Several of our scouts who attended camp this past weekend were assigned troop gear to take home and clean. Thank you for taking the time to clean our gear! We wanted to share with you the cleaning procedures we would like you to follow:
For our troop tents, it is important to get it out of the tent bag and set up or hung up to dry as soon as possible. Storing them wet will cause mildew to grow, and can ruin the fabric. Please clean off any mud from the tent/fly/footprint, poles, stakes, and storage bags; as well as making sure the inside of the tent is cleaned out and free of trash, dirt, grass, etc. To clean the mud off the tent, footprint, and fly, just use some warm water with a little bit of soap, and a cloth towel or rag to wipe it down with. And then make sure to let everything dry completely before packing it back into the storage bags. Please roll up the tent on a smooth surface, as rolling it up on a driveway or other more rough surface can cause little pin-sized holes to occur in the fabric, thus making it less waterproof.
For our troop dining flys, please follow the same steps listed above for the troop tents.
For our troop cook kits, empty the cook kit completely. Everything in the cook kit must be cleaned, regardless if it was used at camp or not. Put all dishes, silverware, cooking utensils, knives, cutting boards, pots/pans in the dishwasher. Wipe out the cook kit thoroughly, including giving a quick wipe-down to the outside of the cook kit. When the dishwasher finishes, make sure all of the items are completely dry before repacking them in the cook kit.
For our Dutch ovens, soak them to remove any debris. Please do not scrape or scrub the Dutch oven with any abrasive pad or metal utensil. For stuck-on food particles, fill the Dutch oven with some water, and warm it up on the stove to loosen the particles. Wash the Dutch oven with soap and water, using a soft sponge or rag. Please also clean the lid and the outside of the Dutch oven. Lastly, make sure to dry it completely.
Please return the gear at the beginning of the troop meeting on May 2nd, not this Tuesday. That should give you plenty of time to get everything cleaned and dried out.
Once again, thank you for cleaning our gear! It is very important that we take good care of our troop gear, so that we can use it for many years to come. If you have any questions, please let us know.
