: . . . My niece is 17 almost 18 and a Girl Scout canoe instructor. Loves the
: outdoors and she may prefer a canoe. But she wants to try kayaking too. I
: think I am just going to build two kayaks and go from there. I wouldn't
: mind a small double paddle canoe, but my interest really is in a Kayak.

Get a bit personal, and ask your niece what she weighs. Then tack on 20 pounds (she'll grow) and take a good look at the kayak plans on Tom Yost's website. www.yostwerks.com

Tom bases many of his designs around a frame made from aluminum tubing and an extremely durable skin made from PVC-reinforced vinyl. This is fast to work with, and you can take the frame apart easily. Several people ahve built these with frames amde from wood. You can use commonly available exterior plywood for the frame forms and locally available hardwoods or softwoods for the stringers. If you can't find long lengths of clear lumber for the stringers, you can make your own by gluing up two or more pieces of shorter stock with long diagonal (scarf) joints.

The pieces can be packaged in two or more bundles, with each one weighing a bit more than a bowling ball. You can store the boat in a closet, send it on an airplane as luggage, or fit it in the trunk of most cars. When your niece goes to college, or gets a job away from home, she can take her boat with her.

Tom shows his boats being built with white 1/2"-thick HDPE (High Density PolyEthylene) plastic. This is basically the same stuff used for making kitchen cutting boards, and you can buy big cutting boards to obtain materials. Lumberyard by my house is now stocking a gray "plastic plywood" which is 7/16-inch-thick HDPE in 4'x4' and 4'x8' panels. This stuff is not FDA approved for cutting boards, and just a bit thinner, but it seems to work the same--and it costs much less. It is under $30 for a 4'x4' panel. Since the plastic has no grain to deal with, I can rotate the pieces at will and, with a careful arrangement, I can cut two sets of the 7 frames of Yost's Sea Tour 17-R from a 4'x4' panel. That might make it feasible for you and your niece to have matching boats.

Just a thought.

Good luck with your building project.

PGJ