Tents and Summer Camp

[Scoutingmama]

Our troop is still new - 6 months old. We have 13 boys registered for summer camp and just found out quite by accident that the camp does not provide tents. Our SM went to the same camp as a boy and does not recollect bringing troop tents - admittedly he is older now.

 

Ironically , the council does not list tents as a necessary item a troop needs to bring to camp ( believe me I have read the list a dozen times to make sure we have the supplies we need for the troop). Tents are provided for Brownsew NYLT, but not summer camp.

 

So how commom is this? Is this a way our Council is trying to save money?

 

Dawn

[Gunny2862]

Well, the first question is do you have tents available? If so, problem solved.

 

Our camp does provide the old canvas "1920's Expedition Style" Boy Scout tents. I have at times seriously considered going to the trailer and putting MY tent up inside of the camp tent - but bad example for the Scouts, sigh. So, I ensure I have my mosquito net and an emergency heavy rain tarp and call it good.

 

They may be doing you a favor by not giving you what THEY do have available.

[GernBlansten]

Our council provides tents, the old canvas type that sit on a platform. One summer they experimented with some donated Coleman dome tents. Our troop was "lucky" to get those. We were the third group to use them. They didn't last the summer as the zippers were failing when we had them. And the floors weren't standing up to the heavy use. They abandoned the idea and went back to the old canvas type.

 

It would be very strange that the equipment list doesn't specify a tent if they aren't providing one. I'd call the council and get the skinny.

[Scoutingmama]

Gunny, we don't have tents. We were chartered in Nov.- missed fall popcorn. We did get to sell spring popcorn, but the committee decided that patrol boxes and patrol cooking utensils and items needed for summer camp were more important at this stage than tents for two reasons -

1. We didn't need them for summer camp!

2. We typically have enough personally owned tents to cover a weekend of camping ( typically 8-10 boys camping).

 

We do have some extra popcorn we need to move. Now we just need to move it a lot quicker!!

 

The council will lend us tents. They are the old canvas style- so that is the fall back plan.

 

I really was just curious if this is common in Council summer camps.

[OldGreyEagle]

Both Camps the Council I serve have the older style canvas tents on a half inch water pipe skeleton set on wood platforms. works great.

[Gunny2862]

From my (very limited) experience I would guess that it was unusual.

 

But, I'm glad you contacted council and found a fix! Great Work!

 

Now find out if you have concrete pads or wooden pallets provided by the camp to put those Council tents on. If so, you might want a cheap carpet square for the floor (nice but not necessary) If not you might want to see if a local business will loan you pallets to put your gear on in case it rains, these are typically open or dirt floor tents.

[Ohio_Scouter]

Scoutingmomma,

 

All BSA Councils that I have been affiliated with over the last 50 years in Ohio have always provided tents for scouts at summer camp. They were mostly the old canvas-type tents with 1 horizontal ridge pole and 2 vertical end poles at either end of the tent set up on a wooden platform or on the ground over a plastic ground cloth. Not sure why your Council doesn't provide tents, but I would say that is highly unusual.

[troutmaster]

In our area, S. Cal., it is becoming more common as an "option", and reduces the cost per scout. At least one camp has it as required; but they also had the absolute lowest cost. They have since gone to only Cub activities in summer, and weekend use. I know that the cost of the large wall tents is escalating, and the abuse of them seems to be more common as well unfortuneately. Another disheartening stat, disrespect for property and abuse of privilege is growing. And so, another challenge for our "outdated" program.

 

JMHO

[Eagledad]

Until recently, Silppery Falls in Oklahoma didn't provide any tents. I think a couple of camp sites provide them now, but not the overall camp.

 

Barry

[hops_scout]

The camp we go to does not provide tents that I know of. We always take ours. But we also have the Timberline 4 Outfitters so no complaints;). One thing we do get from the camp is two-burner stoves. We found out a couple years ago by accident that they lend those out.

[Scoutingmama]

I called Council today and got a different answer then I got last week. Last week I was told that we could request tents, but they would be the old canvas type. Today the DE ( brand spankin' new to the job and our second new DE since we chartered in November) told me they would provide tents ( had to go ask- which I am okay with) but when I asked if we would have pallets or cement or dirt floor, he stumbled and said he thought we would be given " new modern type tents".

 

*Sigh* so tomorrow my plan will be to call the senior DE and see if I can get the real scoop.

 

It shouldn't be this hard....

[Lisabob]

Scoutingmama, You might get a more reliable answer by talking to the camp ranger and/or summer camp program director. I have found over the years that sometimes the DEs do not know all the details of what is happening on the ground, and that's even with experienced DEs.

 

You might also get a better answer by talking with some local leaders of other troops who have been to this camp recently. Perhaps if you post the camp's name here some of us can provide recent info/experience too.

 

Depending on how far away the camp is you might also be able to swing a quick tour of the camp yourself, maybe during staff week before campers start arriving. That should clarify things for certain.

 

As a last resort, you may be able to borrow tents from other area troops.

 

Good luck!

[Ohio_Scouter]

Scoutingmomma,

 

Sounds to me like your Council is trying to help your scouts and scouters learn the real meaning of the words "be prepared" . Happy camping!

[milwscout580]

My summer camp provides only three tents: two leader tents and one for storage--BSA Canvas types. Our troop brings up tents for the youth and the rest of the leaders.

 

I believe we get some of our tents from either a raffle or a sale after a Jamboree... our council either raffles them off or sells them (probably sells them to make more money). Maybe they don't do it for EACH Jamboree, but there was at least one time that my Scoutmaster told me we had old Jambo tents. And they were still in pretty good condition.

[moxieman]

As to the original question in this thread: Our council's camp supplies the two-man canvas wall tents with two cots. These tents are pitched up on platforms.

 

When I served as an ASM in my grad school days in Lubbock, TX, South Plains Council DID NOT supply tents for either of their summer camps. Most of the troops I met down that way owned a set of the canvas wall tents for their troop. Why? 'Cause the intense West Texas sun did a quick number on modern nylon tents. "Modern" tents were saved for high adventure trips-only.

 

Now something else for you to ponder in this topic.

 

Back before I became a district-level "Voluntold" leader, I served as scoutmaster for five years in my hometown. A patrol's worth of our scouts wanted to go to the Canadian Jamboree. Our then twelve-year old four man tents (Eureka Vista tents--similar to the Timberline) were in rough shape. Our committee refused at first to fund replacement or repair of the tents.

 

Then I found something in writing from the National Scout Office that stated that for long term/resident camping such as summer camp and jamborees, each scout needs to have a minimum of 35 square feet of tent space. Doing the math, our four man tents had a floor plan of roughly 7 by 8 feet or 56 square feet. We couldn't come up with the cash to replace the tents with something bigger, but with this written statement from an official scout source, the committee agreed to fund refurbishing the tents and to purchase a vestibule for each tent, adding an additional 14 square feet of covered space. This allowed us to meet that minimum requirement.

 

And, of course, I can't find it in writing now, go figure, so either I simply can't find it, or it's no longer the minimum, or no longer available in writing.

 

Anyway, if someone else can find this, please post it!

 

If it is still the minimum, those of you who say you supply your own tents for summer camp, how do you meet this minimum square footage per scout?

 

 

As for those tents my unit refurbished, the current SM, my brother, was forced to retire them last year as they finally gave out after 20 years of service. He contacted Eureka trying to find parts first. The company rep he spoke to didn't believe they still had some of those tents in use. It just shows you how well they make/made their product. They're looking into the outfitter Timberlines as a replacement, which uses the same frame, so they'll have plenty of spare parts.