Kudos to boatbuilder and New Buffalo High School science teacher, Richard Eberly, who facilitated his students building their own Glen-L Can-Yak boats (a canoe/kayak combo) and floating a local river.

“We went through the physics curriculum and then for the lab portion of it, I always have them do an activity,” Eberly said. Originally the students wanted to build race boats, but instead settled on kayaks, which offered the student a real-life demonstration of some of the properties they were learning about. 

Eberly said it was an amazing class. "The kids who came in, all of them were getting STEM certified through the state of Michigan and all of them wanted to become engineers…It was a once in a decade dream class." 

The Can-Yaks were built using white oak framing, and a marine plywood skin, with bronze screws and epoxy for fastening. The boats were also fiberglassed. 

If you have a class who might be interested in building a Glen-L design, let us know! All 300 Glen-L models are designed with the amateur builder in mind. •SCA•