Camp Couch

Before a big competition camp earlier this year, I told my scouts to think of the campsite as their house for the weekend- and to put in all the things they would want in their house. This couch was the result,designed and built by 2 of my APLs. There was also an altar 'coffee table', I think if they had more time there was talk of a camp TV and Playstation...



This is the first project I am posting with a cargo net- if you can get hold of one of these they are very handy for pioneering. Thread the top and bottom poles through the net BEFORE lashing them on to your tripods. You can use hessian or sack cloth instead of a cargo net but this is much more difficult to fasten to the bearer poles.

You will need to heel your tripods in well, staking and lashing them might not be a bad idea.

Mast

This mast is based on the Skylon Weathercock in John Sweet's Scout Pioneering (Available from Scouts Canada shops and from the Gauteng Scout Shop in South Africa - Scouts Canada will ship overseas if you ask nicely). Instead of quadpods, this one uses tripods. Because of the size of the poles used (4 meter/12 foot) and the resulting weight, we mounted the mast on the ground rather than suspending it on a jury masthead supported by stakes. Total height is about 7m

This was built as part of a pioneering challenge base during this year's JOTI/JOTA camp in Arrowe Park. Thanks goes to the scouts who helped build it- 9th Benoni Callisto, 9th Benoni Greyspear, Springs Central Air Scouts and Benoni Air Scouts.

Any ideas as to what it can be used for? We hung a lantern from it which was visible from the other side of the campsite.

Trebuchet

 UPDATE: download this as a SketchUp model here.

This Trebuchet is a small (10ft/3m throwing arm) version that uses a bucket filled with bricks/stones for the counterweight. The crucial component here is the sling- made from a diamond of leather stitched to two cords. One end of the sling is tied to the end of the throwing arm, the other has a loop tied around it which is slipped over the throwing arm. When you release the trebuchet, the arm swings around and flicks the sling around. At some point, the loop slides of the end of the arm, and the object you are throwing (rubber chicken, rotten lettuce,water balloon, tennis ball etc..) is released. Not much else to say that is not obvous from the picture, besides this: make sure that your entire supporting structure is very solidly braced or guyed, otherwise you may find the entire thing collapsing after a few shots. Also, if the sling releases early, the projectile can either go straight up, or backwards, so make sure that you have cleared a safe area behind and in front of your position. anything to the left or right is generally safe.

WARNING
This is a projectile weapon, with a potential range of 100m/300ft. DO NOT aim this at anything you do not want to hit. DO NOT load any hard objects (bricks etc.) into it. REMEMBER your cone of danger extends in front of and behind your trebuchet