three kayaks sitting on a beach next to a tent
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A Special Siskiwit LV Built

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Back 2020, Jan picked up a Siskiwit LV Sea Kayak Drawing and decided to build a modified sea kayak from the drawings. He recently wrote about what he did and how it turned out:

“At the beginning of the pandemic I bought the plan from you. Although you did not recommend modifying the sizes, I tried it anyway. Today I am very happy that I did.

I shortened the kayak to 82% by reducing the distance between the stations and decreased the plan to 90%. This resulted in a kayak with 4.3 m (14 feet 1 inch) and 49 cm (19.3 inches) wide at about 16 kg (35 pounds).

Usually, I have to pull my son because he prefers to take a nap instead of paddling. Last summer we went to Denmark for a five-day trip on the sea between little islands, and he never capsized. It is stable enough for a child and still quite fast in the rare cases he wants to make a race with me.

That’s probably the best kayak for children we could have as nothing comparable exists on the market. And it’s a real sea kayak with skeg, lines, 2 compartments for camping equipment and a nice epoxy/glass coaming.

Thanks again for making this possible!”

For reference, his son is nine and weighs about 30 kilograms (66 pounds) and is 130 centimeters (4.27 feet) tall.

Here are a couple of photos of his build. The modified Siskiwit LV sea kayak is the one in the middle of the three kayaks.

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Bryan Hansel is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer and a former American Canoe Association L4 Open Water Coastal Kayaking Instructor. His home port is on Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He also teaches photography workshops.

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