A big part of going to the burn is, in my mind bringing your stuff and setting up your own camp. Emphasis mine, because I think that's the part of your post that really matters. You have your vision of the right way to burn, but it isn't the only one. I remember days not all that long ago where peo...

Ratty wrote:Papa Bear. Two things that I know are required for the event are ice and potties.

Yeah, I'm not saying that gray and black water pumping are required, just that the thought that they might be seems fairly plausible.

Black & grey pumping may fall under the umbrella of public health mandated by the BLM. There is not supposed to be any money changing hands on the playa. All services should be prepaid. If you're RV is full use the portos. If that were completely true, you wouldn't be able to buy ice at Arctica...

I'm not a mooch -- so maybe the "barter" system of some kind where I can gift them something in exchange for a shower? Thoughts? Barter is a form of commerce, and is therefore officially frowned upon. Additionally, camps are quite literally prohibited from offering showers to the general ...

If you are planning on screwing lags in or out manually, I'd suggest looking into a "speed handle" rather than (or perhaps in addition to) a standard socket wrench. Here's an example of what I'm talking about, though I don't know if this is the model you'd actually want: https://www.harbor...

That's pretty much it. Since lag screws go straight in rather than at an angle like rebar, you can use shorter ones. If you don't candy cane the rebar, please plan on additional space for something to cap them with (tennis balls, plastic bottles, etc) and some way to illuminate them at night. Rebar ...

I wound up doing the LED programming for the art project I helped with last year. Like you, I had no Arduino experience, though I do have plenty of programming experience (including Java and some very rusty C/C++). I found the FastLed library worked quite well for our purposes, in my case driven by ...

In my case, to hold things down (a Mongolian-style yurt and a couple of carports). Never tried them for monkey huts myself.

Try fastenersuperstore.com if you're looking for the longer ones.

Lag screws are only about 14 inches long and only 3/8' thick Lag screws come in lots of sizes. Quite a few of us use 18" long by 1/2" diameter lags for our structures. It's not at all hard to source lag screws all the way up to 24" x 5/8". Whether any of those larger sizes are b...

The more we facilitate people being able to attend and not take care of their own shit, the more of this we create. From what I just read on their website, I have no problem with PlayaPads. Seems like all they do is assemble a good basic set of gear and rent it out off playa. In that sense, I don't...

Having used both, I definitely prefer ratchet straps (and have never had noise issues with them). The big reason is ease of use - not just for me, but for my campmates. You may be an expert with the right knots, but if you're the only one in the camp who is, then you're also going to be the only one...

Eric wrote:It's in our blood - that fucking dust attaches itself permanently.

No kidding. When I first started going, my beard was red. Now it's almost entirely the color of playa, and getting more so every year.

having a tarp that extends past the edge of the tent will cause water/moisture to collect between the floor and the tent. Yep, that is why any tarp under any tent should never extend past the edges (and why, if you add a floor tarp to a carport, ice shelter, or hexayurt, you want to tape up the edg...

The point is that the low income sale is intended for those who absolutely could not attend unless they got the lower-priced ticket. It is not intended for those who *could* scrimp and save enough to buy a regular-priced ticket, but would prefer not to. My understanding is that you will not hear bac...

One more question: Should I have a tarp under the tent? I don't have a Kodiak (and so don't know how water-resistant the floor is), but the answer to that is "yes". If we get rain like we did in '14, you'll be much happier trying to clear the stuff off of a tarp than off the bottom of you...

Or DO i have to bring everything? Yes, that is absolutely the expectation. You need to bring everything you need to survive, whether or not you find a camp to join. You should view anything a theme camp promises to provide as a luxury that supplements what you have brought yourself, you should neve...

Welcome aboard, John! Getting connected with the local community is a great thing to do. One of the best places to start with is with the resources listed on the Burning Man regional site: https://regionals.burningman.org/regionals/north-america/denver and https://regionals.burningman.org/regionals/...

Too be even more specific - if you're cooking with charcoal, and any ash happens to spill or get blown out of the unit, you are responsible for tracking every last speck of it down, containing it, and hauling it back out with you. That's not easy, especially if the wind is still blowing. That doesn'...

This time, I'm going to simplify our living space... at least in terms of effort on-playa. Much as I love playa living in a 16' traditional yurt, I don't love the fact I can't put it up by myself. I don't love that I've never been able to have it ready for my first night on the playa, or that I have...

Attaching that flag is a *really* good idea. I had a couple of mine get hidden in the dust last year as I was setting up a structure. I did eventually find them, but it's amazing how easily they can get obscured.

Thanks for the advice, mournlight. I do plan to shade the trailer (likely a flat-top shade structure using some aluminet I already have), and I definitely will need to insulate it. Right now it's just a steel skin over the steel frame; it doesn't even have any plywood or luan lining the walls. If I ...

Mostly though I just love new tools, and blowing the minds of my village mates. :) Heh. Well, if they haven't seen/used lags before, I'd say you stand a good chance of doing so. My first year out with the yurt, a DPW friend I'd camped with several times many years ago (and with whom I'd driven/pull...

Er, you do know that lag screws have been tested for monkey huts and worked just fine, right? If so, carry on. It's just that a cordless hammer drill seems unlikely to drive rebar well, we *know* the cordless impact driver/lag screw combo works, and it seems like they'd be about the same cost, so we...

Hmm, hadn't actually thought of that - I had symmetry on the brain, and so was thinking both doors would be open partially - so looking from above, the "caps" would be trapezoidal. Doesn't seem like there's any reason doing it with just one door wouldn't work, though - and that would reduc...

OK, so my wife and I are looking at simplifying how our living space works on playa this year, and skipping the yurt (which is awesome, but also takes a lot of effort on top of building the theme camp). Since an RV isn't in the budget, we're looking at just sleeping on a platform in our cargo traile...

Welcome to eplaya (from another Colorado participant). First things first: please be aware that you don't need to be part of a theme camp. The notion that you do has become an extremely common misconception among virgin burners, but you can also just show up with the gear you need to survive and tak...

We didn't fully connect the the end walls so we had open triangles at the peak for airflow. That's pretty much our standard approach with them. Just leaving the top couple of grommets unattached at the peak of each end wall makes a big difference in allowing hot air to rise up and out. Obviously, i...

Also: be aware that not only is the Costco canopy seasonal, it's also only available in-store. You won't find it by checking their website.

Welcome! Reading the Survival and First Timer's guides is definitely job #1. Do you have any particular reason for wanting to join a theme camp? First-timers often seem to get the idea that they have to find a camp, but that's not at all true. The two of you can absolutely show up and camp by yourse...

Welcome, Charzzam. Are you getting a directed ticket via you son's camp? If not, be aware that there's a lot of competition for tickets in the main sale. I've heard more than once that the extra cost of the presale tickes can be worth it when coming from overseas (and Oz in particular), since you ca...