I have found from personal experiance making them long, wide, and SHALLOW works best. Yeah, I agree, especially on the "shallow" part. A shallow layer of water on an evap pond evaporates remarkably fast (especially when black plastic sheeting is used). But if the pond gets deep, most of the water w...

Yes, that's the one! Thanks a lot for the web link too.

My evap pond worked pretty well last year. The trick was using it sparingly. It was primarily used to catch and evaporate shower water. I would only pour other graywater (like dishwater) into it after the shower water had completely evaporated. The remaining graywater from dishwashing, etc, I poured...

Wow, this thread I started last year is still active? Well, as it turns out, I ended up camping around 6:30 and Fetish and it was remarkably quiet. Some nights I slept without earplugs, no problem. So, the bottom line is it is possible to find a relatively quiet spot at Burning Man. Here's how we di...

They performed just about every night, I think. They were percussive, using a mix of acoustic and electronic drums. The acoustic drum kit was a vistalite (clear/transparent shells) with lights in them that would trigger each time the drum was hit. They also had a "wall" of electronic drums. I though...

That wonderful awning will catch the wind really well, stressing the anchor points and the corner seams. Putting up the awning is optional. You can just roll it up and lash it with the attached tie-downs. I still swear by a dome. If it were used only for Burning Man, I would agree with you. But the...

Hey dougnaka, thanks for the tip on the Springbars. I just picked one up for myself: the Campsite model. I will use it at this years burn, but I also have the whole spring/summer season to use it. So far, I have only set it up in the yard, just to check it out and learn the setup procedure. Luxuriou...

I'm a BM virgin with grand ideas of going to the Playa this year. Most likely solo. The tent I'll be lugging out there is an off-brand 5-6 man generic dome tent. 10' sq and 6' tall, freestanding, two poles. Comes with plenty of tie-downs, especially if the rain-fly is on. Can I expect this to survi...

And yes, you will probably be in "the boonies", but apparently this year that could be a good thing, so don't worry. Yeah, actually I'm not bothered about the boonies. I'll probably spend most of my time out and about on the playa anyway. Thanks to you and Crypto for the feedback. I feel better now.

Thanks y'all for the input. I will follow the conventional wisdom and go with it.

I have to wonder though......if you were camping with several people arriving throughout the week, what would you do? Set up camp just for the few early arrivals and hope the rest of your campmates had room to join you? Or would you save them some space??? This is the dilemma I find myself faced wi...

Well, I've been once before and noise was not a problem at all where we camped. Maybe I was just lucky?

But this time I am going with a group that has already picked a spot at the 9:00 street. I'm just wondering if this is too close to the large scale sound zone at 10:00.

Ah, so the feedback I'm getting is that no matter where I camp, it will be loud. So, I should just set up camp directly next to the loudest sound system I can find and it will be no different than anywhere else on the playa? Got it. Thanks.

From personal experience, I know I can sleep through most noise by using earplugs. However, one thing earplugs don't block is vibration, specifically the booming bass coming from the large sound systems. The Burning Man site says the loudest zones are at the 2:00 and 10:00 edges of the city. My ques...

Nice. I've always wanted to do a cube. I figured that I could just screw together plumbing pipes. Yeah, I was thinking of metal tubing for the frame, but PVC is just so lightweight and easy to cut/drill etc. Also, since this is a sort of tensile structure, I thought the PVC might be sufficient. I'm...

Wow...thanks.

Now, as long as it stays in one piece on the playa, I'll be happy.

Ok, so here is my work in progress. First, a picture of the frame (the curve in the vertical poles is due to the wide angle lens, and is not representative of the actual shape): http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/32ec4ba9c9.jpg It is 8'x10', about 6'10" tall, and made of 1 1/2" PVC. All the PVC...

Maybe you could get design ideas from these sites:

http://www.loftyshelters.com/
http://www.car-top-tent.com/

I guess if you were on safari and didn't want to be attacked in the night by wild animals, these would be nice.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they do on the playa. The only thing is, they are more expensive than rebar. But I just hate the idea of exposed metal spikes all around my camp...

Aha...from the website.

The high-impact TuffSpike™ system uses UV-protected vinyl with heavy gauge steel core that withstands the elements.

And here's the illustration:

http://www.ltlhomeproducts.com/outdoor_ ... pikes2.gif

The installation instructions on the website say to drive them in with a sledge hammer, so they must be able to handle it.

By the way, from the illustration on the website, it looks like the plastic is molded around a metal spike, though I'm not sure about that.

Yeah, these were the longest lengths available at the store I went to, but they are made in 20" and 30" lengths as well.

http://www.ltlhomeproducts.com/outdoor_ ... anchor.htm

Last year the BM fire dept responded to a chair on fire at a theme camp on the main drag at about 2 am.The cause of the fire was a cigerete droped on the canvas floor burning a 4x4 square of the canvas before igniting the chair.with the wind up this could have been a big problem,please be very care...

D'oh, sorry about that. My bbcode is enabled now.

[quote="Badger"]Given what you describe i'd say they'll do OK. Still, I'd consider augmenting the main four corners of your shelter with rebar.[/quote]
Good idea. As a precaution, I will bring the extra rebar plus lots of extra rope to really tie the thing down if need be.

I found these large plastic stakes at the hardware store the other day. (Please click link below for picture). I would like to use them as they are less hazardous than rebar and have a nice loop and hook for guylines. They are 15" long with a 2" "diameter" at the top. My shade structure will be rela...

[quote="dougnaka"]http://www.springbar.com/ [/quote]

Nice stuff. Although, a lot of it seems to be out of stock...

Great tips. Thanks everyone...