Favorite Camp Gadgets

Building any good camp gadget requires at least some basic skills in Scoutcraft, e.g. proper use of wood tools, tying basic knots, simple lashings. At Scout Camp, these camp gadgets are often referred to as “campsite improvements.” A good camp gadget should be durable, aesthetically pleasing, and serve a purpose. There are numerous designs and ideas. Here are some of our personal favorites:

This small camp table is completely functional and provides a convenient raised surface for personal, patrol, or general use. It’s simple design provides for quick and easy set up, and it is surprisingly stable.

Make the table legs. Start by lashing four 6′ staves with shear lashings, to make the table’s legs.

Lash on the table top supports. Next, to support what will become the table top, lash a straight 4′ x 1″ stick to connect each set of shear-lashed legs at about 3 -1/2 feet from the bottom of the 6′ stave. Use square lashings. This will form two A-frames, one for each side of the table. Make sure the 4′ stick is the same distance from the bottom of the legs on both sides.

Get ready to hold up the table. Now it’s time to hammer in a narrow pioneering stake on either side, 10′ away from where the legs will stand (about 52″ apart).

Stretch out a 50′ length of 1/4″ manila rope so the middle of the rope will lay where the middle of the table will be. Tie a clove hitch at the top of one leg at each A-frame, about 52″ apart.

Attach the ends of the rope nice and tight to each pounded-in stake using a roundturn with two half hitches. Tightening this rope is what keeps the A-frames from shifting and makes this table very stable. If you secure the table nice and tight from the beginning, you shouldn’t ever have to adjust the tension. Situating the stakes ten feet away from the table will provide optimum stability, but for practical purposes, much shorter distances between the clove hitches and the stakes can also work very effectively.

Make the table top. Lay 5′ staves across both 4′ sticks and attach them with a floor lashing using binder twine. If you’re using Scout Staves, twelve work well.

This wash station is the ideal First Class Camp Gadget! It’s sturdy, portable, and very useful when camping away from washroom facilities. Inherent in its design is a sound approach to a variety of pioneering concepts and skills. When this project’s built with all the lashings tight and all the legs, cross bar, and support pieces properly positioned, it’s a fine example of a well-engineered, highly functional camp gadget. Each of the three legs making up the tripod gets a lashed on support piece, and the wash station’s stability stems from the fact the design contains three triangles.

Make the tripod. Using the 10′ rope, lash the two 5′ sticks and one 4′ stick together with a tight tripod lashing. The 4′ stick should be in the middle. Make sure the “butt” ends of all three these sticks are even. Separate the legs and set the tripod up. The success of this project relies on a well-tied, tight tripod lashing.

Lash on the braces. Using four tight square lashings, with the 6′ ropes lash one end of the 2′sticks to the 5′ legs and the other end of the 2′ sticks to the four-foot leg.

Lash on the crossbar. Using two more square lashings, tightly lash the other 4′ stick to the top extended sections of the two 5′ sticks to make a cross bar for the towel and soap-in-a-sock.

Add the soap, water, and towel. Tie the end of one 3′ cord to the soap-in-a-sock and the end of the other 3′ cord to the towel, and hang them on either side of the 4′ crossbar.

Washing his hands before breakfast on a cold, winter camping trip.

Hang the can filled with water to the end of the 4′ stick extending from the front of the tripod.

During the camping trip, change the water as necessary. See that the soap-in-a-sock is not left in the can after use as it will melt.

One of the beauties of using metal containers is that in cold weather, the can of water can be heated in the fire.

One of the essential mandates in the B.S.A.’s Outdoor Code is: BE CAREFUL WITH FIRE.

• I will prevent wildfire.
• I will build my fires only where they are appropriate.
• When I have finished using a fire, I will make sure it is cold out.
• I will leave a clean fire ring, or remove all evidence of my fire.

In addition to being the height of simplicity, this basic camp gadget makes an invaluable contribution towards safety around the fire circle. In our campsites, since it’s always a safe bet to have a supply of water right near our cooking and campfires, why not add some convenience and accessibility, especially because when fire buckets are on the ground, they’re frequently knocked over, inadvertently kicked, and even stepped in!

Useful Camp Gadget

The materials needed for this ultra simple campsite improvement are two pioneering stakes, a solid stick about 30″ long with a notch on either end to hang the buckets, and two short 1/4″ manila lashing ropes, 6 to 10′ long.

In a sensible place near the fire circle, simply pound in the pioneering stakes, approximately 1 and 3/4′ apart. Then, making sure the notches on the 30″ crossbar are facing up, lash it to the two stakes with tight square lashings. Fill the fire buckets and hang them on either side. That’s all there is to it.

Fundamentally speaking, as long as a campsite is safe and clean, all’s well. However, especially for longer term camps (or when displaying demonstrations of Scoutcraft skills), there’s definitely something to say for the added convenience of a campsite tool rack. Set up in a prominent location (in or near an axe yard), a tool rack serves as a reminder to put tools back where they belong. A place for everything, and everything in its place, especially wood tools, goes a long way towards limiting accidents.

Construction is very simple. Basically, all that’s needed are four poles; two 6′ uprights, and two 5′ cross pieces work fine. The cross pieces are connected to the uprights with four square lashings.

Tools are hung on the rack, suspended by a looped cord attached to the top cross piece with a larks head knot. 

Scouts attach a 6′ stave to a pioneering stake with two round lashings.

If the two upright’s cannot be hammered into the ground, pound in a couple of pioneering stakes and hold the uprights in a vertical position by lashing them firmly to the stakes with a couple of tight round lashings.

Flags engender pride! Flying ‘em high is great for Scout spirit, and making a flagpole is really easy. All you need are straight sticks (Scout staves work great), rope for round lashings, rope for guy lines, and three stakes.

Two flags on a 24′ pole

The key to raising a simple flagpole is tying on three guy lines about 3/4 of the way up, and extending them out equidistant from one another. For smaller flagpoles, the stakes should form an equilateral triangle, and should ideally be hammered in a distance away from the flagpole of at least twice the height of where they’re tied. So, if the flagpole is 15′, and the guy lines are attached 11′ up, the stakes should be 22′ from the pole. 

Quick Lash and Attach

While the flagpole is being lashed together, a Scout or Scouts can be putting the stakes in the ground, pacing out the proper distance and hammering them in to form that equilateral triangle.

Before raising the pole, the three guy lines should be tied at about 3/4 the way up using roundturns with two half hitches or rolling hitches. Then when the flagpole is being held erect, three Scouts can each take a guy line and attach it to a stake with a tight taut-line hitch, or for taller, heavier flagpoles, a rope tackle.

As this photo shows, if the crossbar is long enough, one side of the fireplace can be set up to simultaneously cook food over coals on a grill, in a frying pan, or in foil packets. If the fireplace is to be used for a campfire, and the crossbar is not needed, it can simply be lifted off and set aside. 

Fire place with straight forked sticks

This old fashioned camp gadget can also be set up without any lashing, as seen in the photo to the right. Just find a couple of straight sticks with a branch growing out at about 45° and saw them to size. Sharpen the bottom and the forked sticks can be hammered directly into the ground without breaking.

In these cases, to hold up a trash bag (when there is no trash can), you can simply lash three Scout staves into a tripod and lash on some short cross pieces to keep it stable. All that’s required is seven lashing ropes, one for a tripod lashing and six for square lashings. Of course you also need three 4′ to 5′ sticks for the tripod legs, and three short sticks for the tripod leg supports.

Note: The tripod lashing is tied below the middle of the longer sticks. The length that the sticks extend on top of the lashing will be determined by the size of the bag your holding. Also, to secure the bag on the holder, and too shorten or lengthen the amount the bag hangs, you can fold the top of the bag as much or as little as you like over the three upper leg extensions.

esigned very closely along the lines of the Simple Camp Table, this is an easy solution to how to dry wet clothing and towels at a long-term camp.

It takes up less space while drying more wet things.

It eliminates the clutter of clothing and towels haphazardly strewn around on tables, tree branches, tent platforms, or overcrowded on a disorganized array of drooping clothes lines.

It can be set up in a location where there is the most sunshine.

It’s especially useful when camping in an open area with few trees.

A large camp clothing drying rack can be built using four 6′ x 2″ spars, or a smaller one with four 5′ Scout staves. 

Attaching the long line to the rack ends

Build the framework. For each side of the rack, lash two poles with a tight shear lashing. Make sure the distance where they intersect at the top is the same for each pole.

If you’re making a larger rack, strengthen the sides by connecting the poles with a 4 or 5 foot cross brace, lashed on with tight square lashings. This will form an A-frame for each side. (For a smaller rack, all you’ll need are the shear-lashed staves forming two inverted ‘Vs’.)

Set up the supporting line. What holds up the sides of the rack and serves as the highest drying line is a long rope. A 50′ x 1/4″ manila rope works great, but most any long cord will be fine. Drive in two narrow pioneering stakes, one for each side, extending about ten feet beyond the length of the drying rack. The larger the rack, the longer this length can be.

Attach the long rope to each rack side with a an open-ended clove hitch around the top of one pole, right where they intersect. The distance between each side is the length of the drying rack where wet clothes and towels will be hung. 

Larger Drying Rack

Raise the rack. After the clove hitches are in place, lift up one rack side and secure the end of the long rope to the corresponding stake with a taut-line hitch or rope tackle. Repeat this process with the other rack side. Tightening the ropes at the stakes is what keeps the drying rack firmly in place.

Add some lines. Adding more lines increases the capacity of the rack to dry more and more wet clothing and towels. Tie additional ropes or cords to the rack sides at lower heights, attaching one end around the pole with a clove hitch or two half hitches, and the other at the other pole with a taut-line hitch. To increase the rack’s stability, you can heel in the butt ends of the rack sides an inch or two into the ground. This will keep them from shifting when the additional lines are made taut.

NOTE: For a very sturdy drying rack, replace the single stake at each end with a 1-1 anchor, and then, instead of using shorter lines secured only between the rack sides, use long ropes or cords, attaching them with a clove hitch at the poles, and then around each 1-1 anchor with a tight taut-line hitch or rope tackle.