New Patrol Box (What Items Do You Recommend)

[Its Me]

 

My son is joining a troop where he will be in a New Scout Patrol. I am not sure if this new Patrol will need to build their own box, but I am curious as to what belongs in and the type of euipment you would chose for a new patrol box.

 

[scottteng]

http://usscouts.org/netresources/forms/genpatrolboxinv.pdf

This is link to inventory sheet for patrol box. Some troops still use patrol boxes they usually have them all made up with the gear to go in them. New scouts need to learn how to use the stuff before attempting something real ambitious like building one. Lots of troops use plain old plastic totes with the stuff inside and a folding camp table. We use totes each patrol has a patrol box with the pots and pans and gear, a propane stove, small propane grill, propane tank, lantern, hoses,plastic table, a dry goods tote and a large cooler. It is usually better for the new scouts to work on assembling their personal camping gear and run with whatever patrol gear the troop provides.

[Gonzo1]

Its Me,

I'd suggest the following:

Dish soap

paper towels

TP

hot pot tongs

small trowel

leather gloves

bow saw

rope, whipping twine (dental floss is great besides the intended use)

spices

dish cleaning gear, brushes, sponge, etc.

flint and steel

matches

Frisbee

 

this should be a good start

 

 

[Beavah]

Yah, this is a question yeh really have to ask people in your troop, eh?

 

Some troops do the whole patrol-box trailer car-encampment portable-hotel thing.

 

Some don't do boxes at all in favor of the lightweight, flexible, gear that lets you backpack or climb Everest as easy as car camp.

 

Every combination in between is seen.

 

Just depends.

 

[John-in-KC]

I like what Beavah said. The NSP, asking they troop QM and TG what they need, starts reinforcing boy-led and starts breaking away from parent-led.

 

I like the US Scouts list Scotteng pointed to. Always have a "Plan B."

 

I like Gonzo's list; it has some things for activities besides operations in the kitchen.

 

Cooking is a vital life skill, but BSA has demoted it in the program to marginally more than a nuisance, imnsho. If you want to give your son a leg up, teaching him to master some really simple things at home: ... Biscuits from bisquik and dry milk, browning hamburger, making spaghetti and meat sauce... those will set him up for success in the field kitchen.

[JerseyJohn]

I reply in the spirit of Scouting.....

 

Your son needs to ask his patrol leader who needs to find out what is required from their guide or quartermaster or possibly their Instructor.

 

Which will depend somewhat on how the troop operates.

 

YIS,

John

 

[Eamonn]

I like the list that scottteng provided the link to.

For the Jamboree we had boxes with legs.

When the pots and pans were taken out they became food storage boxes.

We never had boxes with legs, our Patrol boxes were just big wooden boxes with wooden blocks to keep them off the ground.

Patrol members were encouraged to bring their own mugs, plates and silverware. Many just left this stuff in the box.

Boxes with too much stuff in that is never used need to be sorted out and the gear that is never used should be taken out. Trying to get the Scouts to wash something they haven't used is like hard work!!

Having a few metal or enamel plates that fit over the big pot is a good idea. They can place food on the plate to keep warm. Do warn the scouts about how badly steam can burn.

These boxes were the Patrol boxes.

While we did a camp inspection each morning to check that everything was ship shape and tried to ensure that the gear was clean and dry before we left camp, sometimes things did get put away maybe not as clean and not as dry as maybe they should have been!! This isn't good.

At the end of the season??? The Quartermasters would go through each box with a couple from each Patrol and remove all the extra bags of sugar and bottles of ketchup!!

The gear we used for light-weight camping and back packing wasn't Patrol equipment. This was seen as being Troop equipment and under the watchful eye of the Troop QM.

Pete our QM had worked in the stores for the RAF and at times I think he forgot that he was dealing with Scouts. Of course like most Scouter's his bark was far worse than his bite!!

I did notice that the list doesn't mention stoves.

We have found the coleman twin burner works as well as anything and if you use the big bottles of propane are not that expensive to run.

Of course for light weight camping small backing stoves were used. As a rule we didn't use these at Patrol weekends, in part because we used to use wood fires a lot and the temptation to use the fuel to get the fire going was just too great!!

Ea.

 

 

[epalmer84]

After we get our quartermaster shed moved, I'm going to do some new inventory sheets. I'm going to take photos of all of the parts of a cook kit and a chef kit and make a diagram of how to put it together. We use Action Packers for each patrol kit. We only use the patrol kits for camporees and the like. We have other equipment for light camping- single burner propane stoves, mini-lanterns and the like.

 

Ed

[resqman]

Here are some links to some other lists.

http://troop679.org/patrolbox.html

http://www.troop42.com/patrolboxes.htm

http://www.troop168.net/forms/HTML/GenPatrolBoxInventory.htm

http://www.troop184.org.uk/patrol_box.htm (With Pics!)

http://www.buckskin.org/Resources/Outdoor/patrol_gear.htm

http://www.troop166.com/patrol_box_contents.htm

http://www.troop38bsa.org/Forms/Patrol%20box%20Inventory.pdf

 

Links to Plans for Building Boxes

http://www.netwoods.com/document2/patrol%20bx.htm

http://www.troop168.net/forms/patrolboxa.htm

http://www.jamboleader.org/documents/patrolBox1.pdf

http://remarque.org/~rob/t21/

http://www.troop787.com/default.asp?ID=42

 

[Gonzo1]

I think I'd also add a small notebook, pencil, some current MB pamphlets, and a vintage handbook. Old skills come in handy and the MB handbooks, well, for working on MB's. Maybe a small book on astonomy, birds, local plants, small books, pamphlets really, they may come in handy.