Trilo - That info was really helpful. I'm waiting on a few more foot pads to arrive tomorrow, and then I'll set up the shade structure *and* the tent again to see how much clearance there is. I also followed your lead and got several hurricane stakes to help secure my shade structure, as well as Fig...

Thank you, everyone! I mentioned what several of you said (about 7 feet being just a tad too close) to a friend of mine who promptly showed me how to secure the pipes to the luggage rack in such a way that those puppies aren't going anywhere! So, rising-heat problem solved -- I can at least carry 9-...

Virgin here. I was setting up my 12x25' piece of shade cloth using twelve 7' 1-inch EMT pipes. My friend said that 7' wasn't high enough, that the heat was going to collect at the 7' height and I was going to be a crispy critter under it. (The pipes are 7' long because that's what fits in my car saf...

I wanted a 14' length for my shade and my trailer is 6' wide. So I welded a 6' piece of 1&3/8" fence rail to the rack and slid a 7' piece of 1" electrical conduit into each end, giving me 14'. 8) AHHH, now I understand. My brain was starting to hurt trying to figure it out, LOL. I think I'll have t...

FIGJAM wrote:Actually it's here.

viewtopic.php?f=277&t=68556

Oops, my bad! I stand corrected!

(Jesus Christ, I've looked at that lag-bolt post so often, you'd think I'd have the URL memorized. That and the swamp cooler one! )

Hey, Figjam-- 1" EMT sleeves perfectly into 1&3/8" fence rail!!! That's how I did the extensions on my playapod. 8) OK, I'm engineering-challenged! What is an EMT sleeve? You took, say, a 5-foot piece of 1" EMT and slid it into a 5-foot piece of 1-3/8" EMT? Total length is 10 feet? Or was it an 8-ft...

GC,

I have a hard time fitting the 10' sections into my car and find that the 7' sections do well.

Hmmm, maybe there's some sort of connector I could use to safely/securely join two sections of pipe? Then I could connect two 5-foot sections?

GreyCoyote, Thanks for the answer! I am going to have to have a support, I think, because it's too big and sags a lot in the middle. I haven't received my connectors yet, but I'm planned for a middle support. I'm relieved about being able to use 1" EMT. The 1.5 is a lot bulkier, especially for a 570...

My Google-ninja skills are off today. I could have sworn that I read some recommendations about 1.5" EMT being preferred to 1" EMT. So help me, I can't find that thread. I'm putting up a 12x25 shade cloth over my tent and plan on using one side of my car as a base. I didn't realize how much that clo...

I have fallen in love with Figjam's idea of using lag bolts. I have bought and plan to use 12" nails with two links of chain around each. I've already tested them out with the built-in eyelets on my tent. I like the option of using a bungee cord or anything else through the chain links. Plus, it's e...

Hey, Trilo -- I'm not suggesting to load a structure onto the roof and drive with it, but saying that a shade structure is what's needed. Sometimes things get lost in translation on the Interweb....you know that I know that you didn't mean that 70-mph thing literally, right? LOL...60 mph, maybe, but...

@DoctorIknow Those Quick & Easys are slick! Alas, The van doesn't have any rain gutters, but that system would be great for increasing the storage available. Also, I hope you have that Chevy photo framed and hanging up somewhere. Fantastic shot. I'm looking forward to having that playa-induced time-...

Trilo, Using the standard old-head Burner advice of 'Load your structure on your car roof, then hit the freeway at 70 mph' to determine if it'll hold up --- I get a very bad mental picture of my foam-on-van-roof plan. I think I'll just drop that whole idea. It should also be mentioned (in case you h...

On the outside of the windows. I can tell you it makes a BIG difference. My van is parked in full sun. A roll of that insulating silver bubble wrap was about $20. If the winds not howling I can open a couple doors and nap even during the day. Without the stuff it's an oven with the sun coming throu...

As I was flailing with putting up a 10x20 tarp (talk about lessons learned, just in my driveway with a mere 10 knot breeze!) , I started thinking about the feasibility of putting a couple of Tuff-R boards on top of my van to further shield it from the sun. I know someone else *must* have tried this,...

Barking mad, I use a 1 inch emt foot pad. I found them on e-bay. like Trilobyte said, the pads help so the poles don't sink into the playa. plus, if you carpet under your shade structure, the pads with the long nails help hold the carpet down. If your driving from far away, there is a Lowes in fern...

@Trilo Personally, I wouldn't ever use or recommend rebar (that shit's a pain in the ass to work with). I use footpads at the bottom of each piece of EMT (if you don't the poles can end up digging into the playa and making for an uneven and less sturdy structure) and drop simple ten inch nail spikes...

I have a black rock shade structure, and yes it is EMT. Those BR shade structures look great! Since I'm coming from the East Coast, I'll probably just go with the 1" EMT and foot pads. I went back and looked at the Costco tent again, but I just don't have room for it. I'd be interested in hearing a...

@EspressoDude -- hell for stout solution is steel T shaped fence posts. drive them in next to the EMT corners, wrap leg and post together with plastic (saran or ?) wrap then duct tape. the plastic wrap keeps thing from turning into a gooey mess *******************************************************...

FIGJAM wrote:HF has 50 LED 22' solar rope lights for $12!!!

Thanks for the heads-up! Grabbed three sets -- they'll be great clipped to my van. Or me.

This virgin does NOT want to be a darkwad.....

I have a shade structure like that too. My uses 1 inch electrical EMT pipe. Each leg has a foot pad where I use long 12 inch nails. Each corner get 2 tie down straps going to 18 inch rebar. *************************************************************************************************************...

I actually have one of those kits. Here's how they work (not sure how you are going to construct yours)...it's not PVC they are made from metal. There's a hole at the bottom with a set screw in it. Basically you put rebar inside the legs, then tighten the set screws until they push against the reba...

Suggest ratchet tie downs, one for each upright (6) to Mr Figjam's lag bolts with washer https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?f=277&t=68556&hilit=lag+screws. The extra long lag bolts might not be at Home Despot. You could put the uprights over lag bolts, gutter spikes or rebar, all easily av...

I'm a virgin and am very excited to finally be headed to BM this year! I'm driving from the East Coast in my old Class B van and would like to have a shade structure for it. I'd like for it to be about 10 x 20; it also needs to be 10 feet tall because of the van's height. I considered the Costco car...

Well, hell's bells -- the system let me purchase one ticket on the Individual Sale. So now I have one ticket from the Pre-Sale and one from the Individual Sale. So, I think that second Individual Sale ticket will be voided/cancelled when the BM folks do their checking? Hope the credit card isn't doc...

As I sit here on hold for the individual sale, I think I'm wasting my time and taking up bandwidth: I bought a ticket for me on the Pre-Sale. I registered again for the Individual Sale so I could buy a ticket for my friend. Registration went OK and I got my unique code. I'mm sitting on hold for the ...