In the light that Pioneering has been referred to as “Scout Engineering,” many projects can be considered a pioneering-related venture when Scouts are confronted with fashioning and building something requiring intelligent use of their resources, consideration of angles, trajectory, and some campcraft skills.
Erecting a little A-Frame tent using a plastic sheet that has no grommets is a nifty challenge and just such an opportunity. Each individual, pair of Scouts, or patrol can simply be furnished with a plastic sheet and some line for their guylines and directed to have at it and give it a go. Alternatively, Scouts can be provided all the following materials:
- a 6’x6’ plastic sheet
- six smooth stones
- six short guylines (four 3′ lengths for the corners, and two 9′ lengths for the front and back. Paracord does the trick just fine fine.)
- six stakes
- a mallet
- two 4’ poles for the uprights
Use the stones to make a rock “buttons.” Push the rock up from the underside of the tarp, then lasso it with a slip knot in your tie-down rope. This technique works equally well if the grommets have pulled out of your tarp.
Not DIRECTIVES, just suggestions: Secure the stone to the plastic using a Roundturn with Two Half Hitches. Attach the front and back guylines to the upright poles using an Open End Clove Hitch with an additional Half Hitch.