Camp of the Hills Update

Karen was checking all the 110v outlets for connectivity, open ground or open neutral throughout the cabins.

Karen and I got started on Monday, November 2 at Camp of the Hills doing cabin inspections. Before the summer camping season begins, the staff asked us to go through the boys and girls cabins and check all the 110v electrical outlets, lights and smoke alarms for functionality.

I inspected the main breaker boxes outside of the cabins for any issues and found them in generally good condition. Only one of them needed the circuit breaker cover plate re-attached and some mud wasp nests removed.

At the same time I checked the fire extinguishers inspection tags to make sure they were all current. We found a few outlets to be attended to by a professional electrician, but overall the cabins look good for the coming summer camp season.

We replaced smoke alarms and/or batteries where needed.

From there we moved to the dining hall to clean out the storage closet, remove the old wire shelving and prep the walls for painting. Karen removed the contents, did the hole repairs and painting while I worked in the parking lot building a new storage shelving unit. I scavenged the building materials from the camp maintenance and storage barns. I found enough materials to construct a shelving unit out of 2x4's and 1/2 inch plywood and designed them to be free standing on the left side of the closet.

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AFTER: The new shelves tripled the storage capacity and freed up more room above the deep sink for one more shelf. The right side of the closet accommodates the mops and brooms.

The second week started with cleaning out the camp's fishing shed near their pond. We consulted with Brayden, the Summer Camp Director to get a vision of what she wanted it to look like and we took it from there. We removed everything from the room, swept out the floors and rinse down the floor mats before starting the makeover..

BEFORE: The fishing shed had over fifty rods and reels tangled together with fishing line and hooks. The wooden braces were for life jacket storage and were eventually removed and reattached on the outside of the north facing exterior wall.

After thinking about the problem of storing fishing rods and reels systemactically, I found a design on YouTube that would store them along the walls in wooden racks. Karen and I headed to the shop to find the building materials and begin construction.

We found 1x4 materials, marked, cut and drilled holes every three or four inches about an inch and a half in diameter. A rack for the bottom to hold the handle of the rod and a rack about four feet above to hold the upper end of the rod. This upper rack would have a notch cut into the upper hole at a 45º angle to slip the rod into the hole.

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Presto! A new way to store 10 rods on a three foot long rack. This was the prototype and Brayden loved it! We then began construction of an eight foot unit for the opposite wall.

AFTER: Along with the additional rack, I found a section of scrap countertop and a cabinet to add to the end of the room for a working area and storage. Later we located an unused small refrigerator to install for bait cold storage.

About 3o of the rods had no reels so we re-attached two of the life jacket braces to hold those in storage above the racks holding working equipment. One final touch was a storage shelf above the countertop working space for bait boxes and other miscellaneous fishing tackle.

The next area to tackle was the fishing pond instructional area. This is where the campers are introduced to fishing tackle and receive instruction by camp staff. The covered area is designed to provide shade for the campers while the instructor demonstrates rigging the equipment.

BEFORE: The PVC rack was for storing the rod and reels outside but it was awkward and became a nesting location for spiders and other outdoor creepy-crawling creatures.

Why not build a similar set-up for the outdoor venue? So we did! Out of 2x4 pressure-treated lumber we constructed racks to be attached to the 4x4 posts which hold up the shade feature. We de-constructed the PVC and hauled it away. It was replaced with four smaller racks that each held five rod and reels. A total of 20 rods and reels for the instructor to pool from during the fishing lessons.

AFTER: Ten rods and reels stored on the back 4x4 post.

Well, that was it for our second week of camp. It was fun to design and build upgrades to the existing facilities. Hopefully these modifications will help the staff in their ministry to summer youth. A normal RVICS project separates the men and women, but it has been a real blessing for us to work together since it's just the two of us here at Camp of the Hills. Working together these past two weeks has been fun. Karen is enjoying using power tools and is good at it!