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Can a scout tent alone?


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Khaliela, there is no room for 3 cots in a standard, canvas tent used by summer camps. I

 

let the SPL have a tent to himself.

Cots? We don't need no steenking cots! Like I said, 3 tents end to end and 8 boys, but not cots. :)

 

I remember there were even bigger wall tents used by my scout troop as a kid that a couple of patrols used them to house the whole patrol - 8 boys one tent. It was kinda fun, but not all the time..

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Why not throw 3 boys in one tent? If your camp uses the big green canvas tents there is plent of room and I'm sure you've got a set of boys who would be happy to be the Three Musketeers!
There is not a standard size wall tent. That may work for the ones you use. That will not work in the ones two of the camps have near us.

 

Last July it never got below 90 at night. If you cram the boys shoulder to shoulder like that, they will never come back.

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Khaliela, there is no room for 3 cots in a standard, canvas tent used by summer camps. I

 

let the SPL have a tent to himself.

Jblake,

 

Most summer camps provide cots nowadays. I don't use one except there.

 

In regards to 8 boys in 3 tents end to end, try 8 boys in a 4 man tent. Big Grin :D

 

I remember those old wall tents. My troop had 3 in storage with no floors and built in netting. If your patrol damaged the newer tents, you got stuck in one of those.

 

I've never tried it, but it was a regular thing with the German scouts. Not only would they sleep as a patrol in them, they would cook in them too.

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The summer camp we are going to has the standard 2 person canvas platform tents. We are bringing an odd number of scouts with us to camp. Can one scout tent alone? My plan was to allow the Senior Patrol Leader to have his own tent' date=' but I've had another adult say scouts have to be 2 to a tent. I looked through the Guide to Safe Scouting and I couldn't find anything in writing that says the minimum number of scouts in a tent is two.[/quote']

 

This is the part of adult service that I honestly hate. Stick a guy in a uniform and suddenly every idiotic notion that pops into his head is a "BSA rule." Yes, a scout can tent alone. Tell the guy you'd be happy for him to show you the rule in the GtSS or any other BSA rulebook; he's the goofball, onus is on him. If it's a "troop rule" then it's not a rule.

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The summer camp we are going to has the standard 2 person canvas platform tents. We are bringing an odd number of scouts with us to camp. Can one scout tent alone? My plan was to allow the Senior Patrol Leader to have his own tent' date=' but I've had another adult say scouts have to be 2 to a tent. I looked through the Guide to Safe Scouting and I couldn't find anything in writing that says the minimum number of scouts in a tent is two.[/quote']

 

This is the part of adult service that I honestly hate. Stick a guy in a uniform and suddenly every idiotic notion that pops into his head is a "BSA rule." Yes, a scout can tent alone. Tell the guy you'd be happy for him to show you the rule in the GtSS or any other BSA rulebook; he's the goofball, onus is on him. If it's a "troop rule" then it's not a rule.

Sure it is a rule.....It is a troop rule...which can be enforced at the troop level.......

 

If a Troop adult isn't comfortable with the boys tenting alone, sure he can require them to tent together.

 

My point is this is a ridiculous discussion.....

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We once had a member here a few years back that argued the buddy system extended to tenting and that you can't let a boy tent alone. He couldn't really prove his belief beyond what he considered a logical extension of the buddy plan. The first troop I was associated with didn't have the ability to provide tents. A tent was usually one of the items they received for Christmas or a birthday. We never denied a boy the ability to use HIS tent that he was so proud of. If they wanted to buddy up, more power to them.

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"My point is this is a ridiculous discussion..... "

 

DING! Correct answer.

 

This is Boy Scouts. Why are the adults even paying attention to this?. Our guys much prefer to sleep under the stars in hammocks, weather permitting. Everyone still has a tent for storing gear, changing clothes and bad weather, but I couldn't care less. My only concern is with the new Scouts. I've had little guys freak out when they learn their tent mate is sleeping with the gang in a hammock and he's stuck in the big, scary tent alone. My only rule/request is the new guys pair up with another guy who has the same plans for sleeping in a tent or hammock.

 

Last week was a bit odd in that it seemed like the guys were changing tents and tent mates all week. I think it was a function of the rainy weather and different guys willing to take chances with the rain. Still, I don't care. If you're somewhere in the campsite by taps, I'm okay with it.

 

 

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At this past summer camp, we had five scouts, and did not know how to decide on who should tent alone. (cabin tents designed for two cots.) (Yes, very small troop, sigh.) The boys came up with the unique solution of moving two tents together and tying the openings up so that it was a long cabin tent. Three boys in that, and two in a standard cabin tent. I liked it. We had plenty of unused tents in our campsite. The boys had it set up before I knew they had solved the problem. Boy led solutions are good for me.

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For older cub scouts[Webelos age] I don't like them tenting alone because they get scared in the night and need the buddy system so they have someone to be scared with. ;) for boy scouts, sometimes the newest youngest guys should be advised to always tent with someone for the same reason, especially their first summer camp away from mom and dad. But for all the rest, let them figure it out.

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At this past summer camp, we had five scouts, and did not know how to decide on who should tent alone. (cabin tents designed for two cots.) (Yes, very small troop, sigh.) The boys came up with the unique solution of moving two tents together and tying the openings up so that it was a long cabin tent. Three boys in that, and two in a standard cabin tent. I liked it. We had plenty of unused tents in our campsite. The boys had it set up before I knew they had solved the problem. Boy led solutions are good for me.
Our guys did that a couple of years ago and the camp ranger got is pantys in a wad about it....
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At this past summer camp, we had five scouts, and did not know how to decide on who should tent alone. (cabin tents designed for two cots.) (Yes, very small troop, sigh.) The boys came up with the unique solution of moving two tents together and tying the openings up so that it was a long cabin tent. Three boys in that, and two in a standard cabin tent. I liked it. We had plenty of unused tents in our campsite. The boys had it set up before I knew they had solved the problem. Boy led solutions are good for me.
yeah I could see our camp rangers getting cross about moving tents around too. They'd need a LOT of reassurance that the scouts would put everything back how they found it at the end of the week.
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