: After taking a summers diverson building a 30' alum. hulled houseboat I have
: decided to build the kids a boat. (My wife and I have found that 3 boys
: ages 7,4 and 2 on a 30' houseboat is a little snug!!)

: I'd like to find a design in the 10'- 14' range that one or two of the boys
: could use/paddle at a time. I've built both S&G and strip so either will
: work for me. Its use would obviously be in sheltered inland waters under
: carefull supervision. I've seen designs in the Glen-L catalog but not much
: else. Does anyone have any recommendations?

: thanks, Lance Chico,CA

Pygmy Boats has two small S&G kayaks, the Golden Eye 10 and 13. These are only available in "kit" and "full kit" form (see the website for definitions...). Plans are not available for either of these boats. The smaller boat might be best for the young'uns, but there won't be much room to grow.

http://www.pygmyboats.com/

Chesapeake Light Craft has one small kayak, the Chesapeake 14. It is available both as a full kit and as a plan set.

http://www.clcboats.com/

I'm currently finishing up a Chessie 14 for my daughter. She has padled it a number of times, all it really needs is the final fitting out in the cockpit and a coat of paint on the exterior hull. She has picked a nice blue, and it will go on after it comes in for the winter...

My daughter is just 12 and small for her age, so she might be about the size of your 7 year old!

CLC also sells kits and plans for number of other small craft. If you're not looking only at kayaks, they might have something else that strikes your fancy.

I have been very pleased with CLC. I have no experience with Pygmy, although other posts indicate the they make a good product as well.

Of course, Nick Schade's own company (Guillemot Kayaks - owner of this BBS) has two small Strip boat plans. There is the 14 foot Great Auk and the 11 foot Little Auk (a fairly wide beamed short yak). The link below should send you to Nick's "product list". Cut and paste into your browser Location field.

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Merchant/merchant.mv?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=guille

I have a preliminary website up, and you can link to it to see what a CLC Chessie 14 looks like. (I AM going to do something with this site, Honest!)

coop