The 3/6/05 Lake Peachtree launch was successful! All the time spent preparing this boat ended up paying off and we had a great time. Even better is the fact that it will continue to pay off as we get some fishing done out of this craft and start planning some Saturday and Sunday afternoons around going to the lake and such.

1) My seat idea (you see them in the first few pictures) was theoretical very intriguing. Practically, however, not so good. putting the seats on the rub rail is sort of like having somebody grab the sides of the boat and shake it, trying to turn it over. very unstable. I could drop the seats down about 4-5 inches and make them permanent but I think I'll be looking to get the seat plans from Uncle John's for $5. His seats have a nice back and a low profile (plus, they're portable). We ended up sitting on the floor (which is what a lot of folks do anyway) and that worked out much, much better. Good thing I didn't buy wood to build those seats and built them out of scrap.

2) The boat is a whole lot easier to transport than I thought it was going to be. I'll admit, I was a little intimidated by the thought of tying a fancy piece of plywood on top of the van. In the end, though, it rode very well and after Paul fell out of a tree at the lake and wasn't able to help me get it back on the van, I found the boat to be light enough to load by myself.

3) Kids love the water and they love the whole aura of a boat. Sarah wanted to turn it over so she could get in the lake. Paul paddled like a wild-man. Emma was quite thrilled when her time came to ride while Katie, though excited, was much more reserved. Seems that she had a vision of sharks being in that lake and her ending up in the lake with them.

5) The boat is fairly easy to handle and would probably be very easy to handle with two experienced paddlers. I'm training a few up right now so we'll be in good shape in no time.

7) The name of the boat is "Little Skater", the first and only good name that has been suggested. Sarah came up with that in about 5-10 seconds after I solicited ideas. We painted that name on the front of the boat in nice, nautical looking font.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures and remember: this all started with the picture entitled "Paul Dad Boat". Yes, you too can build your own boat.

Not to insinuate that I'm trying to pay you back but I have probably told at least 50 people about this project (not to mention how many my son has told at school). Anyway, I've gotten a huge amount of positive feedback on this. I think most people are like me: they've never even thought of building a boat. But once you see that it can be done, all of the sudden you've just got to do it. I found your site while poking around planning for a 2-3 day Suwannee river trip this summer (something I did when I was a boy and now its time to share that). I started thinking "now, imagine you do that 2-3 day-er in a boat that you and the boy built". Now that's something to write home about. From then until now there's been a lot of chatter in our house about UncleJohns.com and this boat.