Article on building 'disposable' canoes

[Chris Partridge]

Mik Storer has posted a great article on the building of a couple of Quick Canoes for a trip down the Loire.

[Anders]

So what are they going to do with the canoes? The article says give them away. But what if noone wants them?
In a world where we are throwing so many things away (we are literally filling up african river beds with electronic junk) I dont like the idea of a disposabel boat. Its just bad energy. We dont need more disposable crap lying around. I´m totally against the idea.

[cornishhh]

I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to give away these canoes.

[Gizzle]

I seem to recall reading that one canoe went to a local scout group (or similar) while the other was kept by the builder after all!

Perhaps disposable is the wrong word to describe these.  Probably better to see them as quick and cheap to build, fun to use and because of their relative "cheapness" (in terms of the time put in and materials) it is easy to give away to someone who can put the canoe to use after you are done.

[Anders]

You get the point. Its the word disposable that gives the project a negative image IMO.

[John P]

I agree with Anders.  It seems that there are already more boats in the world than people who want to use them, so if we are to build new ones I think we should be at least aiming to build boats that are better than the ones we already have, not just aiming for ease and speed of construction.

Obviously I dont know about what happened to these particular boats after their maiden voyage, but in general, if you build boats that can only be disposed of by giving them away, most of those boats will not be cherished by their new owners and many will soon be left to rot, chopped up for firewood or go to land fill sites, none of which is good use of the materials.

John