'yak attack

When my older boys were just little tykes, I bought an older fiberglass canoe.  It was a great moment in negotiating (which has never been a strength of mine).  After examining it at my brother's neighbor's yard sale, the purchase went something like this:

Me (with my two toddler sons in tow and thinking that the $150 price was probably reasonable):  "Will ya take one twenty five?"

Jim (rubbing his chin and probably remembering when his kids were little):  "Naw, I won't..." (pause for dramatic effect) "but, I'll take a hundred."

Although I had visions of fun family outings and possible peaceful solo paddling jaunts, the reality is that it is quite a lot of effort to use the thing... dragging it out of the shed...getting it on the car top (which is permanently scarred from a few canoe "oops" episodes)... strapping it down... getting it off the car top and into the water...

Jen proved to only be good for short outings (making it hard to justify the effort), so the boys were only out in it a few times (riding in the center).  Over the past few years, they've gotten big enough to paddle, so we've had it out for a few guys-only outings, but, there's still that effort thing...

It has mostly rested comfortably in my shed. (Sorry, Jim!)

I love the idea of a canoe, but I've long been attracted to kayaks.  The dilemma is that it seemed selfish to trade my canoe (which can accommodate two adults and one or two kids) for a kayak (which can accommodate... me).  I considered purchasing multiple kayaks, but the expense of multiple boats and licenses didn't seem practical for this frugal Dad!

Although that's pretty much the extent of my sons exposure to boating, both Dylan and Zachary have had a long-standing interest in boats. 

I'm not sure of his exact age, but it was probably around six... Dylan (who has always wanted to be an inventor) devised a plan to build his own boat, the "Teeth Warrior".  It was to be a one-man battleship with large metal "teeth" covering the exterior.  Everyone knows a good battleship is made of metal, so Dylan was going to fashion it out of the only source of large quantities of metal a boy of six could get his hands on...

"Mom, can you start saving me your tin cans?  I want to cut the sides off of them and hook them together to build a boat... I drew plans... do you think this'll work, Dad?"

Although he kept the plans for a long time and was convinced that he would some day build the boat, he has since lost them (but not before I scanned and saved them!)  I'll share them with you (with Dylan's permission) if you promise not to steal them and build your own battleship!

the "Teeth Warrior" master blueprint

Zachary's interest in boats manifested itself in the building of model boats.  Last summer, he found some foam blocks and crafted two model boats from it... the "Bessy I" and the "Bessy II".  Without any help, he cut, glued and taped pieces of foam together to actually fashion a curved hull, with a Captain's cab atop the boat.  They resembled a Maine lobster boat.  They were very impressive, and he actually floated them on a string in a calm section of the river, above our town falls.  One got away from him and went over the falls.  It survived the crash, and, amazingly, he was able to retrieve it below the falls and repair it.  His intent was that the Bessy's I and II were prototypes of boats he would build someday.  Unfortunately, I don't think we ever photographed the Bessy's and I could not locate them... I think the foam finally disintegrated.

Dylan's love of fishing matches his interest in boats.  About the time we started getting the canoe out for a few guy's outings, he started pestering me to "go in with him" to buy a fishing boat (even though I really don't much care for fishing).  We was going to save his Christmas and birthday money, along with money that a generous relative pays the kids for grades, so that we could buy a boat together.

And then, I got an idea... how about fishing from a kayak?  Angling kayaks are fairly popular and we could buy two entry-level kayaks for probably less than we could buy a small fishing boat.  He started looking at kayaks online and he was hooked. 

He passed the bug to Zachary... make it three kayaks... "can we buy some, Dad?"

I told them if they saved their money, it would be feasible to buy their own kayaks in their early teens, and if they were diligent, I would let them make the purchase and buy my own so we could all go out together... envisioning Zachary and I paddling around and exploring while Dylan angled for the big one nearby.  Shortly thereafter, Dylan had the opportunity to clean a couple horse stalls on Saturday mornings for a man at church.  Although his first "job" was fairly short lived, it quickly advanced the young man's savings account to put a kayak easily within reach... before his teen years.

The dilemma, though, was that it was a pact of three, and young son Zachary was still short of cash.  Hearing of the dilemma, the relative offered Zachary an advance against next year's good grades (no pressure, Zachary) to speed up his purchase.

I began shopping to see just how close Zachary's finances were and discovered a pretty good sale on a decent boat.  Ideally, I wanted him to have a little more reserve after he made the purchase, but since he technically had enough to purchase it and not be totally broke (and my kids are growing up so fast), I made the decision... we'll take three kayaks, please!

After a short bout of buyer's remorse (which I was a little pleased that they experienced... it was a big expenditure for young men... and for frugal Dad, as well!), they were nearly pee-your-pants excited to be ten and twelve years old and boat owners!  Today was the planned "maiden voyage".

At 9.5 feet long and 37 pounds each, they are alot easier to move around than my 17 foot canoe.  And, unlike my canoe, they fit great on my 8 foot utility trailer.  I need to fashion a rack of sorts for stacking them on my trailer, but in an effort to efficiently and quickly get them the few miles across town to the river, I discovered that they fit fairly nicely in the van!

I was loaded up and ready when Jen discovered my plan.  "How are you going to get them back home?", says she.  "Why, the same way I get them there, in the van.", says I.  "Wet kayaks covered in river water?  Not in my van.", says she.  "Hmmmm, good point.", says I.

Plan B:  Out of the van and onto the trailer.  Luckily, I only needed to go a few miles.  Yep, I need to figure a better trailering system, but we got them there safely.

Zachary will "grow into" his boat over the next few years, but handled it well.  Dylan is already planning where to add rod holders and how to stow his tackle box.

It was a beautiful evening to be on the water. We paddled about a mile upstream until a log jamb necessitates a portage, then let the lazy river ease us back to our take-out. The kayaks are more relaxing than my canoe... (if you don't mind the paddle tips dripping water in your lap!) The boys evidently didn't mind... "Dad, can we do it again tomorrow?"