Trebuchet competitions

[Trevorum]

At our fall camporee last month we had a trebuchet competition. The scouts had to assemble their trebuchets on site using only spars and rope. The ammo was 1 pound paper sacks of corn starch.

 

And, it was great! Ten troops lined up facing the field, with scouts lashing their spars together into siege engines of a variety of shapes and sizes. The judges had staked the field with distance markers and the projectiles exploded with a satisfying burst upon impact.

 

The scouts had a great time and were comparing notes about variable arm length, sling to arm ratios, and other design features. They wanted to "storm the castle" again the next day! So we started talking about making this a regular camporee event for our district. One scout said we should do this every year like cubs do the Pinewood Derby!

 

[mk9750]

Trev,

 

That sounds great!

 

Two years ago, a small group of us got together to come up with ideas how to revive our spring camporee, which was looking for life support. One Scouter (now our District Commisioner BTW), suggested a pioneering competition camporee. We decided on categories of Trebuchets, standard catapaults, and signal towers. No dimensional lumber, and no fasteners of any kind.

 

The first camporee had only 6 of the 27 Troops in our District attend, but everyone had a blast! They launched water ballons (although the corn starch might actually be more fun!). The event was so great, word of mouth advertising caused a total of 24 or 27 Troop to attend this past year's event.

 

Our only obstacle right now is reducing the amount of adult help provided. Leader's Guides are very clear about the expectation, but it's tough to make too big an issue when a New Scout Patrol is trying to display a new skill. But as we try to look the other way in those cases, but them make a big issue about adults helping older Scout Patrols, we've had some heated discussions.

 

Hope your event blossoms as well as ours has!

 

Mark

[ScoutingEMT]

I like this... we are looking for ways to make scouting more intresting. How much of the camporee was dedicated to this event (hours-wise)?

 

Jon

[Trevorum]

Jon - the fellows had one hour to build their siege engines and then the range was live for one hour. Each troop had one practice shot and then three tries for distance.

 

Mark - We didn't win the event, but I was proud of our troop - we were one of only two troops whose trebuchet was 100% designed and built by the boys!

[gwd-scouter]

Can anyone point me to a link that has directions on how to build a trebuchet? Our scouts have been talking about building one but so far haven't been able to find anything more than a picture.

 

This sounds like a great idea for a camporee and I'm going to pass this on to our District Committee.

[Trevorum]

Before the camporee, I had never even seen one (well, other than in movies). Once we told them of the event, the scouts seemed to be able to figure it out on their own.

 

Our SPL and a few other older guys designed the thing and then they practiced at two troop meetings. The 1st one was mostly teaching lashings and the second one actually assembled the thing and made a few practice swings. They learned a lot from those practice swings and had made a few design changes at the actual event. Their design was simple. Two tripods with a freely turning cross beam (axle). The tripods were lashed together to make a stable base. The arm was lashed perpendicular to the axle, with the short end towards the field and the long end away. The counterweight (they collected rocks and put these in a basket) is hung from the short end. The sling is attached to the long end, which had a release mechanism.

 

 

[Aquila calva]

Sounds like fun.

 

Here is one place to see pictures and even a short video.

 

http://ropesandpoles.blogspot.com/

 

[Eamonn]

I had at one time thought about a Camporee based on the Nintendo Game with the Mario Brothers.

The idea was that teams would save the Princess.

It was all about pioneering projects.

The start and the end would be two towers. One with the fair maiden in.

Sedan Chairs to carry the Prince charming across the invested areas.

Large catapults firing water balloons.

Maybe a simple bridge?

All the designs were in Scout Pioneering by John Sweet.

So far I have never got around to it.

Eamonn.

[Fuzzy Bear]

We used the time honored Trebuchet at our last two events. The first event was for Cub Scouts. The Trebuchet was built by adults for the Scouts. The second one was at a Camporee. Each unit was to build one for their own use. The problem with competitions is that adults refuse to allow Scouts to win or lose on their own merit, as in PWD's and any other event.

 

I make four recommendations for Boy Scout events using the Trebuchet.

 

1. Do not allow metal posts for the axel, unless it is specified for everyone.

 

2. Require that all posts be no bigger than eight inches in diameter. Larger posts tend to create safety considerations when building. Even eight inch diameter posts are heavy. I also realize that when cutting posts it is difficult to find exact dimensions. The problem is that some units come with ten and twelve inch diameter posts that are ten to twelve feet long. If any fall, it will hurt that which it hits.

 

3. I am unsure but I think that the Scouts should be wearing safety hardhats?

 

4. Another recommendation is that all materials, diameters, and lengths should be listed prior to the event. All materials should be brought to the site and stacked and numbered. Everyone then takes a number from the hat and that is the material that their unit gets.

 

*The exception would be the launch basket/ropes and the materials for the weight loading could be kept out of the drawing. This could be the secret weapon, as well as the center launch post placement on the axel.

 

When adults build for their own Scouts, they tend to overbuild. When the Scouts are building bulky machines, they may not have the strength to safely hold them in place. When Scouts chose materials, they tend to undersize the materials, making them unstable and possibly not useful. So, recommendations for size and length should be given to all units well in advance.

 

Practice is the key to making this event safe, which should be done first by the Event Committee before making recommendations.

 

Practice is the key to making this event successful for the individual units.

 

fb

 

[acco40]

Our October "theme" was pumpkin launching this year. We had patrols teamed together (two teams of two patrols) to plan and make trebuchets. They spent one troop meeting and making plans. The next troop meeting was really a patrol meeting at the two building sites. Each group produced a bonafide trebuchet.

 

Last weekend (Oct 27-29) we took them on our outing to the local council camp. On Saturday we launched our pumpkins (and footballs, tomatoes, softballs). The boys did a great job. Of course, the older boys trebuchet was not quite as big and the metal axle bent slightly under stressful conditions (due to less parental involvement). The younger patrols had more parental involvement (and an expensive "loaned" machined bearing) and was about seven feet tall. Each could throw a 5 - 6 lb pumpkin 75 yards! The thump and corresponding splat was loved by all.

 

The boys learned that bigger was not always better, cost constraints, transportation constraints, how to make due with available materials, etc.

 

Trebuchets were a hit!