This is a gadget which was shown to us at a recent Roundtable. It uses lashings to make a handwashing station from straight sticks and an empty gallon milk jug. So your Scouts can use this for the First Class Requirement – Use lashing to make a useful camp gadget.
We haven’t had a chance to try this one yet, but the Scouter who presented said it works great. And if you position it in the sun, you get warmer water. He recommended having a second milk jug ready to go underneath for when the first on runs out.
Printable copy of Hand Washing Station Gadget
Hand Washing Station Gadget
See the printable copy for illustrations.
First, last together three straght sticks to make a tripod. There are instructions for lashings in the Scouts BSA handbook.
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Next, lash three smaller sticks on to form an open “shelf”.
Poke a small hole into a clean one gallon plastic milk jug.
Poke a golf tee into the hole to close it up. Fill the jug with water.
Put a bar of soap in one “leg” of a pair of panty hose. Tie this to a convenient place on the tripod.
To use the handwashing station, pull the golf tee out and wash your hands under the stream, using the soap you attached. Put the golf tee back in to stop the flow of water.
The instructor used bar soap for this. Alternately, consider using environmentally friendly camp soap with this gadget. In this case, you might want to make two. One can hold a smaller container with the soapy water and the second can have water for rinsing.
This is a great idea but not new by a long shot. 54 Years ago we did this same thing at a Brownie Day camp, only we didn’t have golf tee’s, used a stick and the jug was not plastic, but a milk container like juice comes in now, two holes were poked in the pointed top for a line to be run through for hanging, more water could be poured in the opening at the top. We had several of these in a line as milk didn’t come in gallons in these containers. Later my dad devised a holder for the containers that hung from a line so all we had to do was poke the hole at the bottom of the jugs. We didn’t have pantyhose but the one legged nylons. At camp the older Girl Scouts ran all the stations and taught us a lot of useful things for later in life.
I think you’ll really like this design! http://scoutpioneering.com/2013/01/01/wash-station/
Thank you for this great idea! I couldn’t understand the shelf part of the project but I will try to improvise