Dinghy or Kayak

[kazbett]

Hi - I'm looking for some advice please. I'm going camping with 3 kids under 10 and we are staying on a site near a lake and a river. I thought i would take a boat of some type but dont know what to look for.
Should I go for a dinghy or kayak? It needs to fit easily into the boot of my car (MPV) and be safe for use on both a shallow river and deepish lake.

I don't want to spend a great deal on it as we will only use it for this holiday probably!

Should I be looking at an inflatable dinghy, fold up kayak or something else?

Any suggestions please?
Thanks

[callmecrazy]

Do you want to be able take all 3 kids out at the same time? Are you planning to take them out on the water yourself? or Just let them take the boat and go play?

Sevylor makes some pretty decent inflatable kayaks. something simple like this.

A dinghy type of boat would be best for trying to fit everybody into at the same time. The inflatable kayaks are pretty stable and I wouldn't worry about capsizing them, but a dinghy type of boat will be the most stable and can handle kids moving around much better.

A decent inflatable boat would be something like an Intex Seahawk.

I wouldn't worry about getting something that will last forever. Both the Sevylors and Intex boats have a good reputation and should be more than good enough for a few outings each year, for several years.

[kazbett]

Hi! Thanks for the advice.

Yep, I'm sure they will all want to get in it at once and it will get pulled and pushed in all directions, so needs to be tough enough to withstand that!
I do really need to think about boot space as we will have a tent and all the other camping garb in there too, so the more compact the better.

The dinghy looks quite big - do these fold up small? Maybe I ought to go for the kayak but is that less practical for 3 kids to sit in at the same time?

We will have an adult supervising them when they are in the lake, but the river is very shallow and they may want to take the boat there themselves so I don't want it to be too cumbersome....am I just being naiive?!!

[Bash]

Inner tubes. To an eight year old, a ship is just an inner tube where you don't have to supply your own sound effects.

[kazbett]

Oh yes that's a good idea, those huge thick black inner tubes would be good. Now where do I get those from....?

But I still like the idea of a boat as well!!

[David M]

Do you want them to have a play toy to jump around on or do you want something that moves through the water relatively efficiently?

Will they all be on at the same time?

[kazbett]

I think that whilst they will no doubt jump around for a bit, they are old enough now that they will also want to use it to paddle along the river/lake properly too. I took my daughter kayaking in Florida and she loved it and was better at paddling than me!

[ohdrinkboy]

Innertubes is a great idea. Try a truck repair shop. Lash a bunch together and you have play platform. You could anchor it too.

[HopCar]

Could you carry a hard dinghy or canoe on the roof of the car? A fifteen to seventeen foot canoe sounds like it might be just the thing if you can carry it.

[SkiprJohn]

Look at cheap inflatable boats locally to see what prices they command.
Inner tubes are great fun for kids.
kind regards,