Ropes and Poles

Flashback: Pioneered Hot Tub

2013-05-17T07:00:00.000+02:00

From the Ropes and Poles archives: In 2007, a the Senior Scouts of Scouting De Veste Hasselt built this fire-heated pioneered swimming pool.

KonTiki 2013 - Rafts by night

2013-05-03T07:00:00.000+02:00

Arrowe Park hosted approximately 3,500 people over the Kontiki weekend, but the highlight, and the purpose, of the weekend was the raft flotilla. Here are some of my photographs of the rafts assembled in the bay at night.

Yesterday was a good day for KonTiki on South African TV, with both the Western Cape and Gauteng Kontiki competitions featuring on two different nationally broadcast TV shows. If I can find any clips posted online I'll share them.

Pioneering drawings on iPad - Autodesk Formit

2013-04-26T07:10:00.002+02:00

Most of the drawings on this blog have been created using SketchUp, a great, cheap 3d modeling program for Windows and Mac. There have been a few attempts to make an equally intuitive modeling app for tablets, and I think Autodesk have something very capable in their new app, Formit. First released in November 2012, it is now onto version 3.0, and has some great features.

Formit uses Autodesk's 360 cloud platform, so you have the option of creating a 360 account when you first load the app. Drawing is by means of primitives ( basic shapes such as cubes, cylinders, prisms and domes) that can be scaled and altered, or by sketching and extruding 2d shapes. I have set up a basic set of pioneering poles, boards and barrels which I have shared on the 360 service, available here.

All of the images in this post are straight screenshots from the app, and it has a very clean interface that shows only what is needed for each drawing function. The help built into the app guides you through the basic functions, and there are a series of online tutorials and videos on using some if the more complex features.

The app has some features missing, notably the following:
- no annotation or dimension tools
- no image export (this can be solved by taking screenshots, holding down the home and power buttons together on an iPad)
- no Android support (Autodesk have hinted that this is coming at some point)

Judging by the speed at which features have been added, these might follow soon.

Kontiki 2013 featured in local newspaper

2013-04-19T08:12:00.000+02:00

Benoni is the city which hosts Gauteng KonTiki, and the front page of the local newspaper this week featured KonTiki, along with a full page of writeup and pictures. From the article:

Scouting groups from across Gauteng assembled at Arrowe Park, in Alphen Park, for a spectacle of raft-building, Scouting and Cub challenges, from April 12 to 14. The five to six man raft crews from over 50 Scouting clubs set sail on Homestead Dam for 24 hours, competing in various mobility challenges. Benoni entered two scouting groups in the raft building and sailing competition. Benoni Ninth Scout group achieved 13th place out of 52 rafts in the raft pioneering and mobility challenge. The achievement qualifies the group for the Chairmans Challenge, where the top 15 placed raft crews in the Kon Tiki, will once again compete and build rafts to navigate the waters.Benoni Sixth Scout group were placed in 32nd position at the Kon Tiki. The event will be held at Homestead Dam next year, with the theme Going Green.

Kontiki 2013 Report

2013-04-15T07:46:00.000+02:00

Gauteng Kontiki is over for another year, the rafts have all been packed away and now tents and ropes are being aired out to dry at Scout halls all over the province. I'll be posting more in the coming weeks, but the first thing is to congratulate the winners: 1st Robin Hills Silver Stallions who won the raft competition and the overall competition, and 1st Polokwane who won the supporter's competition.

The judges have already posted the full results spreadsheet, which can be downloaded here.

Joy from Akela's Cubs blog has a Kontiki and Beaver Challenge post here.

Finally, I chatted to Scouting Radio.com on Saturday night from Arrowe Park. You can listen to my report about Kontiki here.

Gauteng Kontiki 2013

2013-04-11T08:50:00.001+02:00

Gauteng Kontiki, the biggest annual event in South African Scouting, starts tomorrow. I'll be posting pics throughout the weekend. You can keep up with the official Kontiki website, the official Facebook page, the @ropesandpoles twitter account, and the @arrowepark instagram feed. Posts and info on previous events are under the RAFT tag on this blog.

Flashback: Pioneered Geodesic Dome

2013-04-05T07:21:00.000+02:00

This bamboo dome project was originally published on Ropes and Poles in 2006.

Photographs and a full report on this dome built by Israeli Scouts are in the blog post.

Pioneered Skylon Towers - 1951 Festival of Britain

2013-03-28T07:00:00.000+02:00

The Skylon was a suspended tower erected at the 1951 Festival Of Britain in London. To this day, Scouting literature refers to suspended flagpoles as 'Skylons' in reference to this tower. Here is an article from the November 8, 1951 edition of THE SCOUT that shows two of the first Skylon Scout towers, built during the Festival of Britain:

All the best Troops this year make Skylons! That seems to have been the slogan this year. Whilst at their summer camp Scouts and Senior Scouts the 94th North London Group built this massive Skylon. It took them almost a day to assemble and erect. The Skylon withstood a terrific thundestorm with a high wind and lashing rain on the last night of the camp. It was designed several months before the camp and even a scale model was built. (That's the way to go about it, blokes)
Readers may be interested in the following details: Total height 60ft. From the ground to the base of the mast 6ft. 6ins. ; size of poles used 9ft. 6ins. long, 1 3/4 ins. diamter. Number of poles 21; height of three supporting masts 13ft. Apart from this there were twenty four lashing, each of which was tightened with wdges, and the total weight of the mast was 1 1/2 cwts. I really think the designers hsould be reported to the Festival Committee.

And the picture on the right is yet another Skylon. The story of its construction is told by the S.M. of the 5th Wednesbury Group, which was responsible for its erection. He says:-

"It was constructed as our contribtion to our Association Scouting Festival of Britain Exhibiton held for ten days in the local park. Apart from time spent in planning and experiments, its construction and erection took eighteen hours of work in one week-end by some twenty-two Scouts, Senior Scouts and Rovers. It soared for a total heigh of 35 feet into the air, and its base (before the ropes stretched) was 5 feet off the ground. It was cosntructed of 72 staffs and other spars, with over 2000 feet of rope in 154 seperate lashings and knots entailing nearly 300 whippings. The idea, originated by A.S.M W. Barlow, who was designer and constructional chief with C.M. J. Barlow, was reported with interest by the main Midland newspapers, and was immediately met with cries of 'can't be done', At their works the designers were told by experienced constructional engineers that its erection would be completely impossible and even the D.C. later confessed that he only had his faith in those undertaking the job. At the exhibition Scouts camped and slept in the park each night, which is believed to the first time that anyone has ever (legally) done so there before. The Wednesbury Town Council were very helpful in that respect."
All the Troops that have had a go at making Skylons this year seem to have had a great deal of fun in doing so as well as working out jolly good engineering feats.

JEEP

Western Cape Kontiki this weekend

2013-03-22T07:00:00.000+02:00

Western Cape Kontiki is being held this weekend. Like last year, I'll be posting any photos and news I come across, and I recommend following @SAScout on Twitter to get the latest news.

Scoutpioneering.com website

2013-03-15T07:00:00.000+02:00

Larry Green's Scoutpioneering.com is a new pioneering website, and is laready full of great resources, with extensive information on BSA Pioneering badge requirements, new projects, and technical advice. Larry is constantly adding new information, but my favourite part of the site is set of projects suitable for a troop night meeting. The website has email subscriptions, and an RSS feed you can follow, so head over and subscribe.

Knottyer3d - 3d models of knots

2013-03-01T07:31:00.000+02:00

Following on from Knotmaker, which lets you draw 2d diagrams of knots, is Knottyer3d by Steve Abbott. This windows program generates 3d models that can be viewed or exported, and can even open Knotmaker 2d files and generate a 3d model from them.

Cartoon: Tommy the Tenderfoot

2013-02-22T07:24:00.001+02:00

For Founder's Day: I came across this postcard in a collection of Scout memorabilia. Drawn by Baden-Powell, this series of cartoons was first published in 1918. More information about the series is available in an article by William Hillcourt.

Cartoon: multi-storey tent

2013-02-15T07:00:00.000+02:00

From The April 3 1952 edition of The Scout, p 549. Drawn by Les Saward

Thor Heyrdahls' Kon Tiki - model by 6th Kettering Senior Scouts

2013-02-01T07:00:00.000+02:00

From p702 of the May 29 1952 'The Scout' -
"Our recent article on the Kon Tiki Expedition evidently interested the 6th Kettering Senior Scouts who decided to make a model of the raft. Their effort is seen here on shot at the recently held Kettering Scout Exhibition."

Knotmaker - software for drawing knots

2013-01-25T07:44:00.001+02:00

Knotmaker 2.1 is a windows program for drawing knotting diagrams. It is developed by Derek Smith and Dave Root, and available as a free download. The software originated from discussions on the International Guild of Knot Tyers forum.

Cartoon: camp gadgets

2013-01-18T07:16:00.000+02:00

Drawn by Les Saward, from the May 22 1952 edition of The Scout

Update: Bird's Nest structure complete- largest pioneered structure in Malaysia

2013-01-11T10:41:00.002+02:00

I wrote recently about the Shiang Yang 219 Kinta's Birds' Nest Stadium which was under construction in December. Construction is now complete, and the structure will be standing until the 19th of January. You can see detailed construction photos on the facebook page, and a day by day account on their blog.

Bird's Nest stadium by Shiang Yang 219 Kinta Open Scout Troop

2012-12-21T07:47:00.001+02:00

Images courtesy of Facebook page

Edmend Leong wrote in with this project being built by Shiang Yang Open Scout Troop 219 Kinta, Perak in Malaysia. The troop has previously built a 40m high tower, and this tower will be the largest pioneered structure in Malaysia when complete.

Construction is currently underway, and the structure is modelled after the Beijing National Stadium, the famous "Bird's Nest" from the 2008 Olympics. The 'stadium' will be complete later this month.

You can follow progress on the Facebook page or the group website.

Treehouse interior panorama

2012-12-12T08:35:00.002+02:00

Here is a montage panorama covering 180 degrees of the interior of the top floor of the treehouse. You can see the following:

the two trees (on opposite sides of the treehouse) to the left and the right
in front of the right-hand side tree you can see the 'trapdoor' down to the lower floor

Inside the double storey treehouse

2012-12-08T19:09:00.001+02:00

looking down the foefie slide

Today I fought my fear of heights and climbed the 6m ladder up to the double storey treehouse. The six Scouts who slept there last night said that they were comfortable and felt safe up there last night. This morning they set up an aerial runway (or as we call them in South Africa, a Foefie Slide) down from the tree, and I took a few photographs while I was up the tree.

This photograph shows how the 'cage' surrounding the treehouse works: a pair of ropes is twisted together, running from the roof to the floor of the structure. Poles are inserted into the twisted bundle (and into others along their length) at a series of heights to close the sides up. One corner was left open to allow the ladder, hoist and zipline to be accessed. All of the Scouts told me that they felt very safe sleeping up here last night, with no coverings on the sides apart from the rope and pole 'cage'.

1. Looking down the rope ladder (tied with marlinespike hitches) to the base of one of the supporting trees
2. Looking from the second floor down into the first floor.
3. The first floor 'bedroom'.
4. The second floor 'bedroom'.
5. Looking down from the top floor to the ground.

And yes, I did ride the foefie slide back down the ground, and it was great fun.

Double Storey Treehouse

2012-12-08T07:47:00.000+02:00

The Patrol Leaders of 9th Benoni Scout Group have completed their treehouse after a week of construction at Arrowe Park. Last night and tonight they will be camping in the trees. There are two levels to the treehouse, one for the girl PLs and one for the boys. Access is via a block and tackle for the lazy, a Prussik line, or a rope ladder. Greg, one of the ATSes at 9th Benoni, is an IRATA accredited rope access specialist, and has supervised and trained the PLs in this construction. Later on today I'll be climbing the tree to conduct our 2013 planning meetings with the PLs up in the tree. I will post photographs of the interior, details and the view from the top.

Treehouse project 2012

2012-12-02T19:56:00.002+02:00

After a break of a few years, the senior Scouts of my troop are building a treehouse in the same two trees we used all the way back in 2005. Today, they did some technical training on climbing safety, and made short-spliced loops for Prussiking. Work will continue this week, through the beginning of our summer holidays, with the Scouts camping in the treehouse next weekend. I will photograph the progress of the treehouse through the week.

Update 1: Double storey treehouse complete
Update 2: Photographs from inside the treehouse
Update 3: Interior panorama

Six pole tensegrity gateway

2012-11-23T07:51:00.002+02:00

I posted a tensegrity tower project a few years ago, based on the tetrahedral tensegrity. Tensegrities are a type of structure where none of the poles touch each other, but are supported by a ntework of cables in tension.

This new tower / gateway takes the form of the 6-strut tensegrity, with the pairs of parallel poles at right angles to each other, and 24 ropes between them.

Here is the construction sequence we used in building a stave model with 2m long laths:

- attach four ropes to the top of two longer poles (3m/10ft in this case), then raise them up and lash them each to a stake.
-suspend the next (blue) pole between these two, hanging from two ropes from each of the vertical (red poles). This blue pole should have two of it's own ropes tied on to each end.
-the remaining four ropes are now used to attach the two yellow poles, which are parallel to each other and on the same level. Each of these should have two ropes tied on to each end.
Finally, the bottom blue pole is attached, suspended from the yellow poles and braced to the bottom of the red poles.

I suggest using a cotton cord for tying this, and being prepared to spend a lot of time tidying up and levelling the structure. It looks neatest if you are able to cut the loose ends of cords off once you are finished.

World record tower: update

2012-11-16T07:36:00.000+02:00

Veld lore, Autumn 1984

A few months ago, I blogged about a picture from the 9th Benoni Scout Troop logbook that showed a 120 foot tower. At the time, I didn't have any more information about it other than the date and the venue. I've since come across a copy of Veld lore, the quarterly magazine of the then Boy Scouts of South Africa, from Winter 1984 that has the attached photographs with the following caption:

Veld lore, winter 1984

World's highest ever pioneering tower, built by Northern Districts, soars 123 feet skywards

Canoe catamaran

2012-11-09T07:35:00.002+02:00

photograph by Chris Turner, 9th Benoni

During the recent Jamboree on the Air/ Jamboree on the Internet, the Scouts from my home troop built this catamaran using two open canoes that we own. Although we're not a Sea Scout troop, we are lucky enough to have a hall and a campsite situated on a lake.

Photograph by Koen Broumels

Photograph by Koen Broumels, Phoenix Rover Crew

The two canoes are lashed together using 2m staves, round lashed on to the thwarts, with a cargo pallet 'deck' between the two hulls. After testing out the catamaran with paddles, we rigged up a square-rigged sail. Without a keel or centreboard, we were only able to sail with the wind behind us, but the Scouts had fun figuring out how to get things working