Second the GP Posted by: underhills on Nov-24-12 4:42 PM (EST)
My daughter has an Acadia Scout and this winter I am making her a second GP. She has out growen the first one. I like the GP for the price and ease of getting it to fit her, since I can scale everything down. She likes it since I can customize it for her. Her first one was purple. Her first one was made out of a 1x4 so I could make the loom small and this one will be a cedar 2x4 and I will just carve it down until it fits her hand. I don't use any fancy treatments or epoxy on hers since it may only be used for a year. I just coat it with Danish oil which I have around the house. Banging hands has never been an issue with her even though it has happened it hasn't stopped her. I would suggest you buy yourself a tow rope to make the fun last longer. We bought a basic one from NRS for around $50. We would tow our daughter when she got tired and now she doesn't want a tow but I still watch her like a hawk for signs she getting to tired which I think then gets dangerous. After hitting 1 1/2 to 2' rollers she now wants to learn how to surf a kayak, but since she is 8 and the Scout doesn't have bulkheads we'll wait on that one. One last cool thing about going with a GP is as she grows we are going to hang up her paddles so we can see how far she has come in her paddling. My daughter loves paddling and I really enjoy taking her out. I hope you have as much fun with your grandkids.