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Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children *LINK*
By:Andy Waddington
Date: 1/8/2003, 5:36 am

: Mark thought that, and has I believe implimented, the method of widening the
: boats to possibly 20 or more inches. I had come up with a beam of 18,
: which is about an inch above their average. The kids are non-paddlers,
: from 6 - 9 and weigh in from 50 to 70 lbs.

: Mark mentioned the idea of asking folks that may bave smaller paddlers or
: taught others small children to paddler what they felt would be best.

I built a Great Auk scaled to 5/6 of Nick Schade's design size. This gives it an overall beam of 20" (in US units) or 50 cm, and an overall length of 4.3m. My kids were (last summer) five and nearly eight, although the elder is small for her age. They can both climb into the boat from deep water and have to stand up and throw themselves around to capsize the boat. I reckon 20" is *way* too wide for teaching kids things like bracing, and they can't do leaned turns because they just aren't tall and heavy enough to lean the boat ! In fact, I built this boat by consulting child growth tables which predict Sarah will have an adult weight of between 40 and 45 Kg, and the boat is intended to be suitable for her to use as a dayboat up until at least her student days. If I was building a boat to last only the few years of learning to kayak, I would build one *much* smaller than this (but then I would not be able to test it myself ) - :

Of course, if you build a shorter boat with less volume, then a 50cm beam will be a bit tippier. Scaling a boat linearly doesn't quite work as you'd hope because children are not simply scaled down adults. However, I'm sure that a much narrower boat would be a better idea - your (grand)kids have to propel it with a much lower muscle mass and all the scaling laws are against them. Giving them a shorter, wider boat just makes it worse. Kids have great balance and the earlier they start learning, the better they will get. Most learners have more trouble keeping a straight line than keeping upright, in calm waters, so a long narrow boat which they have to lean to turn is almost certainly an excellent way to start. Starting young, they will probably think a 20" boat is boringly stable as adults !!

Andy

Messages In This Thread

Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children
Rehd -- 1/7/2003, 11:42 pm
Re: Many Thanks
Rehd -- 1/9/2003, 2:58 am
Question: Should kids know how to swim first?
Dan Ruff -- 1/8/2003, 9:39 am
Re: Question: Should kids know how to swim first?
Don Flowers -- 1/8/2003, 12:11 pm
Re: Question: Should kids know how to swim first?
Shawn Baker -- 1/8/2003, 11:14 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children *Pic*
Greg Stamer -- 1/8/2003, 9:26 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children
Severne -- 1/8/2003, 11:13 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children *LINK* *Pic*
Greg Stamer -- 1/8/2003, 2:24 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children
Shawn Baker -- 1/8/2003, 11:11 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children
Greg Stamer -- 1/8/2003, 2:09 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children
Kent LeBoutillier -- 1/8/2003, 6:23 am
Pete Strand's work *LINK* *Pic*
Dan Ruff -- 1/8/2003, 9:20 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children *LINK*
Andy Waddington -- 1/8/2003, 5:36 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children
Marcel Rodriguez -- 1/8/2003, 12:11 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Paddling... The Children *LINK* *Pic*
Marcel Rodriguez -- 1/8/2003, 12:29 am
Child's Kayak
Tom Moss -- 1/8/2003, 12:35 am
That picture is amazing
Dan Ruff -- 1/8/2003, 9:56 am
Re: That picture is amazing
Travis Kinchen -- 1/9/2003, 4:23 pm
Re: Child's Kayak
Peter Lyons -- 1/8/2003, 9:29 am