Summer Camp Tents

[Owl62]

We are still looking for more input and opinions about tents at summer camp:

 

 

Does your troop use tents provided by the summer camp, or bring their own? If so, why and what kind of tents do you take to camp and use.

 

Since mosquitos are bad in our part of the country, most of our troop started bringing their own tents about 4 years ago. The 9X7 tents provided by the camp are not screened and some of them are in poor condition. Summer camp tents are often erected incorrectly or in poor locations. We often have to take the summer camp tents down, and erect them correctly. I have seen then located on inclines so steep that you could not possibly uese them or directly under deadfalls. Some of us tried mosquito netting but it is a bit of a hassle.

 

Most of our adults have personal walk-in screened tents that are about 10X8 and many of the Scouts bring their own screened tents too. For some the reason to use their own tents was due to the mosquitos, some for privacy, and some just like to use their own. I use my own for all of these reasons.

[local1400]

Ahhh, theres something to be said for the sound of rain on canvas! Owl, I worked at a Scout camp for 4 years and never saw anyone using anything other than camp provided sleeping quarters.

[MarkS]

Our council provides those 7x9 canvas wall tents too. They provide a quantity that's sufficient to house two boys per tent, two adults per tent, an individual tent for the Scoutmaster, and to separate our male and female adult leaders. However, our leaders prefer to not to share tents so about half of the leaders bring extra tents so we don't have to share. Fortunately, the other half of the adult leaders like to use the canvas wall tents so there's never an issue with who gets what kind of tent.

 

I prefer to use the canvas wall tents that the boys use. That way I have a better idea of what kinds of issues they are having with their equipment.

 

I prefer to keep the flaps of my tent open at all times unless it's raining in sideways or really cold. Keeping the tent open as much as possible keeps it cooler and drier and makes it less inviting to spiders and critters that like to hide in dark damp places. I usually sleep in a light weight fleece liner on top of my sleeping bag on the cot. If it's too hot, I start out on top of the liner but usually find my way into it as it gets cool near daybreak.

 

Our council camps have mosquitos too but not too bad. A little repellent works fine. However, we went out of council for camp (cooler, drier, no mosquitos--okay I saw one, no ticks) this year but next year I'm going to try putting one of those ThermaCell mosquito repellent appliances in my tent. Hang it from my cot or something. Problem with them is they only last four hours.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

[epalmer84]

Camp Shenandoah supplies the wall tents (that is the proper name) that are set up as part of the spring Ordeal. The council buys new tents for each national Scout jamboree and these get cycled back to camp to replace the worn out tents. Most of the wear is from the cotton ties rotting out.

 

In the past, we have used two piece floor boards; these get stacked and covered after summer camp. We are moving towards platforms with one piece floors and "outriggers" on the sides to attach the tent.

 

We have either military style cots or steel bunks with mattresses. We get the mattresses from a military academy after graduation. It is illegal to sell a used mattress in Virginia, so the cadets buy a mattress when they start and dump it when they graduate; we pick them up as scrap. Some of them are not in great shape and can look quite nasty. We used straw ticks back in the 70s, and those might be more hygienic.

 

This year, I am planning to take my large Eureka dome tent and set it up behind a wall tent with a small tarp connecting them. The only reason I am doing this is that our newest assistant Scoutmaster happens to be my wife, and we would be more comfortable together.

 

I recall a few years ago, one troop had a Scout who was so afraid of bugs that they finally set up a dome tent inside a wall tent for him.

 

BTW: Daddy long legs are not venomous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

[fotoscout]

We do have the occasional visitor or overflow campers that setup personal tents. But, other than that, everyone is in a camp tent.

 

Our tents are the typical BSA 2 man platform tents with cots. Yes, like most other camps' we have our share of mosquito's (and other insects). Our boys all use mosquito nets. For my own and my son's tent I spray the platform and bug net with a permethrin spray. There are many brands of this stuff, any one of them will do the job. This stuff is great!! Last summer I spent 3 weeks in a camp tent and only got two mosquito bites. it really works.

[Southpaw]

None of the camps that I have been to provide tents. We provide our own which is great because I personally prefer my Tipi. The Scouts love Tipis also. In case of bugs I use netting and/or spray when needed. Netting can easily be hung up inside a Tipi.

[John-in-KC]

I hope you are using a hand sprayer for this, not a propellant driven sprayer.

 

If you are, I hope a staffer or a Commissioner (or worse yet a Ranger) does not see you. In our Council, if you get caught spraying stuff inside your tent, YOU JUST BOUGHT A REPLACEMENT TENT.

[fotoscout]

I suspect you noted that I said I spray the platform and the bug net, not the tent.

 

Unlike the traditional "Bug Spray", the permethrin sprays are formulated to be sprayed on clothing. I suspect that they would do little or no damage to the tent.

 

Traditional "Bug Spray" on the other hand will eat through all sorts of stuff if you spray enough of it. I don't like bug spray and avoid using whenever possible.

[John-in-KC]

fotoscout,

 

Yes, I understood you were not spraying the tent. Even so, in my Council, in both our Reservations leader guides, spraying propellant driven sprays in the tent is:

 

"DO NOT BRING AEROSOL SPRAY CANS TO CAMP. Aeroseol spray used inside tents WILL remove waterproofing from tents. If waterproofing is destroyed, the cost is determined by individual case."

 

Again, I do not know about your Council. I was on commissioner staff last year. I saw SMs come to the cabin and rail at the Assistant Camp Director (facilities and funds manager) about bills presented to replace tents.

 

If your Council is OK with propellant driven spray in the tent, OK

[epalmer84]

On our camp gear list we specify no aerosol cans- creams, pumps, sticks or wipes. Cans are bulky and the propellants are not good in many ways. We used to have a problem with them getting tossed in the fire, but that got fixed in a hurry.

 

Ed

[MarkS]

My council claims that any insect repellent spray (aerosol or pump) will remove the waterproofing from their canvas wall tents. I never apply repellent when I'm in my tent or anywhere near any tent.

 

Now you got me thinking... is the ThermalCell a good idea or is it just as bad for the waterproofing?

[fotoscout]

With respect to the tents, we may not be talking apples to apples.

 

Canvas tents do not, and should never have a waterproof coating applied to them. The one exception here is when the tent has exceeded it's normal life and you apply a waterproof coating in order to squeeze another year or two out of the tent. The standard BSA platform tents are 100% canvas and are not delivered with any waterproof coating.

 

Canvas tents get their waterproof characteristics from the cotton canvas material. When the material gets wet, the threads in the material swell. They swell enough to close up any gaps that may exist in the weave. When they dry out, the threads never return to their original diameter, leaving the tent with some waterproof properties. When it rains again, the material swells again, and so on and so forth.

 

We do not have any prohibition on aerosols in camp. I always tell my kids to never spray bug repellent inside the tent...bad stuff to breath!!!!