Jeff's Eagle Project

In July 2006 Jeff began work on this final project for the highest rank in Boy Scouts, the Eagle. The purpose of the project is for the scout to find an opportunity to serve the community (the project cannot benefit Boy Scouts) and be the sole person responsible for carrying out the project. The scout is expected to find the project, create a plan for the project, find the material for the project

	Jeff's project required a good amount of prep work.
	The materials were layed out on the driveway and everybody had a different job to do.
	Cutting lumber to size. This scout volunteer kept cutting and cutting and the darn board was still too short.
	The dado cuts were made with various passed of a circular saw then the rest of the wood was cleaned out with a chisel.
	A reporter from the Spokane newspaper was on hand to take some picutres of Jeff for a feature article that the newspaper ran. You can read the article here.
	Scouts worked together to clean out the wood joints.
	There were many to do.
	While one group worked on cleaning up boards, another group was cutting the boards to size.
	The photographer was getting as many picutres of the work day as possible. Because the article featured Jeff, she had several posed shots of Jeff doing some of the work. Jeff's real job was to find a community need, locate the materials, create building plans, plan for safety, find volunteers, and manage the project to completion.
	Scouts were the main source of volunteers and they performed a variety of jobs.
	Cutting the plywood for the matress platforms was a trick job and required several scouts to work together.
	Clean up after the fact is always an important part of the project. Especially as far as the homeowner is concerned.
	One of the more difficult jobs was done by a couple of the senior members of the volunteers and Jeff after the rest went home. Some of the boards needed to be cut down to size on a table saw.
	This is the YMCA camp where the new bunks are being installed.
	It is a beautiful place and the Y owns most of the property surrounding the lake.
	This is the "Sky Cabin" at the Y camp. It was some 20 feet above the ground. Because of this the bunks needed to be brought into the cabin in pieces and assembled in place.
	This is what the cabin looked like before the start of assembly. The mats that you see are for the campers to sleep on and they were crowded around the floor during the evening.
	This area was for the camp counseler and he used the benches to give him some space from the rest of the campers.
	These are the stairs that had to be navigated with the materials.
	The first thing done was that the volunteers, like ants, carried all the materials up to the cabin.
	Everybody got a chance to carry something.
	And it just kept coming and coming out of the trailer.
	Each piece was brought to the cabin.
	And some were re-cut or adjusted to fit once the assembly process started.
	The bunks were laid out on the floor one at a time and assembled in sub parts.
	Screws and glue were used to put the various pieces together.
	This is probably the best picutre showing a well planned eagle scout project. The adults are standing around with nothing to do while the scouts are busy working.
	Senior scouts worked alongside the newest scouts in the troop.
	Some of the adults were available to fine tune the pieces when needed.
	Screw guns were used to fasten the boards together.
	Glue was also used. You can see here that this scout had a little 'problem' with the glue.
	Clean up materials were always close at hand.
	The scout is showing one of the adult leaders how a pencil works.
	The troops newest scout was on hand to help build the bunks as well.
	Jeff's Mom and Sister provided lunch for everybody.
	Then it was back to work on the final assembly.
	Some of the bunks are coming together.
	Later, a break time allowed Jeff to evaluate the progress and he let some of his volunteers leave. There was getting to be less room in the cabin for that many hands, so a smaller crew was used to finish up.
	Jeff swapped out a drill for a screw bit and stuck the drill in his mouth to hold while installing the screw and got a quick reminder on the physics of friction and heat. We thought about gettng his tongue pierced to cover up the scar, but decided against it.
	More fitting of plywood to the base of the beds.
	A short hydration break as Jeff maps out his next steps of the project.
	One of the adult leaders fitting the bed surface into place.
	The first complete bunk bed is ready to go.
	Jeff was able to get the assistance of some professional contracters and received valuable advice throughout the project.
	The bunk beds are done and positioned throughout the cabin.
	Jeff stands with the bunks surveying the completion of the project.
	Final touches on the counselors bed.
	And the project is a success.
	Jeff stands at the doorway of the YMCA's newest bunk equipped cabin.
	A long hard job well finished.