What would you build first?

[dgreene]

First, hello, I've been lurking a while and reading the archives.

Last weekend I took my two daughters (2yo/4yo) out in our 17' aluminum battleship/canoe. Needless to say they had a blast, and after finally convincing them that they shouldn't both hang out the same side we were on our way without incident.

Looking for something that is a little less barge like now, plus an excuse for a new project. Had been considering a spindrift 11/12? for a while now, but have recently been looking at a birder 2.

Has anyone put a sail rig on birder 2 before? Like CLC mill creek setup?

which spindrift size for 6'3" 230 lb guy w/ 2 little ones along? Room for us all in the Birder 2?

Would mostly be on lakes/rivers around Austin area, and the occasional trip down to the texas coast (asst'd in-laws in Corpus Christi).

Looking forward to hearing opinions on here.

[Howard]

Lets see....a big guy with two small children who will be bigger children by the time this is finished. The larger Spindrifts might do it, but if you wanted a bit more boat, how about Graham's Bay River Skiff? At 15 feet, not much more trouble than the Spindrift and it would expand your range. Something they can also handle as they grow into it. Or go all out with the Core Sound 17.

[PeterP]

My daughters were exactly the same age when I built the Spin 10. That was some 15- 16 years ago. My kids learned to sail in that thing and let me tell you that nothing warms dad's heart better than seeing his babies sail in a boat he put together himself. Still have her, in fact I am in a process of resurecting her after all these years for the sweetheart- in- chief who decided that- is- the- best- boat-ever- and -God-bless -Graham. Hoping to have some pictures of Lil'Red for you all as soon as I can figure out how to post them.PeterP

[dgreene]

Will have to re-consider something bigger I suppose. I'm pretty sure I saw envy in some eyes the other day when I drove down the boat ramp, plopped the canoe down, parked the car and was off w/ the kids. The two other boats putting in were still moving stuff from their truck to the boat while we were making our way across the lake. Simple felt good, especially w/ the 2 short attention span crew members.

I was pretty surprised to see almost as many canoe/kayaks out there as ski/fishing boats. Unfortunately not a single sail on the lake. Probably didn't hurt that the lake was so low only 1 ramp was still in the water.