Survey abt kid's boats: what would you want?

[QuicoReed]

Friends:

*I am not a businessman, not trying to sell anything, I am trying to simply get information that might help a friend make some decisions that--God willing--could put some NEW products on the market. I hope no one will take issue with my questions.

*Note 2: this post was originally done with kayaks in mind. For this forum, think C1!

I have a new friend from Venezuela who has migrated to the USA (too bad for Venezuela, good for the USA!). It turns out that his family has decades of experience making flatwater olympic canoes and kayaks in Venezuela out of fiberglass materials. They also made some recreational sea kayaks and canoes.

He is thinking about bringing the family business to the USA, but is
examining the domestic market right now for boat building, and he is not really familiar with the US market, especially for whitewater and surf, as his experience has mostly been with flat water. Still, he is examining all the possibilities and trying to find his niche.

I've had a number of ideas and suggestions, but one in particular I wanted to put before the club and see what you all think.

As a parent myself with kids that are interested in paddling, I've been a little frustrated by the apparent lack of children's kayaks/canoes. It appears to me that what there is are some small sized adult boats that kids can (sort of) fit into and learn to paddle. That is to say, tiny little spud-boats with seats, width etc. designed for adult sized hips, decks that are tall (compared to the kids' actual anatomical sizes), and paddles that tend to be sized for adult hands.

I remember seeing some 8 and 9 year old kids swallowed up by Pirouette S, or a Perception Amp, etc. on the Nantahala. The paddles were normal sized WW 190 cm paddles (remember this was kayak paddle, not canoe). In other words--huge by comparison. It would be like an adult paddling a sea kayak with 250cm paddles down the same river. (what would be the right length of C1 paddle for children?)

I'd like to measure the interest that would be there for TRUE children's sized boats, designed ergonomically for the child's body shapes and sizes.

What would parents like to see in a children's boat?
would it be displacement hull, or planing hull? Or perhaps "semi-planing" hull?
Would narrower cockpits be desired?
How about lower cockpits (to make rolling easier and probably increase control)?
Paddle length? Thickness? Weight?
C1 or kayak?

If a well made fiberglass boat designed for children's needs was available
at the same price as today's plastic kayaks (but at a fraction of the
weight), would the parents out there be willing to buy one(most SRP I see
for kayaks these days is in the $950-$1100 range)?

Well, thanks for the input.

Quico (Curtis) Reed

[Jan_dettmer]

Hi,

Jackson kayak will make a kids kayak, the Fun 1

Check out
http://www.jacksonkayak.com

The boats look cool for sure. There is a pic of the Fun 1 on that page and it does look reallz small!

On the river, Jan