4H sponsor what I was doing, he asked me to if I thought it could be a good 4H project. He gave me certain perameters. 1. Could it be built cheaply from lumber yard materials? We don't exactly have a Sea Kayak Shop in Kansas. 2. Could all the pieces be cut out ahead of time so the kids don't lose any fingers in the process? 3. Could the epoxy be handled by kids? 4.Could it go together without torturing or extremely bending the plywood? Would it take a lot of rough use after it is finished? So now I am looking at my project differntly than what I started. I think the answer to all the above questions could be yes. The hull will go together easily but I will have to modify the deck more on the order of Pygmy Kayaks "Golden Eye" line. As a class project, I think it would be great. The kids would learn about composites and they would have to convert the table of offsets. Bye the way, you will need a magnifying glass to read the table of offsets in Woodenboat. I would be happy to correspond with you as my project proceeds. Jerry Brown