Well, my 13 year old daughter has been bugging me for some time now that she wants to build her own boat. I worked in a kayak shop and would often bring home boats for her to paddle for a day or for a trip. Over the past couple of years she has paddled all kinds of different sea kayaks from many different manufacturers -- I even offered to buy her one -- any one. But she snubbed it and said that what she really wants is to build her own boat.

So, a few days ago she started building her own kayak. She's building a Bear Mountain Magic kit -- the very first one ever produced for the public. The Magic is designed by Steve Killing, the well known Canadian yacht designer. It's 18'2" in length and 22 1/2" wide with lots of hatch space -- it should prove to be a fast touring boat -- exactly the type of kayak that my daughter likes best.

She will be doing the build pretty much on her own, with a bit of guidance from me when she needs it. She's a bit of a perfectionist so I'm anticipating that she'll be doing a pretty good job of it. She's also decided that she wants to personalize the boat and has come up with a really cool idea to make the boat uniquely her own, but you'll have to watch the build to see what it is.

The build journal is at the link below the photo and there is a discussion that has been started on the wcp forums at the following link:

http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1922

Please feel welcome to drop in and offer her tips or encouragement.

I must say that it is rather satisfying to share my passion for paddling with my daughter but it's more than I could hope for to have her also building her own boat. I'm definitely a lucky Dad.

Dan

http://www.westcoastpaddler.com

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