Scout Manual Durability

[Deaf Scouter]

I never had a problem with the handbooks. Kept my son's in a ziploc bag with a pencil or pen and a couple sheets of paper and he was always 'prepared'... *grins

[Gunny2862]

Covers seem to make them last longer.

 

I vaguely remember my brothers 1972-ish? manual, green cover Scout hiking along on the front - man now that thing went thru the wringer and held up. - I think the cover was somehow plasticized, if I'm remembering correctly.

[rehayes]

I have been trying to find a way to get this message back to the Supply division for quite some time unsuccessfully about these binding issues. Saying you must also buy a cover to keep the handbook from disintegrating is ridiculous! A Scout Handbook should be made durable to meet the needs of its intended target - the Scout. Without ANY sort of neglect, the covers are coming off every single one of the books of my son's peer group who crossed over to Boy Scouts less than 2 years ago. All have the spiral-bound books and the rank advancement pages are just as vulnerable as the covers. How do we get this message and a REFUND/REPLACEMENT drive started?!!

[Eagle732]

I started a thread on this a few weeks ago. More info on here:

http://www.scouter.com/Forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=363157#id_363157

[danbrew]

LOL, great question. My son just had his BoR for 1st Class last night and his non-spiral bound book is falling apart. We had already reinforced the advancement pages with clear packing tape and have decided to move to the spiral bound book. I just scanned the pages for his rank to date and saved it as a PDF. We'll put the original book away and use the spiral book moving forward. He does use the canvas-like cover that they sell in the Scout Shop, btw. Bottom line, those will be important as he advances in rank and especially important for an Eagle BoR if he goes that far.

[Trainer Mom]

I'm a librarian and we use Scotch book tape to reinforce paperback books that get checked out. I'd recommend getting some and using it as a way to laminate your covers and spines. The non spiral books are easier to repair. We're in Cubs so we use the spirals as they only need to last nine months or so.