Build a canoe with a group of friends.
You'll get to paddle the complete canoe at the end of the festival weekend. Will it sink? Will you have built a boat that can float? Bring your swimmers and find out!
The canoes come as a complete kit with all plywood parts cut out ready to assemble - no sawing needed. Will involve the use of hand tools.
$40 per person to cover the cost of materials.
A maximum of 8 spots available (a total of 2 canoes).
Special festival price for this Experience.
Bookings are essential.
For ages 12 to 18. (Parents are welcome to assist.)
No experience required.
As Ratty said to Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows’
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing… as messing about in boats.”
Brian is a retired primary school and TAFE teacher who is passionate about building boats and getting out on the water, be it sailing, steaming or paddling.
He has built dinghies, canoes, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards with men’s groups, youth at risk and TAFE, and primary and high school students.
He has seen the tremendous sense of pride and self-worth that building their own craft brings- for many students, it has been their first success at school. He has built stitch and glue canoes with students in high schools, TAFE, the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, the Wooden Boat Festivals in Hobart, Rhyll (Phillip Island), and Maleny in QLD.
He also builds boats for himself, including canoes and kayaks, sailing dinghies, a seven-metre steamboat, and a 1920s design speedboat. His aim is to show as many people as possible how easy it is to get afloat in a craft they have built themselves