Tents, sleeping bags, canoes, sailboats, kayaks and a sailboard are among the items up for sale from the Outdoor Recreation Center.

Beginning at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the center will start selling used items through a sealed bid.

The used equipment will be displayed at the center for customers to inspect. Those interested in equipment can place a bid in a sealed envelope. The highest bidder will receive the item.

All items are in good to fair condition, said Scott White, business manager for Recreation Services. White said Recreation Services must abide by procedures in place for the sale of equipment on state property.

“Generally, the rule of thumb for disposing of state-owned property [is] attempting to capture at least 25 percent of the actual purchase price,” White said. “There’s a minimum bid on all the items.”

The proceeds of the equipment sale will go toward new equipment for the Outdoor Recreation Center.

“I know a lot of it’s going in to buy new sleeping bags, six new canoes and some new tents,” Ord said. “Other than that, it just rolls over into Rec Services.”

John Ord, an employee of the Outdoor Recreation Center, said the sale is open to the public.

“[It’s] open to everybody, not just ISU people,” Ord said. “You just come in.”

This is not the first time the center has had such a sale; it has sponsored similar sales every other year since 1978.

“There’s people around Central Iowa who know for a fact Outdoor Rec is having an equipment sale every even-numbered year in the spring,” White said.

The Outdoor Recreation Center staff will be available to answer questions about the equipment, White said, although they cannot give clues about prices for equipment.

“Our student employees like to be helpful, but this is one of the times legally, under state law, they can’t be helpful,” White said. “We can’t give anybody clue No. 1 as to what they ought to bid or what we think this will go for or what it went for two years ago, or anything like that.

“It’s up to the potential customer to figure out what they’re willing to fork out for it.”

White said the sale is beneficial to Recreation Services as well as the general public.

“It’s a good way to get used equipment out and get it to people that are interested and can get something out of it,” White said. “In a lot of cases, it’s somebody who wants to give the item a try and see what they like about it before they decide to throw out the dollars to buy a new one.”