Hiya Rehd,

> Paul, we're doing the very same thing right now in Fresno, California,
> USA. We've been doing it here for several years. You'd also be surprized
> at how much of those treasures end up back out in the trash piles the
> following year. People see it, take it and then wonder, " what the
> heck was I thinkin."

Yup, I've seen lots of guys taking stuff that is just plain ol' junk, I'll only take something if I have a use for it in the forseeable future. There's heaps of stuff that "I might be able to do something with", but it's really just crap that'll take up the allready limited space in my shed. It's nice to save something from landfill, especially if it is something that the trashee just doesn't have a use for but is perfectly good, like the ply I got yesterday (I scored another 6 sheets of 3mm luanne today). I did see an old sea kayak on one scrap heap. But because the council won't take anything longer than about 6 feet in length, the trashee had CUT IT INTO THREE PIECES! No, I didn't take it.

>Sounds like you make an exceptional score.

Final tally: 1 mens mountain bike, 1 ladies 10 speed bike (for the wife), 8 sheets 8'x4' 4mm luanne, 6 sheets 8'x4' 3mm luanne, 1 golf cart (yak cart), 1 6" stack of balsa wood sheets ranging in thickness from 1.5mm to 19mm (ok, so I can't see a use for them, but what the hell), and a couple of good paper backs. Plus the western red cedar boards (5x 1 1/4"x9"x14') that I liberated from a dumpster at a demolition site a year or so ago. Not bad at all, considering that all this crap would just end up as landfill if I didn't take it, now it's My crap. Oh and, no it's not what we in Australia would call "scabby" (a bad thing) , saving materials from our already overburdened landfills is widely reguarded as a good thing, so there's no stigma attached.

> It's been a great ambition of mine to get over there and see some of your neck
> of the woods. Would love to see the Coral Reef from a kayak. Thinkin about
> a glass bottom. :)

If you, or any of the other kbbs regulars do get down my way, I'd be upset if you didn't let me know, I could set up a very nice paddle. Even without the coral (there ain't none in Sydney) there are some beautiful serene places to paddle, and some excellent rock gardens.

> Hope to see those "free" kayaks some time in
> the future.

Stay tuned, I've got enough free wood to build at least 1 stripper and about four or five S&G's (where does one draw the limit?). What a pity nobody trashed any epoxy or glass;-) Oh, and I'll be posting pics of my recently finished Guillemot S&G in the next day or so.

> BTW, that heavenward look was just the little woman thanking
> God that she'll have you home every night for a couple of years while you
> finish those Yaks. lol

Nope, She was thinking "Oh God, He didn't get sick of it after one boat like I thought He would!" Well, We're only in our early thirties, She'll get used to it by the time we're forty, I hope...

Paul.