camp flag pole

[sunnydaze]

I am a leader to a fairly new pack and we don't have a pole to use while camping. Any suggestions on where to buy one that can be transported easily or plans on how to build one?

 

Thank You

[Eagle92]

Supply sells them that are really nice that come apart in the center. IF you can find the ferrule, the piece that you can screw and unscrew the two halves of the pole together, you can use a dowel rod from a hardware store to make yourself one.

[Twocubdad]

Lashings are a Boy Scout skill, but ask around to see if someone can build an old-fashioned lashed pole. Two or three 8' closet rods and a few pieces of rope will make a nice flag pole and break down easily. A pulley and halyard are nice a nice addition.

 

If you just HAVE to have a store-bought flag pole, I know Lowe's sells a kit with a 20' pole that breaks down into five, 4' sections. It includes a flag. It is designed to be inserted into a sleeve buried in the ground. So unless you go back to the same spot everytime, you'll need to come up with some system for setting it up. Maybe a metal stake and zip ties.

[shortridge]

For placing portable flagpoles upright, I've also seen units use a piece of plastic pipe that fits the pole inside, cut diagonally at one end to be driven into the ground more easily. Downside is it leaves a nasty scar on the ground.

 

If you have some time and want to do something cool that'll really impress the Cubs, try the floating flagpole: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/4478/flag.html

[Knot Head]

A few years back we used to have 2 two by fours from Home Depot that we lashed together. We had eye rings at the top. We lashed the 2x4's together and used three ropes to anchor it. This way the scouts got to do a lashing, use a round turn with 2 half hitches to secure the rope to the pole, and taut line hitches to adjust the ropes near the ground where they were anchored.

 

One one campout on private land we got permission to gateher three oak spars and we now have a more rustic looking flagpole we take with us. No more eye rings, we just carved a spot to secure the anchor ropes to the spars. On guy suggested all scouts that make Eagle carve their initials into the flagpole, so we do that. Even some old eagles that have aged out have carved their initials into the flagpole spars. It's a pretty cool tradition. I see new guys eyeing that flagpole and you can tell they are thinking "I want my initials on there someday".

 

EDIT: We also have a base we use so we don't dig holes. It is a cross-section of a log with a hole drilled in the middle. We lay it down and stick the flagpole in the hole in middle of the log. Still needs three ropes to anchor it. Good way to use those knot and lashings skills.(This message has been edited by knot head)

[SSScout]

As you can see, there are many choices. Depends on how big the flag(s) is/are. Depends how rustic you want to be. New pole that screws together in the middle, makes a 8' pole into a 4' package. Lash some poles as tall as you like, brace and guy the pole with 3 or 4 guy ropes. But this is a Cub Pack, yes? How grand do you want your camp flag to be? How portable?

We collected a 15' tall straight poplar pole (the young tree was in the wrong place) and use it every year for the Cub Scout Day Camp and other events. It has a pulley and halyard lashed to the top. The pole has been lashed to the side of a picnic shelter, lashed to another pole to make a 25 foot tall flag pole, been braced with three ropes (which one Den Leader marveled at, spent a long time studying the arrangement, for some reason couldn't fathom how the pole stood so straight and stable). When not in use, it lays on our fence top rack, next to our canoe. The halyard is color coded, blue end (a small blue carabiner) is the UP end (think Blue Union), the DOWN end is a red carabiner (Red stripes) to help Cubs in their flag ceremonies.

Do you only need ONE pole? US flag? Pack flag? State flag? How fancy a camp will this be? Maybe only a rope thrown over a tree limb would do, if in the right place.

 

KiSMiF, after all.

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Flags CAN be hung vertically... as SSScout stated...

[sunnydaze]

Not looking for fancy or expensive. Like I stated we are a new pack and money is really tight. Just looking for something that will work and that I can haul with us in my van preferrably. The area we are camping at at the end of Oct doesn't have trees close to our camp area so the ropes over limbs won't work, but the idea will come in handy during other outings we are in the planning stage for. And since we don't know if we will be camping in the same area again or not, something put in the ground permanent is kinda out of the question at this time.

 

I like the idea of using natural wood being lashed together. I'm kinda new to this and ropes aren't really my thing. Guess I'm going to have to work on that...LOL. Need to anyway if my boys plan on going on with the Scouts, and I really hope they do.

 

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am so glad I found this sight, you have no idea! The ideas and suggestions I've discovered from different forums have really got my mind working on what we can do. Like I keep telling my kids and other parents, two minds are better than one, three are better than two, etc....

 

Thank you all again,

Sondra

 

[IM_Kathy]

it can be as simple as taking the right heighth piece of pvc - drill holes in where flag gromlets are use either string or those roung clips that work like the ones in a binder... for stand take a piece of 2 foot rebar and hammer into ground then just slide pvc over.

[eghiglie]

 

The pack I was in had 9 pieces of PVC, 6 for the tripod, 3 for the pole. Each piece was 5 foot long, to fit in the bed of a pickup truck.

 

As this was cubbies we didn't do lashings. We overlapped the pipes 18 inches, drilled holes for 3/8 bolts and used wing nuts.

 

It worked well for us. Occasionally a piece would break and would replace it.

 

When I went over to a new troop with my son, our troop does the same thing, except we lash it up.

 

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

Several years back, I made one for our pack. I used a 10' 2x4, ripped it in half and knocked down the edges with a block plane and sand paper. I found an aluminum pipe, 18" long and just the diameter to fit then beveled 2x2. I fitted the pipe 1/2 way onto the lower piece of the flagpole, drilled 2 hole all the way through and fitted with a 1/4" bolt/nut, cut to lenght.

 

I attached 3 guys about 2/3 of the way down on the upper piece. Each guy consists of a piece of clothesline with a bowline on one end through a small brass trigger snap and a taut-line hitch through a 15" large orange stake on the other end; this way the the guys are removable.

 

At the top is a metal bar with a small pulley attached and an old jam cleat on at waist height (just right for scouts). The halyard is white 1/8" parachute cord, with d-ring clips for a flag.

 

This becomes a collapsable 20' flag pole. Two people can set it up in 5 mintues by driving the 3 stakes in the ground around a center point. One person can set it up alone, but it is a little tougher (I have done it many times). I have had it up in winds up to 20 knots without incident, and it has never fallen. It can be broken into 2 10' sections and can fit either inside my wife's minivan or lashed to the top of my Durango It always leaves an impression with everyone to have our own personal flagpole at events.