John,

The Point Bennet boats look good, but the max weight is 210#, might not be suitable for Bob's weight and seems too big for a 8 or 10 YO child.

: I've built a few kayaks- both wood-strip and S&G (no SOF boats),
: including one Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 kit.

: A few thoughts:
: Unless you know exactly what you want/need, and can't find it in an
: established design, I'd recommend against modifying a design for
: your first build.
: There's a pretty good selection of designs (and kits) 'out there'.

: If there is any way you can paddle 'a bunch' of boats (other
: builders in the area? kayak get-togethers, renting commercial
: boats, etc), it would help your selection process a lot. There
: are a lot of Pygmy boats out there, so you might find some in
: your area to try. (or take a west coast holiday to Port
: Townsend... ;-) )

: Kits: If you were building a S&G boat with marine-grade plywood,
: you'd probably find that the cost would be a good fraction of
: the price of a kit. And you would save a lot of work. Using kit
: panels is much less trouble than laying out and cutting them
: (accurately) yourself.

: I can sit on the floor with my legs straight, but it's a 'whole
: 'nother thing' paddling like that for a few hours, for me.

: What's your budget?
: How much time do you want to spend on the build?
: Have you decided to build a frame-type (SOF) boat, or are you also
: considering strippers and S&G boats?

: Duane Strosaker's Point Bennett is a nice looking kayak which
: should have pretty solid secondary stability. It would be at the
: top of my list if I were building another S&G boat.

: http://www.rollordrown.com/kayak/index.html