This year's Scout Anniversary tower is an hourglass, which means it's two tripods joined together. In raising it yesterday afternoon, the tripod lashing on the inverted tripod -- upon which so much depends -- worked loose. One spar went free, unbalancing the load and making the whole superstructure look awful. Besides, it was dangerous. So we lowered it back down.
It rained most of today, so I didn't attempt any repairs. Some of the Scouts who are also Venturers came early to tonight's meeting to attempt a fix. I had my doubts, but we went out to try. If I could do a jury rig on the upper tripod lashing, we just might be able to raise it as is; if I couldn't, then the whole top of the tower -- three quarters of the work -- would have to be disassembled and redone.
I took some cotton sash cord and attempted a fix in place of the upper tripod while the whole thing was lying on its side. It looked like it might work. Meanwhile, the Scouts re-lashed several sheer lashings on the braces holding the two tripods together which had worked loose. And then we raised it all again.
And it looked great. I got underneath it and the centers of the two triangles were right over each other. The superstructure looks straight. We tied it off and there it is. So, here's praying we don't have any big wind storms to bring it down. Even then, I don't think it would collapse, but you have to consider all possibilities. I'm hoping it'll stand there proudly for two weeks.
The non-Venturer Boy Scouts who helped tonight were impressed, I think. And I'm very proud of our Crew.