This weekend I was at a Boy Scout camporee with my son. My son and I have started hanging exclusively when we camp and I am teaching him the ways to do so safely while protecting the trees. In his bedroom, my son sleeps in a hammock, but uses a GrandTrunk Ultralight he bought at the scout store this summer. I instantly replaced the stock suspension with tree straps and whoopies and it's a great setup for him.
This past weekend, another couple of scouts also brought their GrandTrunk Ultralights from the scout store, but they had not replaced the stock suspension. They hung them, but I didn't say anything... They weren't going to use them for sleeping, so I figured it wasn't going to be much of an issue. Later in the afternoon, I saw one of the scouts swinging and wrapping himself up in his hammock. I went over and looked at the bark of the tree.... It was really worn from the swinging. I mentioned to him that he should really get straps the next time and showed him why. I also mentioned to the Scoutmaster that the boys should use straps when hanging from now on and mentioned that maybe we could do some hammock activities (making whoopies/continuous loops, etc.) at a meeting. This was discussed as a good idea, but also, since we spend most of our meeting time working on merit badge requirements, it is probably not going to happen.
And then the big dilemma for me... I saw the setup that another local Scoutmaster used. This guy is locally thought of as "the Scoutmaster..." He does all the adult training and his troop is generally the most active and well run. Most people seek his advice on scout/outdoor related things. He had a nice ENO setup with a gear hammock and a nice rainfly (although I didn't catch the brand/model...) The ENO had whoopies installed, BUT the hammock was hung with the whoopies wrapped around the tree and I could see where they had dug into the bark. I can't imagine this guy not knowing better... But he doesn't. He wasn't around and I didn't say anything to anyone about what I saw...
Later in the day, I was walking by and overheard bits of a conversation he was having with a parent and definitely heard the words "ultralight" and "camping" and I feel confident he was discussing his setup. I have never been officially introduced to this gentleman, and I probably wouldn't recognize him outside of a BSA event.
Given my lengthy story, I would like some opinions/advice...
1) I like that the camp store carries the GT Ultralights, but does anyone have any recommendations on how to suggest that they also carry decent suspensions? Does anyone have a letter that they have drafted along those lines from which I could crib some notes? EDIT-I sent an email to the contact listed at the online store for the trading post... We'll see if I hear anything...
2) Without being a real jerk, how could I recommend to the other scoutmaster that he really should be using tree straps?
3) I know there has been some mention of trying to get a BSA merit badge for hammock camping. How do we get that approved?
Thanks!
Bookmarks