Considering that you are reading a website about building kayaks, you likely already have your own definition of what a kayak is. However, just to make sure that you and I are on the same page, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to write out a working definition. So, pulling out our old “Random House College Dictionary” (©1980) I get:

1. an Eskimo hunting craft with a skin cover on a light framework, made watertight by a flexible closure around the waist of the occupant.

2. a small boat resembling this, made commercially, for use in sports

Well, that definition is a bit dated now, so I went and checked a newer universal source of knowledge:  Wikipedia or rather Wiktionary and got this definition:

1. a type of small boat, powered by the occupant or occupants using a double bladed paddle in a sitting position

Neither  of those definitions quite fit for me. Growing up, the definition of a kayak was always made relative to a canoe and the distinction was easy. A canoe was open on top while a kayak had a deck, you kneeled in a canoe but you sat in a kayak, and you used a single bladed paddle in a canoe and a double bladed paddle in a kayak.

But then I found out that some of the oldest canoe designs were decked like a Rob Roy or were built for sitting instead of kneeling like a Wee Lassie.  To make matters worse, many folks would paddle these canoes using a double bladed paddle! Aaarrggghhhh!

So where does that leave me today? Well, I’ll take the Wiktionary definition but I’ll add that, for me, a kayak is a boat with a deck that you sit inside. You might not always have a spray skirt to be “watertight”, but you will sit down, in the kayak.

Now if you happen to like “sit-on-top” kayaks, then feel free to keep on calling them kayaks. As far as I’m concerned, any boat that gets you out on the water is a good one.  And if you ever want to debate the definition, I’ll be happy to let you make your case over a beer or two.