I agree with Don: build a canoe first - its far more versatile. I am assuming you and your family are novice paddlers and will be paddling in sheltered waters with little wave action to swamp the boat and have easy access to shore if the wind kicks up. In my experience with scouts, my niece and kids of fellow paddlers, kids typically don't have the strength to paddle long until about 10, nor the focus to paddle distance until the early teens, especially solo. A 16-17 foot canoe could be easily used with 2, 3 or all four family members. With removable seats or low chairs in the middle, everyone gets their own space - a camping pad would give the 3-yr-old a nap space. For a 1-2 hour paddle with one of the kids, you or Ms. Bucket sit in the bow seat facing the stern to paddle - the lil' Buckette sits in the stern seat also facing the rear and can now easily reach over the side to paddle. With judicious equipment choice and packing, the whole family could use the same boat for a week-long canoe trip without overloading it (think backpacking, except you don't have to carry all your stuff and the 3-yr-old on your back every minute you're moving). Don't want to learn traditional canoe paddle strokes to control the boat? No problem, double-blade sea "kayak" paddles work just fine in canoes and make it easier for novices to paddle where they want to go and enjoy getting there.

There are many stripper canoe designs out there, but your kayak choices suggest you're interested in S&G building. Therefore, take a look at Pygmy Boats new S&G canoe design, the 17 ft. Taiga. It's a very sharp looking canoe with traditional lines and form. It probably would do quite nicely for the Bucket brigade. The Pygmy webpage for this design has a link to a very complete website of a customer with pages of photos detailing every step of construction. Well worth a look.

As your family gains experience, you can start adding solo kayaks to your fleet to suit your needs and tastes. As your skills grow in the canoe, you can add partial or full removable spray decks to help keep out small waves.

What ever you choose, Enjoy!

Dave S.

: I would recommend building a canoe as your family craft. It can carry all
: four of you in comfort. The three year old can sit in the middle the 9
: year old and one of the adults can switch off.

: Ask yourself this question. How far or how long is a 9-year-old going to want
: to paddle? Probably not nearly as far or a long, as you want to go. The
: canoe solves this problem by putting the 9-year-old in a boat with an
: adult. If you still want a kayak, build two, one for the wife, and one for
: you. Then paddle them on those nice weekend getaways.

: As the 9 year old matures, gets stronger, and gets a longer attention span
: (trust me it will happen some day I have a 14 and an 18 year old) you
: might need to build new kayak. But by that time you will be itching to
: build a new one anyway.