This design idea was retrieved from John Thurman’s Pioneering for the Patrol.
When the patrols have learned their round lashing and square lashing, they’ll be ready for this indoor challenge which gives them an opportunity to use what they’ve learned in a new way. Additionally, they get to plan their “attack,” pool their resources, use their ingenuity, and put into practice the teamworking skills necessary to complete the task.
Materials needed for each patrol:
- six 5-foot Scout Staves
- seven 6 to 10-foot x 1/4-inch manila lashing ropes
- four light guylines
- one 15-foot light line (for halyard)
- one 3-foot cord (to make top loop for halyard)
- two pencil-sized sticks (if needed to secure patrol flag to halyard through existing grommets)
- their patrol flag
The challenge. Ask the patrols to each build a self-standing flagpole capable of raising and lowering their patrol flag. Have the necessary materials on hand, and present them with the following design:
NOTE: This challenge can be presented without the design! If no design is provided, and just the challenge is given as stated above, the Scouts will be confronted with having to figure out their own approach that will work! However, the design is ingenious and sooner or later worthy of being shared.
Some thoughts:
1) This self-standing flagpole is ideal when a flagpole is desired indoors (or outdoors when there’s no way to drive stakes into the ground or dig a hole).
2) Depending on the ceiling’s height, the flagpole can be built higher merely by lashing on additional pole sections.
3) To shorten the pole if the ceiling is lower than 10 feet, just round lash two staves together.
4) Naturally, following the design, the Patrol Leader can have members of his patrol divide the tasks so that the pole and the support frame are constructed simultaneously.
5) The method of placing two 5-foot staves end to end, and lashing a third joining stave in the middle where the two others touch can be seen as somewhat of a departure, but will yield a very stable 10-foot flagpole, provided the four Round Lashings are tight and well-spaced.
6) The 3′ cord for the halyard loop can be fastened to the top stave in a variety of ways: a bowline with a clove hitch, a bowline with two half hitches, a doubled over rolling hitch, etc., etc.
7) The guylines can also be attached in a variety of ways (and will be), though rolling hitches around both the pole and the support frame are recommended.
SCOUT PIONEERING 