Ropes and Poles at the World Scout Moot, Iceland

I'll be travelling to Iceland for the World Scout Moot from the 25th of July to the 2nd of August this year. I don't have any plans to do pioneering while I'm there (Iceland doesn't have too many trees and bringing my own poles from South Africa would be tricky), but I'm keen to meet up with anyone who'll be there.

I'll be working as a Tribe Advisor, so I'll be based in Hafnarfjörður during the Expedition stage (26th-28th July) and at the main campsite in Úlfljótsvatn the rest of the time. Contact me (as a comment here, via email or on twitter) and we can arrange to meet. I'll have some Ropes and Poles patches to trade, and am looking forward to meeting you.

Minifig gateway at KonTiki 2017

I've featured gateways built by Harmellia Gardens Air Scouts before, and this Lego-inspired gateway at KonTiki 2017 is their latest design. Harmellia are using a synthetic hawser-laid rope, which, unlike braided polyprop ropes, behaves in a similar way to traditional sisal cordage. the head of the structure is bent from smaller thatching laths, and car tyres make up the hands.

(more sculptures, including dinosaurs, superheroes, biplanes and birds, on the sculpture tag)

Elevated tent platforms at KonTiki 2017

In rainy weather (and KonTiki frequently brings rainy weather), it can be a good idea to get your tent up out of the mud. Bush Hill Scout Troop built this four-tier stepped tent platform for their campsite at KonTiki 2017. The two highest tiers had enough clearance underneath to be used as part of the campsite as well.

I wrote about a three-storey tent tower built by 1st Walmer Scout group in 2012 

 

Everything was awesome at KonTiki 2017

KonTiki 2017 took place recently, and was the coldest  and one of the stormiest KonTiki weekends in some time. In spite of the rain, wind, hail and frost, 55 teams arrived to camp, taking part on this year's theme of "Let's Play!"

 Friday afternoon saw a hail storm that sent many teams running for shelter, but by the time I was on site in the vening, construction was going ahead under lights along most of the shore.

This year, many teams had LEGO-themed decorations in their camp sites, from bricks and blocks to minifigs.

The poor weather continued on Saturday, and in the end about a dozen teams spent the hwole night on the water through the wind and rain - here they are the next morning, when the sun came out for a beautiful sunrise and morning.

Congratulations to the over all winners, 1st Eagles. The full, detailed resulsts scoresheet is available here.

I'll be taking a closer look at some of the campsite details from this weekend in the next few weeks.

Kontiki 2016 timelapse videos

The KonTiki organisers have launched the website for the 2017 competition, and along with it, a series of timelapse videos from last year's event. These videos give you an idea of the work that goes into the weekend (and also of the unseasonal rain we had last year).

 

Lego machines to make rope

Most pioneering projects (but by no means all) use rope or cordage, so understanding how rope is made is a useful part of pioneering. There are some simple ways of making rope, but these Lego projects by Nico71 take ropemaking to another level.

The yellow machine winds a 3-strand hawser-laid rope, using Lego Technic components. You can see how the Technic gears are used to guide the three colours of yarn out of the spools and wind them into a cord before they are wound in the other direciton to lay up against each other in a rope.
Nico71 says:

After my mechanical loom is 2012, I wanted to build more specific weaving and braiding machine. After months of research, I came back with a new idea based on rope maker : a braiding machine which can make of course rope but also wristband ! Then, I have started in April of 2013 to make some prototype of weaving and braiding machine and succeeded in making one truly functional in December of 2013.

The Red machine is more complicated- it makes a braided rather than a hawser-laid rope, and is also faster.

Nico71 provides free (simple) and paid (highly detailed) versions of the building instructions for both of these, as well as a Youtube channel with demos of these and many other Lego machines.

Ropes and Poles embroidered badges available now

Following on from the vote earlier to choose a badge design,I've had badges produced here in South Africa, and they are available for sale- by clicking the Paypal button on the top right of the page. I'm really happy with how the design came out, and the quality of the badges that Precision Embroidery made.

 Badges are $2.50 including worldwide shipping, and the proceeds will help me get to the World Scout Moot in Iceland next year.
(South Africans- contact me for local payment and shipping options)

Suspended Tensegrity Cube by 1st Halfway House Scouts

Photo courtesy Shane Anderson

1st Halfway House, a Scout troop in Midrand, South Africa, recently built this tensegrity cube suspended between A-frames. The cube is supsended at 4 points- two underneath, and two at the top of the structure.

Photos courtesy Shane Anderson

Shane Anderson, ATS at 1st Halfway House, says:

The planned outcome of the project was to build and suspend a 10Ft Tensegrity cube between 2 x 15Ft A-Frames, (Bottom Support) and stabilised on the top by 2 x 20Ft A-Frames.

The project got of to a good start with the initial idea of building and stabilizing the cube with gadget sticks (staves) before adding the tensioning ropes, however that soon fell apart as the cube was being tensioned as the gadget sticks broke under the strain. Liam and his team then reverted to plan B, which was to stabilize with 6Ft pioneering poles.

The A-Frames where constructed by the Junior Scouts and when all was in place the cube was lifted using the 15Ft A-Frames and 2 x block and tackles while being kept upright by guy ropes.

If you look in the cosntruction photo above, you'll see the 'jig' of light lathes that was used to hold the cub in place while it was built. As Shane says, it's a good idea, but you'll need to use heavier poles to handle the strain.

Photo courtesy Shane Anderson

Here's the model used to plan for this project. Models are really useful tools for pioneering, because they help you plan the project, picking up some problems before building at 1:1 scale.

Congratulations to Liam and his team for building this structure!

Photo courtesy Shane Anderson

Congratulations to Liam and his team for building this structure!

56m suspension bridge at Manjedal Activity Centre, Western Australia

Greg from West Australian Scout Pioneering wrote in with photos and a description of the awesome bridge, supported by A frames on each end and a raft in the centre. Here's Gregs description:

Photo courtesy Greg Barbera

Project : Build a Rope bridge for the West Australian Cub Scout event – Enduro 

Location: Manjedal Activities Centre (M.A.C) – Lake Jones 

Depth: Varies from 4 meters to 15 meters Span: 56 m (40m over water) 

Water Temp: Very cold 

Weather: everything except snow 

Duration: 16 hrs to build

Photos courtesy Greg Barbera

To help celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Cubs, the Organizing team decided to go with a “Back to the Future” theme. They also want to surprise the cubs by having an activity based around the traditional methods of pioneering that have been with the movement for over 100yrs. The West Australian Scout Pioneering Crew (WASP) were asked to build a bridge across Lake Jones that would be sturdy enough to withstand a very large number of Cubs and Leaders using it.

Over the two days of Enduro approximately 800 Cubs and a small number of leaders made the crossing. To ensure the build met the requirements of pioneering in Australia, the walk rope was set at a height of 1.8m from the ground so that helmet & harness would not be required (anything over 2m). This meant that we had to install some form of support in the middle of the arc to keep the ropes & cubs out of the water. Several suggestions where made of a tower, but owing to the erratic shape of the bottom of the lake there would be no guarantee that a level section could be found. It was decided that a pontoon would work providing it could be securely moored and be able to support the bridge as it pass over it. It was decided that a 4m x 4 m pontoon made out 100mm dia. pine logs with 4 x 200ltr blue plastic drums and 6 x 140ltr white drums would both support it and stabilize the middle section. In addition 2 vertical poles where fitted so the bridge ropes could be attached to the pontoon using Carabiners, this would still allow the ropes to be tensioned without moving the pontoon from its moored position. 

We also fitted an arrival and departure deck which only covered the area under the bridge, a walkway was also fitted for a leader to use to assist those passing through the middle section. On the trial build of the pontoon we fitted guy ropes to the vertical posts but found that caused problems and a trip hazard for the leader, so this time we used 3 spars on each vertical and lashed them in place, to reduce the amount of rope required we made the first lashing a figure 8 and pulled the side poles out to create the angle brace. Then fitted one on the outside and lashed a horizontal spar in place so the walk rope could also be clipped onto the pontoon. For this span we fitted each line with 2:2 rope block combination and used the pontoon as a means to keep the lines tensioned as the combined weight totalled approx 350 kg. The main ropes where 20mm dia. sisal and to assist the hand rails to support the walk rope we fitted short lengths of rope which we refer to as stringers. Normally when we fit pulleys on to the main ropes to take up the tension, we used the prussic loop to attach the block, for this one we used the “Dog & Tail hitch”. This hitch does the job well and is easier to move when it is not under load. 

On the shore we used “A” frame assemblies that are self supported by guy ropes and thus allowed the main ropes to be tensioned freely. Carabiners were also tied to the frames to support the hand lines. To stop the main line travelling along the horizontal bar, we used a short length or rope and tied a clove hitch on both sides. Normally we would use a log & picket anchorage for our rope bridges, but in this case the ground on both sides was too soft to get a good footing. On one side the soil was too moist and on the other side there was a very large ant hill, which meant we had to contend with hollow ground owing to the nest. We therefore bound the trees with hessian to reduce any damage to them. 

To reduce the risk of the Cubs endangering themselves if they fell off, each person making the crossing was required to wear a life jacket and we had a rescue craft on standby (canoe). Out of the 800 cubs only 2 ended up in the water and 7 were rescued by the safety vessel as they held onto the hand rails.

Two-tent raft in Malta

 Sean from Mosta Scout Group in Malta shared these photographs with me- of a raft sitting in this stunning location against the cliffs in the Mediterranean.

Sean says:

"With 100 lashings, 40 staves, 30 barrels and 10 Marine Ply, a massive Double Floating Raft Camp served as our home for the past weekend. This is just a glimpse, from what Scouting is all about 😉"

(previously- pioneering from Mosta Venture Crew)

Ropes and Pole badges - selected design

 Thanks to everyone who voted in my earlier poll to help me choose a badge design for the blog. As you can see below, the Hy-par pavilion was by far the most popular design. I have sent the badge off for quotes and will have news soon about where and how you can purchase the badge. Thanks for participating!

Bamboo arches in Ghana- Haduwa Arts + Culture Institute

Photograph copyright Baerbel Mueller

This bamboo stage pavilion was built for The Haduwa Arts and Culture Institute in Ghana by [applied] Foreign Affairs, an architecture lab at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. A group of students built the project as part of their architecture classes, after researching the project in Austria and on site in Ghana.

Normally, when we build pioneered structures for Scouting, we use the bamboo the way we would any other pole- as a rigid, straight pole. This structure makes great use of the flexibility of bamboo to curve the arches, and also uses the idea of 'bundling' smaller poles together to make larger arches. While this structure might be much bigger than the normal Scout projects, there is an opportunity to learn from the way the students worked with bamboo in this project.

Construction details. All photographs copyright Baerbel Mueller

Project credits:
Client: Haduwa Arts and Culture Institute architecture and concept [Applied] Foreign Affairs, Department of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Project Leader: Baerbel Mueller
Project Team: Christian Car, Joseph Hofmarcher, Ilias Klis, Joana Lazarova, Ewa Lenart, Ioana Petkova, Philipp Reinberg, with Antonella Amesberger, Clelia Baumgartner, Stephan Guhs, Frida Robles, Andrea axis
Guest lecturers - bamboo construction: Jörg Stamm, Construction: Franz Sam, Structural: Klaus Bollinger, roof: Manora Auersperg, Christoph Kaltenbrunner, Performance Arts: Daniel Aschwanden


More information:
Designboom article
Architektur journal (Deutsch with English translation)

Vote for a Ropes and Poles badge design

I've been contemplating having badges made, which would be available for sale here on the blog. Some designs are shown above, featuring various projects from the blog archives, and I'd like your help choosing the first one to have embroidered. Please scroll down and vote below, or click on this link to go to the poll. Thanks!


 

Suspension Bridge from Feb 1937 Scouter magazine

I found this suspension bridge article written by L.C. Sands in the February 1937 Scouter magazine:

No special credit is claimed for having succeeded in building the bridge described here, as it involves a principle in common use, but as the writer has not seen anything similar described in any of the books on pioneering, he considers that other Scouters might possibly like to try it out, and doubtless improve upon it. Its chief advantages are that it needs only simple materials, is easy to construct, and is one which could be crossed with ease by many people who might hesitate to venture on a monkey bridge. Any measurements stated here may be altered to suit local conditions.

Two Towers were constructed of four spars about 9 ft. long, with 1 1/2–2 in. butts, and seven Scout staves 5 ft-long. First the side trestles were made by lashing two spars together as near the top as possible with a sheer lashing, and then the ledger was put on with square lashings about oft-from the bottom of the spars. These two trestles were then connected together to form the tower by lashing a strong pole across the top in the V’s made by each pair of spars, and by lashing poles adjacent to or slightly above the ledgers of the original treetles. The base of the finished tower was about 4 ft. square. About 2 ft. from the ground further poles were lashed to both back and front of the tower: the one (A in the diagram) nearest the bridge proper bore the two hawsers of the roadway, while both bore the planking.

The Roadway was made with two 2 in. ropes to which were attached twelve Scout staves at intervals of about 1 yd., by means of lever hitches a few inches from the ends of the staves. This method is probably not the best for strength, but it is quick, although about 1 ft. of the rope is used up in making each lever hitch. When this is swung into position, the ropes at one end should pass over the front pole (A) on the tower, under the back one (B), and be made fast to pickets or some convenient tree if available. The other ends should be similarly secured, but if possible block and tackle should be used to tighten them at one end, as was used in this case.

Suspension lines were made from 1 in. cord throughout, twelve in all three for each side of each half of the bridge. These lines were attached to the pole forming the road-bearers of the bridge, and to passed over the top pole of their respective towers to pickets or suitable trees. In the case of the lines attached to the two centre poles (E and F.)loops should be made in the cords about 2 feet from the ends fastened to the roadbearers. The two loops in these two lines from E and F (see diagram) were then drawn towards one another by another cord until the angles between the roadway and the portions of the cords below the loops were almost right angles, and then made fast. This other cord was then continued in either direction, taking a turn round each of the suspension lines in passing to the towers, to form a handrail. The reason for so dealing with the middle suspension cords was to increase the angle between the suspension lines and the roadway, so as to get a better suspension of the centre part of the bridge This proved the most satisfactory of several methods tried.

The other cords from C. D. G. and H go straight from these points over the top poles of the towers to their respective pickets. These suspension cords should all be fastened on to the roadbearers at D, E, F, G and H before the suspension part of the bridge is swung into position across the gap to be bridged. All that then remains to be done is to pass the cords over the top bars of the towers and fasten to the pickets. Before use the suspension cords should be adjusted so that the centre of the bridge is slightly higher the the ends. This method of suspension was found to be the most satisfactory and easiest to make as any particular cord can be readily tightened up. Of course extra strength would be gained by adding similar cords to some - the other road-bearers, e.g., those between C-10, and G. H.

To complete the bridge some form of planking should be laid across the road-bearers and lashed to them. In this case, some fifteen inches (in width) of planking put on for the whole length, and this in itself was a considerable weight. The length of the actual bridge between the towers was 38 ft.

This bridge proved very satisfactory in practice. After it had been used a number of times the drop in the centre, while an average-sized adult was standing on it in the middle, was only 9 in, and it may be added that the writer rode his bicycle across it.

Cardboard box rafts- Akela 2016

At the recent Akela 2016 camp, I was involved in running outdoor activities for the Pack Scouters, alongside the community service and crafts bases that were run. Alongside a tensegrity cube, I ran this challenge- to build a raft using staves, light cord, cardboard boxes and dustbin bags, and float a member of their team across a swimming pool (around 10 metres/ 30 feet).

Photographs courtesy Marissa Rakic

The idea is to build the cardboard boxes up, then seal them in plastic bags, and use these boouyancy 'blocks' tp build a raft. In practice, of the three teams who attempted it, only one got their 'sailor' safely across the pool. Here are the two unsuccessful teams at their moment of immersion:

The first team built a raft that had good, solid boxes, well tied together. However, they built a narrow raft which had very poor stability, and despite a few attempts, the raft was unable to remain upright.

The second team distributed the bouyancy more evenly, but one of their boxes failed around halfway through:

 The third team, pictured at the top of the post, managed to get across without any incident. I allocated 45 minutes for this, and all three teams had sufficient time, even allowing for around half the team being unfamiliar with raft building. I can recommend this as a patrol challenge if the weather is good. I would suggest having a full set of boxes for each team- in the event that a box gets wet, it is almost impossible to re-use.

Akela 2016 "Wolf" Hypar Gateway

I recently had the privilege to spend some time at the international Akela 2016 camp outside Pretoria, and this is the main gateway to the campsite - built by Harmellia Gardens Air Scouts.

The camp was held to celebrate the centenary of the establishment of Cubs, and the gateway was designed to resemble the head of a wolf- with a snout and two ears. The ears and snout are formed with sisal and eyehooks in hyperbolic paraboloid shapes. More information on how to set out the sisal to form the shapes is available here.

You can download the SketchUp 3d model here.

Kontiki 2016 Roundup and videos

KonTiki 2016 came to a close yesterday morning, after 60mm of unseasonal rain left the campsite waterlogged. The majority of rafts spent the night on the water, and the competition went ahead- congratulations to 1st Morningside who were all the overall winners!

Hennie Hamman, from Arrowe Park, has produced a series of videos summarising the weekend:
Friday night:

Saturday:

Sunday:

I'll be blogging some more about KonTiki once the full results spreadsheets are out, and once the organisers relsease some more photographs- there were a few timelapse cameras running over the weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

KonTiki 2016: Saturday- Rafts and Land activities

Saturday is the busiest day at KonTiki- rafts are completed, and after being checked for sea-worthiness, are launched and begin their competitions on the water. Meanwhile, on land, the Beaver Challenge competition has run for the Cubs and junior Scouts, campsites are being judged, and meals are competition meals are cooked.

Here are some of the rafts preparing for launch. Because of space limitations at the venue, rafts are built three rows deep from the shore. The theme for Kontiki 2016 is 'Jedi Knights', and you can see how some of the rafts have been decorated to match the theme.

Once the rafts launched,the weather (raining for most of the morning) improved briefly and I managed to get this photo of a rainbow. The organisers arranged for live GPS tracking of all the rafts this year, and this screen in the main tent shows the current location of all the rafts.

The Beaver Challenge is a series of challenge bases hosted for the Cubs and junior Scouts who visit Kontiki. Above are some of the bases from the challenge.

KonTiki 2016: Friday night raft construction

KonTiki 2016 is under way, with most teams well into building their rafts. Here are some photos of then shorefront. Teams build three rafts deep in most places, and once ready tomorrow, will help each other launch.

Bottlecutter2.0: making 'rope' from soft drink bottles

Image copyright Advocate Egerov

From Russia, via Youtube, comes this technique for converting a PET soft drink bottle into a strong 'tape' that can be used for lashings. Адвокат Егоров (Advocate Egerov) has two videos that explain how to build the Bottlecutter2.0 device to strip the bottles, and demonstrates how to use the strips to make lashings. Because PET shrinks when heated, he uses a hot air gun to 'frap' the lashings and tighten up the structures.

Image copyright Advocate Egerov

The first video (available with subtitles English subtitles) includes some basic lashings and instructions on making the machine to strip the bottle:

 While the second one goes through some detailed techniques and a rather elaborate willow branch chair:

Thanks to Clarke over at ScoutmasterCG for sharing this on one of his live chats- I recommend heading over there on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning (US time/afternoon European time)