Marissa Dederer - It’s been awhile since a Canadian paddler has cracked the top 10 in a world cup race. Twenty-four-year-old Ben Hayward is doing it in style, driving around in a converted truck he’s built himself.

“It’s been a plan for about a year now that I wanted to do something living out of a van in Europe,” says the Canuck kayaker. “It was really more a last-minute thing that I was going to build it from scratch.” His plan to fruition when, after earning a spot on the Canadian team he travelled to Cardiff to start phase one of the caravan: locating the right vehicle.

Really though, his journey began some months before as he struggled to regain strength and mobility in his shoulders post-surgery. But with quality treatment from Sherri Audet, who is also C1 teammate Cameron Smedley’s mother, he was in top form for the start of the 2014 season.

Hayward hadn’t been planning on building the caravan from scratch. But after a few unsuccessful days searching for the right van, the mission took on a new form: why not build the beast from scratch? With a background in architecture, he would be able to make it unique and possibly attract sponsors to help fund his journey to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Initial blueprints were sketched out over a pint and the search for the perfect truck began.

As it turns out, finding the perfect flatbed (in this case an army green LDV Convoy 4-door) was a lot easier than a van. And building it wasn’t so bad either: imported maple from Canada, some power tools and a little help from friends and the caravan began to take shape, the shape of a hobbit caravan complete with curved walls and a round hobbit door.

“I just always loved the Lord of the Rings story; I loved the Hobbit,” he says. Hayward has lost count of how many times he’s read the books. So the hobbit door seemed a natural addition and the rest of the van took on its whimsical theme.

The hobbit caravan, as it’s been dubbed on the world cup circuit (though Hayward says he’d like to find another name for it), has seen its fair share of Europe, the kayaker has driven it to all the world cups.

And with the arrival of the hobbit van, Hayward has seen two back-to-back top 10 world cup finishes so far. Coincidence? Well, yeah, probably. But he says he’s been enjoying his independence and cheaper travel costs. “That piece of mind has been really nice,” he says. “If I get this all built I think I can afford to go to the Olympics and get the adequate training that I need.”

Paddlers on the tour are taking notice of the van too. Hayward says the American team told him they wished they’d thought of it sooner. Non-European paddlers often spend more money to get to races than their European counterparts due to flight and rental car costs. And one of Hayward’s paddling idols, Olympic Champion Daniele Molmenti, took a special interest in the hobbit caravan; he donated a mattress.

While Hayward’s long-term costs with the van will be cheaper than the traditional hotel and rental car route, his start-up costs have been steep. He’s set up vanstarter.com to help off-set the price. Until the end of August you can donate to the campaign to help Hayward outfit the rest of his home.