Trailer Organization

[bilgerat]

Need ideas on Boy Scout Trailer organization that you'd like to pass along.

 

What have you found that works, doesn't work, or that you might do differently?

[Eagledad]

We learned that multiple small trailers that average size vehicles can pull work better than large trialers that require trucks. Also the the troop isn't forced to use a big trailer when the outting only requires a small one. A high adventure crew outting or patrol campout for example.

 

Barry

[CA_Scouter]

For an alternate point of view...

 

If it don't fit in the pack, it don't go on the trip.

 

We treat every outing as a backpack trip. Lightweight stoves, one pot meals, 2 man bp tents, etc.. even when we car camp... on a few occasions we might bring the dutch ovens but that's just one extra box.

 

Cost of trailer - $0. Cost of insurance for trailer - $0. Cost of extra gas for trailer puller vehicle - $0. Cost of place to park trailer - $0.

 

Bada boom. Bada bing!

;-)

 

 

[Basementdweller]

I agree and wish we could move our Troop from a trailer troop to a Backpack troop. It would make life much easier and possibly less expensive.

[Oak Tree]

If I could do something differently, I'd get a trailer with brakes, so that I could feel ok about loading it to the max.

 

We've kept ours open (no organizational compartments), and it allows for a lot of flexibility for fitting different things in it for different trips.

 

I agree with Eagledad that it's nice to have a trailer that can be towed by any vehicle with a trailer hitch.

 

One other innovation I'd like to see would be a roof that had a slight slant so that water didn't sit on top when it rained. The water works pretty hard to find any way into the roof and will water damage interior wood.

 

I'd also, as a small thing, want a light that worked inside without necessarily needing to be connected to the car *and* have the car lights on.

 

Again, on the water damage front, I'd look for less wood and more waterproof materials in the trailer construction (e.g., the back doors are wood on the inside, and it gets wet when you have to pack in the rain.)

 

I do think that creating an "all-backpack" troop is a viable option, but having a trailer does provide options - trunks to summer camp, bikes for a bike trip, flagpoles, axes, dutch ovens, etc.

[Eagledad]

>>I do think that creating an "all-backpack" troop is a viable option, but having a trailer does provide options - trunks to summer camp, bikes for a bike trip, flagpoles, axes, dutch ovens, etc.

[Eagledad]

>>I agree and wish we could move our Troop from a trailer troop to a Backpack troop. It would make life much easier and possibly less expensive.

[kenk]

Questions to those whose troop is camping backpacking style (not intending to hijack this thread):

 

How do you handle dish/pot washing? Do you use three pots and use chlorine to sterilize? Do you sterilize with boiling water - as they do at Philmont?

[Basementdweller]

Oak tree....that interior light is a simple thing. We added a small 12 volt battery, camcorder size, and a solar panel to charge it. and it is done. Took about half an hour to install it. Been working for a couple of years now. With inexpensive LED solar systems available now it is a no brainer.

 

An interior lighting system in a must.

[qwazse]

K -

 

Having survived these many years without carrying clorine in my pack, I've found cleaning up uses about 1/2 cup of water and a drop of dish soap in one pot. All the grub gear (there shouldn't be much) goes in the largest pot. Heat the water, add soap, shake vigorously, scrub with wash cloth or sani-wipe, rinse.

 

This assumes you're working in a patrol and are cooking enough volume to have one hot water pot and one cooking pot.

 

FWIW. I don't mind getting a pot or pan dirty in the winter. Snow is a great abrasive.

 

Bringing this back to the trailer discussion, if your boys check troop gear out for backpacking, that gear will need thorough inspection before going back into storage. You may even want to have that clorine bucket ready for the meeting after the trip!

[Oak Tree]

Basementdweller - thanks, I'll add that to my list of half-hour tasks :-) It does sound like something we should do - but if I were looking for a trailer, it would be nice if it came with it. The hardest part of your solution sounds like it would be running the wire from the solar panels to the battery.

[JoeBob]

Battery operated LED lights.

$25

3 C cell Batteries

55 hours at 20 Lumens

5100 hours at .2 lumens

Motion sensor turn on.

Easy install.

 

http://www.theledlight.com/Wireless-LED-Step-Light.html

[Oak Tree]

Ok, this is great.

 

Next question - what do you use to re-seal the roof so that the trailer is waterproof? Ours lasted quite awhile, but is developing leaks in various places.

[EagleJCS]

Regarding organization of the trailer:

My troop's trailer is an older model 5'x8' trailer. It has just one small storage box (I built) to contain the wheel chocks, support jacks, lug wrench and a board for the tongue jack. The rest is open storage. In the past we've discussed adding shelving/racks/hooks, etc., but we also don't want to be puncturing the skin of the trailer (introducing additional points for leaking) or adding a lot of additional weight. It currently does not have any interior lighting.

 

We don't always use the trailer for every trip. Mainly it's for summer camp - hauling all of the footlockers and some general troop supplies (flags, etc.) - and district/council events where we'll need some kind of dining fly/communal shelter setup.

 

As far as sealing/maintaining:

One of our dads' family has an auto body/collision repair business and they inspect the trailer as needed and have resealed the roof for us once (they write it off as a charitable donation). I have no idea what was used, only that they did a great job. They've also helped with fixing some of the wiring and repacked the bearings on the wheels.(This message has been edited by EagleJCS)

[IM_Kathy]

my son's troop has a larger trailer than some troops, but I've seen even bigger.

 

Biggest issue the troop has is that we don't have a lot of storage space in CO building - so we keep all camping equipment in the trailer. When we go without the trailer we take out what we need and leave the rest.

 

we do have shelving to help things organized and lots of plastic totes to keep things together than need to be kept together. We also have netting that runs across the shelves and straps down with bungies to keep that gear from falling out. We can fit everything we need for any campout. can even fit 2 canoes in there it done correctly... and have also put in bikes, but if it's a large group going with bikes we have a leader with connections and can get another trailer just for bikes.