40 foot monopole tower

The fifty foot monopole tower I posted a few months ago requires five twenty foot (6 metre) poles. I wanted my troop to build 4 monopole, but we didn't have enough long poles. This slightly shorter version only requires three long poles, so should be in easier reach of troops with small pole racks.

(click to enlarge)

 A few things to consider for this tower (and any other tower, really):

• shear lashings, of the German, Dutch or 'English' variety, should be used in pairs spaced a few feet (literally: I tell my Scouts to use two shoe-lengths of the tallest Scout in their patrol) apart. The lashings are indicated as grey lines in the drawing.
• If your poles have a noticeable taper, the heavier eand should be on the bottom of the tower
• This tower benefits from a small post hole being dug for it, so that it heels in to the hole when it is raised up.

50 foot Monopole

This design was used by Northern District for their 2009 Pioneering competition (click the image to enlarge). The original link from the Gauteng Scouts website is broken, so I'm posting a copy here.

The monopole is a 'bundle' of poles lashed together  with round lashings (of the Dutch, German or conventional varieties) and guyed with ropes. The joints between the poles are overlapped so that the final product has each joint braced by two other poles.

Suspended flagpole

Today is Freedom Day in South Africa, a commemoration of our first inclusive elections in 1994. Here's a classic flag pole flying the South African Flag, which flew for the first time 18 years ago today.

This 3m (10 foot) lath flag pole is suspended from four stakes (we use 20mm steel stakes, but you can use wooden stakes if your soil is soft). A jury masthead supports the base of the flagpole and is attached to the four stakes with the lower guy lines. The top guys are tied on the the pole with rolling hitches, and looped to the stakes with trucker's hitches so that they can be adjusted and tensioned.

The key to making this flagpole work is accuracy: all of the stakes should be leaning out at the same angle, in a perfect square, and the jury masthead should be at the dead centre between them. The top guys should be tightened in opposite pairs if possible (this takes two people).

Check out this set on Flickr for a step-by-step guide to building an even bigger suspended flagpole.