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Here’s a design for a patrol box or chuck box that would be relatively simple to build. Based on two units of 24″ x 18″ x 18″ nesting boxes that, when assembled, provide a generous work top and storage. The two units are shown packed for transport in the left side of this picture.
The boxes are designed of 1/2″ plywood to minimize weight and with butt joints to keep building relatively simple. A removable panel that forms the side of each unit can be configured to hold utensils or tools and hung on the side of the assembled workstation. The lids of each unit form the center worktop and shelf.
Here is a detail of the way these units pack for transport. They should be large enough to hold all of the cooking gear a patrol needs on an outing. A two burner stove fits into the space between the removable side panel and the bottom unit shelf.
No hardware or mechanism for locking the assembly together is shown but it should be fairly straightforward.
Let me know what your troop uses for patrol cooking gear.
This design was produced with Google SketchUp.
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Craig–
Did you ever get chuck boxes? If not, where are you, I can see if there might be help.
Tom Petrik
Ec92@aol.com
I read all of the comments with interest, in my opinion there is an easy solution. I use a Stanley Jobsite Tool Box available at Home Depot, Lowe’s and others. It has wheels, a tow handle, weights 31 lb and measures 23 x 23 x 37 long . It cost $60.00. To organize it I went to a local store called The Container Store. They have a large selection of plastic storage boxes. Similar items are available at Wal Mart and Target. I found one size box that two fit neatly into the bottom of the Stanley box. This leaves about a seven inch depth at the top. I found an under bed storage box that fits the space left at the top of the Stanley box. There is some side room left for a thin box I use to hold knives, forks and cooking utensils.
One bottom box is used for food storage and condiments, the other for pots and bowls. The top wide flat box is for frying pans, skillets, serving trays, tongs and large serving spoons. There’s enough room left over at the top to store a lantern stand that fits on a three gallon propane tank. Its all plastic, easily washed out with a hose and kept clean. Food is separated in its own storage container, everything is organized. There is a variety of sizes of container boxes available to suit your needs. Total cost about $130.00.
I have used this system for at least ten years and camp out with Boy Scouts at least eight times a year plus hunting trips. This year my troop has finally decided to replace their aging, heavy, broken wooden boxes with my system. The Boy Scouts are happy they no longer have to lug those old 75 plus pound wood boxes anymore.
We don’t ever use lanterns. No one has one and the Troop does not own one 🙂 When it gets dark we gather around the campfire, be it 5:30pm in January or 9:00pm in June. I’m allergic to brightly light campsites 🙂
(IMHO. This is just Larry, not a recommendation for anyone.
a. 60lbs is too heavy.
b. It’s not just carrying it, but also lifting and setting it up. All of our problems with large, heavy patrol boxes was when they took them down off the stack in the trailer or when they tried to lift it to set it up.
I think that’s just too much weight to be toting around for the reward gained.
We use a lightweight table with two much smaller boxes and a cooler that are stowed underneath the table. YMMV)
Actually, I prefer each scout develop his own mess supply box or bag and maintain it at his home. If every scout has enough gear in his box or bag for two people, then an eight man patrol will have 16 places settings and a number of pots, pans and utensils. He may then use a subset of that supply for backpacking and canoe trips where there are no trailers or patrol boxes.
(If every Scout has two place settings in his mess box then he will probably use one plate and fork for breakfast for pancakes Saturday morning and one plate for dinner Saturday evening, and then take them both home dirty for his mom to wash. But I digress.)
I’m the builder/creator of the T21 Kitchen Box listed on this site. The design is intended to be ‘boy proof’, have no parts that can be lost, and to carry the cooking gear for 1 patrol. The latest version also fits the stove on top under the poles, and has notches for lanterns to slide in to the lower right corner. The legs/poles are standard 1 1/4″ dowel from HD or Lowes, and are the only parts that come off.
The box weighs around 60lb fully loaded, which isn’t light, but I have seen new Scouts carry it easily with the poles. It is short enough so that boys can carry it with arms straight down, which is easier/better than bent arms, and the don’t tire as quickly.
I’d like to incorporate a wheeled system, but that’s for the future.
The wheel is a wonderful invention. That’s what I always told my boys. However, it seems that it might be a little difficult to stack a bunch of boxes with ungainly wheels sticking out the sides. Especially in the trailer. We actually use a hand truck with large, inflated tires. You can get one at Lowes or HD.
Oops, I forgot the link to our Facebook page with the pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Troop-620-Liverpool/108345389244510
I’m in the process of finishing up 3 patrol boxes for our troop. I agree with Larry’s concern about weight but if they’re not built with solid materials they won’t stand up to the beating scouts will give them.
Home Depot and Lowe’s donated some supplies so the cost per box will be around $40. I expect them to last a LONG time so the investment is worth it.
I borrowed some ideas from pictures of boxes I saw online and reverse engineered them based on the information I could get. The best part about this design is that it allows a leg to be inserted horizontally so that 4 scouts can carry the box.
A special thanks to 679 for the pictures and inspiration.
What I don’t understand: is there some requirement that these boxes be ‘carried’? My design incorporates large bike wheels in the back (with easy lift gas spring suspension – cannibalized from old mt. bike), pull poles on the front, handles all around for negotiating tough terrain, and adjustable fold down legs on front for easy leveling once in camp. Work smart, not hard?
I think that most patrol box designs are too complicated and too heavy for most Scouts. If you want them, talk to other troops at your Roundtable or other district roundtable.
I am an assistant scoutmaster for a special needs scout troop, and I am looking for a design for a grub box with legs, that I can build myself, our budget is almost non existent and we use almost all of it to offset the cost of summer camp. We often use our own money to buy patches and rank advancements to reserve what we can for camp, for instant we were going to tell our boys parents that if they wanted to have the centenial quality unit award patch for there uniforms they would have to purchase it themselves at the scout store, the problem is many of our scouts have only a mother most of the time and the costs of going to a scout store would be problematic at best, so I purchased them myself, and I only have a part time / on call position and I have to support a wife and three special needs children on that, two of them are boys in my troop, I need the cheapest costs involved, and so that means building it myself, If you could help, I would greatly appreciate it.
Looks great but also a little complicated…exactly like a chinese box puzzle! Overall, i love it! im going to suggest it to my troop. We are building chuck boxes and this will be great! Thanks alot!