For Scouts, parents & leaders

Borrowing troop gear. A leader holds the pen.

The troop's tents, stoves, trailers and books are all listed in TroopPlanner. You can look through them any time. Taking one out is a conversation with a leader, not a button you press — and that is on purpose.

1

See what the troop has

Open Resources in the sidebar. There are two lists behind it, and they are the same system holding different things.

Equipment is the gear: tents, stoves, lanterns, trailers, saws.
Library is the books: handbooks, merit badge pamphlets, references.

Search by name, or narrow by category, condition or whether it is free right now. Worth doing before a campout rather than on the morning of one.

2

Read the item

Tap an item's name for the details: what it is, the make and model, its troop tag, and its condition — excellent, good, fair or needs repair.

Storage Location tells you where it normally lives when nobody has it. That is the answer to most "where is the big dining fly" questions.

If somebody has it out, the location shows their name instead. So the list doubles as the answer to "who has the trailer" — just look the item up.

Further down, Checkout History shows who has had it before and when.

Set expectations

You can't check it out yourself. Ask a leader.

There is no borrow button for most people, and you are not missing it. Checking gear out and back in is done by whoever looks after the equipment, and the record only moves when they touch it.

  1. Find what you want and check the list says it is free.
  2. Ask your quartermaster or equipment coordinator. Say what you need it for and when you will bring it back.
  3. They record it against your name, with a date it is due. The item now shows you as its location, so everybody can see where it went.
  4. Bring it back, and ask them to check it in. Handing it over is not the same as the record being updated.
One at a timeAn item can only be out with one person. If it says taken, it is taken.
Due datesYour borrow has a return date. Past it, the item shows as overdue on its own — nobody has to mark it.
Say if it brokeTell the quartermaster. They can set the condition to needs repair so the next person is not caught out.
Not a snubThe one-pen rule is why the troop knows where its gear is. It is not about trusting you.
3

The bit people forget

Gear handed back at the end of a campout, in the dark, to whoever was nearest, does not get checked in. It sits against your name for weeks.

That matters more than it sounds. Somebody planning the next trip reads the list, sees the tent is with you, and buys or borrows another one.

So make it a habit: hand it over, then say "can you check that back in". Ten seconds, and the list stays true.

Look yourself up now and again. If your name is against something you gave back in March, tell somebody.

Troubleshooting

When it doesn't look right

Most of these need a leader, because most of it is theirs to change.

What happened What to do
There is no button to borrow anything Correct, and not a fault. Checking out is done by the person who looks after the gear. Go and ask them.
It still says I have something I returned It was handed back but never checked in. Tell your quartermaster; it takes them a moment.
The list says available and the shelf is empty Somebody took it without it being recorded. That is exactly what the list is meant to prevent — worth mentioning.
There is no Resources in my menu Your troop may not be tracking equipment, or you may not have been given access to it. Ask a leader.
I broke something Say so as soon as you can. It gets marked as needing repair and taken out of use, which is far better than the next family finding out at a campsite.
I cannot find an item I know we own Search by part of the name, and clear any filters first. If it is genuinely absent, it may never have been added, or it has been retired.
Two of us need the same thing Only one person can have it at a time, and the system will not allow a second. Sort it out between you and the quartermaster.
Quartermasters: checking gear back in promptly is what makes this list worth keeping. Your side of it — adding items, checking out in bulk, and the value rules on high-value gear — is in the Equipment Coordinator one-pager.
More help

Still stuck?

Try the other guides, or ask a leader in your troop.

All help topics Going on a campout