Rope toss

[eaglehopeful]

i dont know if you guys know what rope toss is, but the summer camp i go to has one and i'd like to build one at a cabin my troop uses. I would like the dimmesions if posssible. if you dont know what i am talkin about it two posts in the ground with another log across the tope about 15ft i think.. you toos the rope over and tie a timber hitch on a log on the ground then take the other end of the rope and tie a clove hitch on a stake in the ground

 

please help,

eaglehopeful

[CalicoPenn]

Hmmm - interesting - and sounds like fun. I don't have any dimensions but it sounds like you might be able to come up with them - sketch out what you remember from camp - then put numbers to it. You already give us one dimension (at least based on what you think it might be - two 15 foot tall poles with a log on top (I guess its a three sided rectangle (4 if you count the ground as a side). Make a guess at the distance between the poles - maybe 6 to 10 feet? Then the rest will be based on the length of the rope you'll use - and the weight as well (15 feet is pretty tall - you might have problems with too heavy or too light a rope).

 

Another possibility is to contact the camp director - maybe he can help you come up with something.

 

Calico

 

PS - welcome to the forums!

[Gold Winger]

"I guess its a three sided rectangle . . . "

 

Three sided rectangle? That's worthy of Yogi Berra.

[CalicoPenn]

Three sides of an incomplete rectangle? Better for ya??

 

[Gunny2862]

I don't get it!

What purpose does this thing serve?

[Be_Prepared]

We used to always have one of these at our district camporees as a kid. Basically, it's a horizontal log lashed about 10 feet or so off the group ( either between two trees or two uprights ). It's a timed competition. You have a coiled rope in your hands, you stand about 15 feet away - and there's a stake in the ground at your feet, and a short log on the ground underneath the horizontal pole.

 

You throw the rope over the upright, run up, grab the free hanging end, tie a timber hitch, run back to the stack, while pulling the log off the ground, and then tie it off with a clove hitch. When you're thru, the log should be hanging in mid air, with a correctly tied timber hitch and the other end should be tied to the stake with a clove hitch.

[Gunny2862]

Thanks, that makes a whole lot more sense and sounds pretty cool.

[Sarge]

Did you try calling the Camp Ranger? He/she or a member of their staff might be able to give you that information. They should be the ones to know. After all, they're the ones that have to set the thing up every year before the summer sessions get under way, right?

[Be_Prepared]

In thinking back on it - we used to sometimes have two of them, side by side. ( the horizontal bar was long enough for two, with two stakes in the ground ) That way, two scouts could race. Then two more, etc. Then the winners would race until you were left with the final two fasted scouts. You had to be able to throw a clove hitch if you wanted a chance to win.

[skeptic]

For a number of years we had something a bit more detailed at our COR. Each patrol was given 5 ropes, I think, and they had to suspend a log in the air from one point to another. They had to use a clove hitch and timber hitch on the log, a taut-line to raise it up and tighten, join ropes using square and sheet bend, start with two halfs, and take up slack using a sheet-bend in one longer rope. Of course it was both timed and judged on correct knots. Have seen a good patrol do it in a minute or less. They were given up to 15 minutes if necessary. Great contest.