rjscout

Often, young scouts are pretty rough with tent zippers. We have three Timberline 4 with broken zippers that need repair. What is a typical repair rate for tent zippers? We were quoted $70 each from a costume shop. Is there a good source of zipper repair that anyone uses that might be more reasonable?

Thanks!

RJ

We did have some of our older scouts participating in the ATV adventure at Camp Frontier. They LOVED it (who wouldn't?)! They were overbooked, so they added another evening session for a few of the scouts (longer sessions gave them a bit more time to ride). The same scouts were signed up for mountain biking and enjoyed that, as well.

I didn't like that the scouts could only sign up for lake time once a week as a troop, assuming the troop spots didn't fill up. Last year at Camp Friedlander, they were able to do the blob every evening, if so desired.

The food was good and plentiful. The dining hall is small, so you get your food there and go outside to a HUGE dining fly with picnic tables. It wasn't so bad, even in the 100deg weather on Thursday. I actually liked that more than the nice dining hall at Camp Friedlander (we are camping, after all).

The staff was great. Our staff rep stopped by our campsite at least once a day through the whole week. Very friendly. Most staff members were most helpful. I was not impressed with the IOLS training. I had that training a few years ago, but stopped by some sessions to get new viewpoints and ideas. It was mostly 'what do you want to talk about'. Great for trained/experiences leaders, but the new leaders probably should have heard more on the syllabus topics. The CPR training was GREAT, as was the High and Low COPE courses for leaders. Three great COPE staff members.

The boys had fun and some wanted to go back again this summer and next summer, but we are trying to try different camps.

Camp Friedlander was my first summer camp as a Troop Leader last year. Some of the Merit Badge courses seems a little too easy to get through, but the boys enjoyed the overall camp. Their chaplain was AWESOME with some homesick scouts. I would recommend Camp Friedlander to anyone who is looking for alternate summer camps.

Sounds like there are a lot of good summer camps, with various opinions depending on what happened to them that week. I hope to get enough good information to share with the PLC to allow us to reserve a good campsite at a good camp for next summer.

Thanks to you both, and to all others who wish to join this discussion.

Great thoughts! We had discussed Ransburg for a future camp. We'll discuss these thoughts with PLC and see what they would like to do.

Any words on other camps in Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana? We had been rotating between Camp Friedlander and Camp Frontier. The boys like each of these, but wanted more variety.

Some of our scouts decided to get a variety for summer camp and want to check out a few other camps. Have any of you been to Chief Logan ot Woodlan Trails in the last year or two? Thoughts?

I don't mind the sign up to request quiet. Some people may interpret standing there quietly as just waiting for something else. It is good to communicate something. What I don't like isnhearing someone shout "sign's up"!

Yeah, I ran a BB shooting event at a spring Pack campout at our Council Cub World and was disappointed to find that the NSSF has discontinued the junior USA Shooting team badge. I had many excited Cub Scouts at previous shootings earn the badge. Some of those same boys are now working on their Rifle and Shotgun Merit Badges.

When I was a CM, I would always use the CS sign, unless we were saying the Scout Promise or Oath.

GREAT success!!! Good to overplay to have something ready and go with the flow without over executing. I loved it when we got to Webelos den camping. Great benefit having the troop there. Glad you had a wonderful experience for the boys!

I thought about taking tiki torches next week, but wondered about the citronella oil being allowed. Thoughts?

I think the original switchback came in S, M L, XL (not sure how large) and an inseam length. I have two M pants - one with 34 and one with 32 inseam. With the elastic waist and nylon belt, the fit a decent range of waists.

With a longer car, you could move the center of mass further back, increasing the time that the potential energy can work on the speed of the car while rolling down the incline.

I still have fond memories of building my PWD car back when I was a Cub Scout. I might have won a heat or two, but nothing close to winning my Den. When my son was a Tiger, we worked on his car until he said he was done. He wasn't interested in making sure that the car was even up to 5oz, resulting in 14th out of 20. He loved seeing his friends get trophies and thought that it was time for more speed. I did a lot of searching online and found out how we could make the car faster. That was also the first of four years that I was in charge of the PWD for our Pack. I noticed the gap between the winners and the slower cars. I created a document to show everyone how to speed up the cars. We had a few volunteers at check-in to help add weight to the cars. I opened up my basement to help make cuts for scouts&Dads who had no tools. My son learned more every year on how to speed up his car. He won his rank four years, but never won the Pack. last year my wife heard someone mention that my son won the race because I had the track at my house. I didn't have time to setup the track for test runs with all the time I was spending helping other cars and starting to plan for the B&G the following month. Not all of fast cars are Dad built nor bought for speed. Getting the speed is not that hard and a great way to teach the scout about friction and potential&kinetic energy. The more the parents work with their scout, the better the race for all.

As a former CM, now with my son's troop, I like it!

I had experienced having non- committee members on a BOR, but I can't find the new rule stating that. Does anyone have a point of reference?

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I convinced the scout's parent not to go with the unknown gear. The old scouts are loaning some older gear for those who don't have all of the necessary gear. Christmas is getting close and the wish lists are getting longer.

No, I am not selling anything. My son crossed over to Boy Scouts in March. The are getting ready to go on there first backpacking trip. One of the new scout parents called to ask me about campingmaxx.com, after seeing it in Boys Life. I have never heard a word about that gear. I recommended ALPS Mountaineering, especially with their scoutdirect.com 45% scout discount.

I have lots of ALPS Mountaineering gear.

Has anyone seen the campingmaxx.com gear?

I saw a den in a different pack with 'DEN 10 1/2' on their sleeve. They had to merge den 10 and 11, so they took the avg. Special patch was cool for the boys.

Basement,

As you have shown, it isn't always easy to get a MBC, so the troop is trying to see who might fit is as MBC for carols MB topics. I think we will get our feet wet in the troop, but open to district and council after some experience.

Is there a link online to show what the requirement is to become a MBC for some of the more restrictive Merit Badges, like swimming, scuba, snorkeling, etc... I have seen the requirement for someone to run a swim test bfor summer camp. Is there a similar qualification for a swimming merit badge counselor? We have some boys who missed summer camp and we would like to get the swimming merit badge before next summer. Does a scuba MBC need to be a scuba instructor, or just work with an instructor to meet the certification requirement. I haveen unable to find such qualifications.

I always thought Bear rank or higher was the rant, but at a cuboree in the fall, the district opened it up to wolf cub scouts who were 8. I never saw an official ruling.

I like the necker per rank to differentiate dens. I am not big on separate slides/hats per rank. We handed out homemade slides made with polymer clay disks and stamped with rank paw, as well as Turks head knots. We also encouraged den made slides. Didn't encourage the rank hats. Switched to a more generic scout hat (cub scouts or webelos) for those who wanted a hat.

cubs love hot dogs on a stick... then wrap a biscuit on the dog and brown it, or have a separate stick for biscuit on a stick.

I like foil dinners, but it is a hassle for large groups. A good prevention to burning the food is to put a layer of cabbage between the foil and the other food. Cabbage is usually charred to the foil, but adds some flavor. We also use a layer of potato slices and/or carrots to protect the meet from burning. I want to try sweet potato slices one of these days.

Have fun!!!

Great feedback! I am new to the Boy Scout side after my son recently crossed to a Troop. The boys had fun and learned a lot, but I don't think the MBs were very thorough. I do plan to be much more thorough with the MB that I am signed up for.

Thanks to all!!!

rj

The troop attended a Camporee that had a few Merit Badges offered. I had recently signed up to be a MBC in one of those areas. I thought that the Camporee would give me a good insight into how an MBC should operate. I volunteered to assist, but I was not acting as an MBC. It looks like the requirements were a bit watered down. Activities that are written to perform an action turned out to be 'watch someone perform the activity' and listen to his description of what he is doing. Is it typical to have the requirements modified to this extent as part of a Camporee that has LOTS of boys going after these MBs?

I guess a lot depends on personal preferences. Thanks for all of your responses. I do have some old Coleman rectangular bags that don't pack up very well. I think I do need to get a warmer bag for summer and the warmer transition months.

I love being able to get feedback on various questions on this forum.

YIS,

rj