The Promised Land

[Twocubdad]

Not following the boys around, but let's see:

 

For the past couple years we've run our own program for the first year scouts in-house. This year we had 12 scouts complete Tenderfoot at camp. Yes, we conduct SM conferences and have a couple parents drive up to do boards of review. This year I helped with one of the afternoon MB classes. One leader taught a full session of First Aid merit badge (in addition to handling all the medications for the troop.) Two leaders spent three hour a day with two of the high adventure classes. We had guys help run the climbing wall for open session and went with the climbing class to an off-site climb. One guy helped lead the fly-fishing trip. Another went on the the whitewater trip with that class. One of the guys spent time helping at with shooting sports (when he wasn't doing the above stuff.)

 

Oh yeah, and we took 49 boys to scout camp for a week.

 

Please explain to me how our program would have been improved by these guys taking an extra half-our to take a shower. How is it a problem that I'm spending money out of my own pocket to do something nice for a bunch of folks who volunteered a week away from their families and jobs for the benefit of our Scouts?

 

Maybe your camp sucks so bad because of all the sitting around your leaders are doing.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Basementdweller]

Oh got under your skin.........

 

 

From your description your camp isn't adequately staffed if troop adults are expected to council merit badges at camp. So what happens if no adults attend who are qualified to council first aid or shooting sports?????

 

 

Just think all this over something as stupid as walking to the shower.

 

 

So what kind of a mud hole did ya leave for this weeks troop to enjoy???

[Twocubdad]

A deep one. Whole troop peed in it as we left, just for emphasis.

 

Except for the adults who were in the RV waiting for the Scouts to load our stuff.

 

[ScoutNut]

Wow, my question is where do you camp that has a water faucet in the campsite?

 

We usually have to hike to the pump!

 

 

[Basementdweller]

peeing in it was a nice touch

 

 

I am sure they appreciate it.

[Scoutfish]

Our adopted campsite at council camp had a patial open structure bathhouse. The two commodes and 1 urinla have a covered roof and outside walls stop about a foot short of trusses. There is also about an 8" gap between concrete floor and walls.

 

The benches in the changing area have the same wall set up. Storage closet is fully closed closet under same shhared roof.

 

Showers are open top. No roof, no awning, nothing. They are tow showers facing each other seperated by a shower curtain on a concreet floor with drain. Walls are 3" off concrete and extend 7 high off the ground.

 

If it rains, you save shower water!

 

But water is cold water only. Used to be a collective heater ( if that's what you call it) in the attic. Collected the days heat and water ran through that. But you had no temperature adjustment...you got whatever temperatur water came out of shower head.

 

Tanks dis, somebody straight pipded water through the roof. Now when you turn it on, you get 3 seconds of air temp water, then 25 seconds of super hot water, then the ground water comes through.

 

SO, did all of you know that ground water comes out of the ground at 57 degrees?

 

Doesn't matter if the well is 100 feet deep or 3,000 deep. August or December...57 degrees.

 

You ever see a hot, sweaty overheated person jump into 57 degree water? Ever see them all most pass out?

 

 

You know how good hot achey muscles feel getting that cold after a long day of being hot and sore?

 

Mine cramp up and spasm.

 

So, the leaders have use of a hot shower facility that is about 100 yards away. Not too far, but is inbetween two campsites.

 

Not a major burdon, but depending on what time you get back to camp after the day is dones, you could have 15 adults lined up to use 4 showers.

 

TwoCubdad_ I think your idea is awesome. Nothing liek a hot shower to sooth those achey muscles that have been going all day long. To me, that can be the difference between a toss and turn night of charlie-horses and a nice slep( or as nice as you can get at a BSA camp).

 

Here's an idea though: the showers in our campsite bathhouse use 1/2" pvc pipe with 1/4 turn gate valves to control water. then end out at shower head.

 

You could make a manifold that has a inlet connection for the waterhose which splits off : one side to heater, other to next "T" connection that terminates at shower heat. Install one valve ( #1 ) before the first split, then install one valve ( #2 ) after heater and one valve( #3 ) bewteen split and shower head on cold side.

 

This will allow valve #1 to cut off all water completely to shower assembly. Valve # 2 controls hot flow/pressure and valve #3 controls cold flow/pressure.

 

THis way, you could hang it from trailer door, coonect it, turn on waterhose connection, but still control whole assembly at triler door without the mad dash.

 

For water runoff, buy one of those 36" around plastic pans that goes under a water heater, then use about 10 foot of 3/4 pipe to let water run acroos ground where nobody will be tromping through it. It will soak in just as well as a good soaking rain would and the soap impact shouldn't be any worse than normal pollution that the rain scrubs out of the air. Esp[ecially when you figure any one site wouldn't see this kind of use more than once a or twice a year.

 

And yeah, it IS NOT TOO MUCH of a perk for adults who give up alot of time to make the program work.

 

I used a week of vacation time to go to camp with our boys this year.