Introduction on Renting Gear
I. Procedure for reserving and renting gear
II. Policy concerning rental priority, costs and care
III. Penalties for late, damaged, or lost gear
IV. Gear available

The Oberlin College Outing Club has a variety of outdoor equipment available for rent to members of the Oberlin College community. The cost is minimal for individual renters and free for members on our club-sponsored trips. The gear is carefully maintained by our gear managers and we ask that you do the same as renters. Gear can be rented during gear rental hours (TBA) at our office. If you can't make this time, please contact our gear manager (Sahale Casebolt) to arrange another time to rent gear.

A brief word on renting gear:

The OCOC gear rental is a resource of which everyone in the Oberlin College community is welcome and encouraged to take advantage. The Outing Club, as a general philosophy, sees itself as helping people get outdoors who might not ordinarily be able to do so, this includes providing them with the necessary equipment. That said, we want to provide our resources to as many people as possible, but unfortunately, do not have an inexhaustible supply of gear. So please use Outing Club gear only when you are unable to find personal gear that will suffice for your trip. Gear supply problems are not as notable for weekend trips during the year (least not yet), but become particularly difficult during fall and spring break.

I. Procedure for reserving and renting gear

1- As soon as you know what gear you will need for your trip, send a gear manager an email specifying exactly the items and quantities you will need. The sooner you can do this, the better for you. It's better to request what you think you might need, than be left without it when trip time comes. I will reply to let you know if we have available all that you requested.
Please remember to be as specific as possible. For example, for a 6 person backpacking trip, a typical gear request might look like:

-tent space for 6 [if you want particular tents, specify that too, e.g., the Timberline 2-person and the North Face 4-person].
-2 stoves
-3 fuel bottles
-2 large (3+ Liter) pots
-2 tarps (5x7' and 6x10')
-3 backpacks [internal or external frame? - What's the difference? Ask.]
-4 sleeping pads
-4 sleeping bags (20-degree)
-first aid kit

NOTE: Provided that we can accommodate your request, your requested gear will be reserved for the time of your trip. However, we can only reserve gearif you are specific in what you need. Vague requests, e.g., "backpacking stuff for 6", won't do you any good.

2- We recommend that you come by Gear Hours, Thursday 7-9 pm, ATLEAST A WEEK BEFORE YOUR TRIP to check out the gear and pick exactly what you want.

3- Come to Gear Hours the Thursday before your trip leaves to pick up your gear. Be sure to leave time to read and sign the Rental Contract and learn how to use any gear with which you may be unfamiliar -- that's what we're here for. If you are renting for a non-OCOC sponsored trip, there is a small rental fee (more on this below). You will need to bring cash or check to pay the rental cost before you can rent the gear.

4- After your trip, clean all gear. Tents, packs, sleeping bags, etc. should be brushed/sponged clean and dry, but never laundered. Stoves should be free from all food and food traces (oil, gook, etc.), while pots, pans and utensils should be scrubbed clean.

5- Return the gear on the Thursday following your trip, preferably earlier in the gear hours (soon after 7pm). Report any problems with the gear or any damage to us at this time.

II. Policy concerning rental priority, costs, and care

1- OCOC sponsored trips are given priority over private trips when it comes to renting gear. We establish this priority by allowing OCOC trips to request/reserve gear up to 30 days prior to their trip departure. Non-OCOC trips cannot request gear until 2 weeks prior to departure. After the 2 week mark, anyone can reserve gear on a first come, first served basis.

2- OCOC sponsored trips may rent group gear -- communal gear like tents and stoves -- and personal gear -- such as backpacks and sleeping bags -- at no charge. Non-OCOC trips should refer to the Price List for rental costs.

3- All renters must read and sign a gear liability form before they can rent. This contract places all responsibility for the gear on the renter. Trip leaders, this means you probably don't want to rent all the personal gear for your group. We suggest having your participants come with you or separately and renting the gear in their own names. Trip leaders will rent the group gear. However, financial responsibility for group gear is distributed across the group.

4- Rented gear needs to be returned clean and dry. Tents, packs, sleeping bags, etc. should be brushed/sponged clean, but never laundered. Stoves should be free from all food and food traces (oil, gook, etc.), while pots, pans and utensils should be scrubbed clean. There is a $10 cleaning fee for each item returned unclean.

III. Penalties for late, damaged, or lost gear


What's wrong with this picture!? (Wind storm near Green River, Utah, 2004)

Gear must be returned during the Gear Hours (Wednesdays) immediately following your trip's return. Unless a prior agreement is made with the Gear Manager, gear kept after this date will be charged a rental fee for the next week and so on until the gear is returned. This holds true for gear rented initially at no cost. We decided to have this policy because we want to make sure the gear is back and available for trips need it the following weekend. Gear damaged due to negligence will be the responsibility of the renter. NO renter should attempt to repair gear. Damages should be reported to the Gear Manager; repair costs will be billed to the renter's account. Gear kept more than 30 days after the due date without prior agreement with the Gear Manager will be assumed lost or stolen. It's full replacement cost will be billed to the renter's Oberlin Student Account. Special case of Group Gear: Group gear rented by the trip leaders is the responsibility of the entire group. If group gear is damaged/lost, the repair/replacement costs will be distributed equally across the group. However, if only a few group members were responsible for the damage/loss, the group may indicate this and the responsible parties will be billed. The Outing Club has a more detailed protocol on damaged group gear should such a situation arise. Feel free to look at the complete OCOC Rules & Regs during office hours.

IV. Gear Available

Updated 11/2004. Our gear in years past has really only facilitated backpacking trips in temperate climates. We are currently trying to expand both our range of trips and gear to facilitate such trips. We bought 5 very good qualitity 0deg. sleeping bags as well as ultralite therma rests in hopes of winter camping / snowshoeing / xc-skiing trips during winter term and early spring. There is a chance the club will buy 5 pairs of snowshoes in December 2004 which we would highly encourage students to use as much as possible!

We don't own any rock climbing gear, because the insurance costs are much too high for the school to let us rent out such high-risk gear. We do own four white water kayaks that we encourage students to take out on Lake Erie, local rivers, or haul them down to WV for some real white water. They are small whitewater boats and unfortunitaly aren't ideal for hauling gear or longer trips, although we do have 3 dry bags for such trips.

 

Sleeping Gear:

Many tent tarps
20+ Eureka Half-dome (4 person) Tents
10 Eureka "boy-scout" (4 person) A-frame Tents
***THESE A-FRAME EUREKAS ARE STILL FOR SALE FOR CHEAP! PLEASE INQUIRE IN THE OCOC OFFICE!***
5 0deg REI Chinook synthetic sleeping bags (brand new!)
5 20deg Kelty synthetic sleeping bags (brand new!)
2 20deg Northface Cat's Meow sleeping bags
a couple of other older sleeping bags
10+ Ridgerest sleeping pads
5 ultralite thermarests
1 regular thermarest

Backpacks:
5 Lowe Alpine internal frame backpacks
10+ Internal frame backpacks

Cooking Gear:

7 MSR Whisperlite Stoves, fuelbottles
10+ Coleman Stoves
Various sized pots, pans, and utensils

Whitewater Gear:

4 white water kayaks in good shape (!)
3 dry bags
paddles and life jackets

Misc:

First aid kits
Whistles
Rope
Zip-lock bags, trash bags
25+ Nalgene 1L water bottles