> I'm interested in designing and building a simple kayak that would suit a
> young (5-7 year) child. Has anyone built or seen designs for something
> similar? I'm keen to design it myself, but would be interested in
> discussing appropriate dimensions, proportions and construction
> alternatives.

> What would be particularly interesting would be to come up with an easily
> scalable design that could be modified to suit different age groups:
> children grow very quickly!

> Any input welcomed.

> Thanks,

> Mark Battley, Auckland, New Zealand

Mark, we do a 13.5' kayak with a 22" beam which is basically a scaled down version of one of our larger boats. The main difference is a closer spacing of the offsets (with a bit of additional tweaking). Our larger kayaks are 16.5' and 18.5' long. This has resulted in a very nice boat for people under 100 lbs. Our 9 year old grandson paddles this boat very easily, and it is extremely stable. He can easily get back into it in deep water without it even tipping over. He weighs 60-70 lbs. and I would guess that the boat will fit him for another two or three years. His younger brother also has no problem handling this boat.

You could probably do something similar with a number of plans.

Grant