Why a Kayak?

I grew up in the East Midlands of England. Now I know the UK isn't the hugest of countries, but all the same, I lived as far away from the sea as it was possible to get on the island that is known as Great Britain. When we moved to New Zealand, it was obvious that we would be closer to the sea, because Auckland is on an isthmus, squeezed between two great harbours.

What I didn't know was that we would end up living in clear view of the sea, with a 200m walk to the nearest boat ramp. So we have a fantastic recreational resource right on our doorstep, but no way to use it. At first I was just going to buy a couple of kayaks, the only kind of boat I have any real experience of, but then I started thinking, and planning.

I really would like a bigger boat, but they are so expensive. A friend at work was talking about wanting to make a boat, and at first I thought it was an idle pipe dream, but I soon realised he was serious. I started looking into the possibilities and decided that a Rogue was the boat for me.

However, back in the real world, I need to gain experience of using epoxy resin and fibreglass tape, and of working with plywood and power tools. So I went back to the kayak idea and started looking for plans that would get the family afloat.