Boy Scout Troop 325 Scoutmaster Minute
Tents
March 24, 2009
Andy Duprey, Scoutmaster
A few words about tents:
You all have practiced setting up tents tonight, and have had a competition to see who is the fastest.
- Before you set up a tent you need to find a spot that is
- you will want to set up your Tent on an even surface of smooth soil or grass that allows you to easily secure your pegs.
- safe and protected.
- Not the lowest spot
- surrounded by natural obstacles which will provide shade in hot conditions, wind breakers in windy conditions, and rain stoppers in rainy conditions. Concentrations of trees and rocks are ideal natural barriers.
- camp near a stream, river, or other source of water that you can use for your dishes and cleaning up.
- make sure that you are on higher grounds and that there are no chances of flash floods.
- Setting up a tent
- You may move luff and duff from your tent site, but you will need to put it back when you pack up
- You will want to make sure that your Tent is the highest area in its direct vicinity to keep water from entering your Tent area.
- If you are using a tarp, rather than a footprint, make sure you fold the tarp under the tent, to match the profile of the tent, to keep water from seeping between your tent and the tarp.
- Find out what the prevailing wind direction is and set your Tent up in a way that the doors and/or vents are aligned along the wind direction. This will greatly increase the ventilation in your Tent and help you in your fight against condensation.
- As you remove your tent from it's bags, place the bags inside of each other and put them in your tent so you don't lose them!
- You will want to pitch your tents evenly and secure them as well as you possibly can. A lot can change overnight so even if the conditions are great as you pitch your Tent, you should always prepare for the worst. Knowing the Weather Conditions is a good first step.
- Anticipate your Terrain Conditions and bring special pegs and stakes for surfaces such as snow, gravel, and soft sand.
- In soft surfaces, dig a hole and dig in the stake with guy line and all. For increased resistance, it might be better to tie the guy line to a big branch and dig this in instead of using the pegs.
- In hard clay surfaces, look for solid bushes or trees that allow you to tie down the tent without using stakes.
- Or tie the guy lines to the middle of the stake, place them flat on the ground, and use large obstacles like rocks or logs to keep them from sliding. For increased friction, you can tie the guy lines to large branches instead of using the stakes.
- Be creative and use whatever gear or natural material is at your disposal
- Tent Removal
- Leave not trace that your tent was there!
- If you move the luff and duff, move it back
- If you moved rocks etc, put them back
- Putting your tent away
- Set your tent on a clean tarp or clean grass
- If your tent is wet, remove the worst of the water by shaking your tent out, carefully, or by rubbing it down with a bandana/dry, clean, rag.
- Set the footprint on the tarp first followed by the tent spreading both out to their proper size
- Place the rain fly in the middle of the tent
- Place you pole bag at one end of the tent
- Fold the tent into the middle so it is the width of the pole bag
- Fold the far end into the middle
- Roll the tent taut around the pole bag
- With a partner holding the tent bag open, slide the roll into it.
- Returning the tent
- Please set the tent up at home and let it dry
- Once the tent is dry, brush off any dirt
- Please do not place in a washing machine or use any soap on the tent.
- Return the dry, clean tent to the troop quartermaster at the next meeting.
Thank you and good camping