Boy Scout Gear List: New Scouts, Three-Season

Now we’re talkin! Terrific treatise on the subject. This gear list is one a new scouts parents don’t have to be afraid of, yet dispels all the nonsense of heavyweight bomb-proof gear. But you forgot the best light weight back pack out there. Of course it is the Go-lite gust. It also has small and medium sizes for those smaller torsos. At 5000+ci it can still take the fluff! Best of all it can be purchased for $ 59 at both backcountrygear.com or northernmountain.com. Try to get black or green 2004 models (red is nice but is contrary to Leave No Trace color pollution guidlines!!-maybe a good topic for your next article!).Brian (critter is soaring eagle).

What a great artice! I hope many Scouts and adults read it. Many in Scouting seem to think that more is better and “Be Prepared” means carrying heavy packs. I also liked the light and inexpesive theme. If you carry less, there is less to buy. Now if only this light backpacking theme could be adopted by the BSA.

Thanks for this section and article. I have passed the link on to other leaders in our troop.
I would like to see this link included on our troops’ website so parents of new scouts can get an idea of what is really needed from a better source than 2nd or 3rd hand through the scout.

Hi
Noticed the Granite Gear Virga’s weight and price are wrong. Should be 1 lb 5 oz and $100 or less if you shop around.

I recently have been using one of the Bozeman Mountain Works Vapor Bivy Sack (Pertex Quantum)while my son has been using an A-16 Bug bivy. Froogle had the Bug Bivy cheapest $33.95 at bentgear.com The lightweight BMW vapor Bivy beside bug protection provides wind and splash protection. Not to bad. But the young scouts I think the A-16 bug bivy works really good.

A 10 foot by 100 foot roll of 4 mil plastic (black or clear) for under $20. That’s $2 for each of the 10×10 tarps. Use a double sheetbend on the four corners; tie a ridgeline between two hiking sticks (BSA will not allow tying to trees on BSA property).
I have to admit this is not my idea, but one that I read from RJ’s “Beyond Backpacking”.
This is a cheap way to get scouts that are accustomed to tents started on the idea of tarp camping.

One additional advantage to tarps with Boy Scouts is that with a glance I can see exactly where everyone is and exactly what they are doing. This is really important at this age group for me as an adult leader. Once you get a few boys in a tent and out of view, they usually start doing things I would prefer not to happen.

You are welcome to post proposed changes to the Scout gear list to make it “East Coast ready” in the forum as well. We’ll add it to the Scout gear list when it’s ready.

I agree that Lightweight Scouting is somewhat an oxymoron if you look at what some of the scout camps require. Some camps say you must carry a hard ‘Nalgene’ lexan type water bottle, that an Aquafina bottle or soda-pop bottle is not rugged enough. Also look in the Boy Scout Handbook, and as the article by Doug Prosser suggests, the scoutstuff.org official catalog. As an example, here the lightest published weight is 3 lbs. 3 oz. for a Kelty Lynx 2900 backpack. They do offer an esbit style stove, but their other backpacking stoves are the Colman Exponent, and MSR Whisperlite; both white gas, not that light and cannot be transported commercially. Also, their prices can easily be beat almost anywhere.

If you use the scoutstuff.org catalog site to purchase items for outfitting their scout, I can easily see how the cost would choke any parent. As far as a $900 per scout per year for uniform and summer camp, I suspect that might be a bit high. You can run fund raisers to help curb the cost of camp.

Yes, the expensive BSA shirt, pants/shorts are all 65% polyester and 35% cotton and are not always appropriate. What we do is have the boys only wear their scout shirt during travel and at flag ceremonies the rest of the time we have troop T-shirts made of synthetic material. We do not require BSA Official pants/shorts as part of their uniform. I believe only the Youth Leadership camps, and if you are a staff member, require full ‘Official’ uniform.

Part of the problem is that the Troop Committee actually runs the troop, even though “Boy Lead; Adult Guided” is the purported philosophy. Most of the Committee members, that have the final say on expenses, come from the old school where the heavy more durable gear is more appropriate. With many young boys, if the gear is not their own, they do not have as much respect for it; therefore it is typically not cared for as it should be. With this, the Committee acknowledges that more durable, hence heavier gear is more affordable for the budget.

I am aware of some troops that have lists for their scouts of items to purchase, including packs, bags and tents. The troop gets a discount buying in bulk, and all the scouts have essentially the same gear which they own and keep when they leave scouting. This also offers the appearance of a troop as a team with all the same gear. Some of the more wealthy troops, while few and far between, have pre-purchased some of these items just to have that ability.

I am sure many can expand on and contradict these statements and ideas, but doesn’t a board like this foster brainstorming…

I thought the scouts were too young to drive and drag their gear behind their pick-em-up trucks?

Or is there a merit badge for this?

There is always one “Honor Graduate” (Smart Arse) in every crowd.

Scouting in a lot of peoples mind is a kind of paramilitary activity and all MIL equipment has undergone some tough test before use in the field. (We often dragged the radios out of the APC only by the headset.) As most hiking gear in the past started as MIL gear, I think there was a lot of overkill. We still see that even today.
Well, the SUL gear might be too fragile but most commercial gears will survive even if the user jump of the mountain and kill him self in a 1000 feet free fall. The mainstream companies are slowly moving towards lighter gear, but there is a long way to go still.