Emilie,
Congratulations, and good for you that your husband will build you a boat!!! Does he have experience building boats? Does he have one for his own use? Day trips! But eventually will you be taking longer trips as a family? What kind of water do you see yourself paddling most often? Do you see yourself carrying your boat much? What kind of vehicle do you have to get you and your boat to the water? How much storage space do you have for your finished boat?

I built my wife a Pygmy Osprey Standard...she's five two, about a hundred pounds. The Osprey Standard was uncomplicated to build, and the paddling characteristics are appropriate for a part time/recreational paddler, who enjoys a simple outing on light and sunny days. This boat could handle an overnight in heavier days, and could be pressed to handle longer outings given there are other boats to help support the community gear and food.

The Shooting Star designed by Rob Macs is a very pretty boat, definitely one that turns heads on the water on the top of your car. I've built her bigger sister the North Star, and I love that design...since the first time I saw her in a magazine from Newfound Woodworks. The biforcated bow and swept sturn of the Aleut designs are a challenge to put together, but so seem the lines of Nick Shade's Gillimout...

If you have a mind, you might look into skin on frame construction...Mark Rogers of Whitelow, WI does workshops, you and your husband could look into Superior Kayaks and sign up for a week long workshop where you would be bringing home your boat, ready for finishing touches and six weeks away from launching...these boats would be totally tailored to your size, based on personal body ratios.

If you are into a tandem, you could build one of those out of skin on frame as well, but the skin on frame versions usually run longer than the storage space available, and you could possibly check into the designs that are available through The Bear Mountain Boat Shop, Guillimout, and Pygmy.

I suggest that tandem because you could paddle with your husband now or as a family before your child is of age to paddle by him/her self, and with you child as he/she grows up.

Our friends should have ample suggestions, and my suggestions are based on boats I've already built (except for the Guillimout boats...haven't built one of those...yet). Good Luck!
Cruz, W.F.

: Hi All-

: My husband said he will build me a boat, but I have to decide which one. I
: think that I want one for day paddling only, because at this point we
: can't really take trips until our daughter gets a bit bigger. I'm not sure
: what design or whether to go strip, S&G, or Hybrid. I can probably help or
: do a lot of the work on a S&G myself. I'm 5' 3" and weigh 135. What
: are good designs for someone my size? I'd really like to hear from people
: my size who paddle them, too.