Custom Built Camp Structure

[FIGJAM]

Socket and ratchet will work, but that's a lot of cranking.

I use a drill similar to this with a socket.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... MgodDgYAxg

[Captain Goddammit]

Yeah, that's the drill I have that I never thought to bring for playa anchor duty.
I mean... I don't use any playa anchors, or maybe I would have thought of it... but next year I should just bring it anyway. I can plug it into the boat and it could be used anywhere.

[Elliot]

A 1/2 inch pneumatic wrench does the job for me (but of course most people don't bring an air compressor anyway).

[Captain Goddammit]

of course most people don't bring an air compressor anyway).

They don't?! Good god what kind of hippie camping trip do they think this is?!

[FossaFerox]

Has anyone ever done a proper pull test on the lag bolts? I get that the threading will help them hold a little better than rebar for a given length, but a 14" lag bolt stll scares me considering how downright simple it was to pull a 2' piece of rebar out as compared to a 3'. 2' I could pop out with one hand. The 3' pieces took my entire body even after I broke them free by prying them up the first 3 inches.

And yes, ratchet straps would be much, much simpler to use than rope, but rope is much, much cheaper and lacks a quick release. I used mule tape. I think I paid about $20 for something like 500', enough to tie all 19 guylines, mark our perimeter, and still have a bunch left over to secure things in the truck on the way home. The cheapest ratchet straps I can find would have cost me $100 just for the 19 guylines. And again, no quick release. I know my knots and the ones I tied were secure.

As for the clothesline issue, we never had a single exposed guyline. We strung angled tarps between each section and ball-bungeed the edge of the tarp to the line (or to the tarp next to it going around the line). The only ones that weren't tarp-adjacent were strung between parked vehicles on the windward side. Those angled tarps gave us windbreak at substantially reduced wind load in one go and we used the space we created underneath them. We had tents sticking out under the eaves, stored bikes there, and even had a twin mattress dropped there.

Best nap spot ever. You could lie there and just barely see under the edge of the tarp to watch the playa go by in the middle of the day, while being in total shade and having a wind-tunnel effect sweep wind around you. It was lovely.

[Elliot]

of course most people don't bring an air compressor anyway).

They don't?! Good god what kind of hippie camping trip do they think this is?!

One year I brought a steel-cutting chop saw, "just in case". And whaddayaknow... I wound up using it to solve somebody's trailer hitch problem.

I have not used lag screws for anything major. For the main structure I use 30" lengths of 1" and 3/4" smooth steel rod with an eye welded on at the top, cut to a point at the tip, which I drive in with an 8 pound sledge. I pull them out with a mechanical farm jack.

[FIGJAM]

The difference between lags and rebar is that the lags don't break up or wallow the hard clay when they go in.

Here's a demo, but my soil doesn't hold as well as the playa does.



Used the drill to install.



It rained and the ground is wet.



Hooked up a 1 ton come-a-long.







I intended to take another pic before the ground let go, but it happened to quick.

I would guesstimate that it had about 500 pounds of pull when it let go, but that was in wet ground, pulling straight up on it.

The playa would hold 3X better!

[FIGJAM]

I chose the 3/8" cause they fit perfectly through the grommets on the tarps.

The longest I could get at the time were 14", but now they only go up to 12" at that site.

The 1/2" go to 18".

The 5/8" go to 24", as do the 3/4", but they get pricey in those sizes.

The more you buy, the more you save.

http://www.wholesalebolts.com/hexheadlagscrews.aspx

[FossaFerox]

500 lbs is plenty, that's about how hard I was pulling to pop out each one of the 3' pieces of rebar (Did i mention I was sore afterwords?). I'm going to see how much of a pain in the ass it is to hand crank them in, though. I suspect it will still beat pounding in and pulling the rebar...

Do you have a supplier you like to use Fig?

[FIGJAM]

Click the link above your post.

[FIGJAM]

Here's a place that has the 3/8"x14".

http://www.fastenersuperstore.com/partN ... Steel-Zinc

[tatonka]

I bought a invertor so I could run my drill and drill them right in , so simple. But I forgot the right size socket . but they went in great and help up under high winds just hammering them 3/4 of the way in and finishing with the visegrips was no problem , same going out . I would back them out 4 inches and I could
pry them out.

[tatonka]

I have been camping without power tools

WHAT??!!! How is that possible???

Yeah.. I know.. pretty lame..
..it's just that there wasn't any room left in the truck; what with the box fans and all.



..and tatonka, I really like your 'old school' rig. I recall you posting as you were searching around. It suits you very well!

.

thanks

[Swope904]

What do you guys think of these little huts?



The still was taken from the documentary "spark".


They look pretty simple to build. Has anyone ever been inside one of these first hand or used one?

I would rather build my burn then buy it. If I go threw 100 dumb ideas I know ill get to 1 good one.

[theCryptofishist]

These are very popular. I've never been in one.

[Swope904]

These are very popular. I've never been in one.

I'm thinking one of these and a couple of swamp coolers and I would be good.

So these have been tried and tested to hold up against conditions and the winds?

[theCryptofishist]

Yes. I know they have their own thread...

[theCryptofishist]

Behold! The HexaYurt Thread!

[Swope904]

Really? I would not even know what to search for when finding it or I would have gave it a shot.

EDIT: Thanks for the link crypto. Didn't know THAT was a HexaYurt.

[lucky420]

I use one every year! They're pretty easy to build go to http://hexayurt.com/ or http://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt_playa for instructions.

I love my yurt, we build the traditiona/original 6 sided yurt. My son built a 4 sided one for the last burn and it held up very well.

Be sure to pretape all exposed edges and cuts before you head to the playa...

It does great in the wind when staked down properly, lots of room inside. I havent used a figjam cooler yet but I think I might in 2014.

Yes,mine has help up to the winds very well, no problemo!

[lucky420]

if you want to see mine from our first year on the playa...

[FossaFerox]

The hexayurts are pretty great. Lots of space, relatively cool, fairly stable once built, and you can pack them in tight clusters in your camp pretty effectively to make efficient use of space.

The downsides are they cost a little bit more, take a lot of space in your vehicle on the way there and back, set up is a little bit tricky if you've never done it before, and they're a NIGHTMARE to build if the wind is up.

[lucky420]

dont even try to put up when the wind is blowing, even a fairly light breeze makes it pretty hard.

Think giant deck of cards

[Swope904]

Yeah after watching some videos and find out out what there made out of and how its pretty cool. its also pretty amazing how durable they can be. Something I will look into trying to to do in the future and maybe even this year.

What thickness do most of you guys use? I see they got 1/2" to 2". Which is the most practical, durable, easy to work with etc?

Home depot and lowes says they both dont sell it near any of my locations but id find that hard to believe cause I have bought similar products before.

[Canoe]

Hexayurts are all covered in the links provided to you.
No point in repeating details here, point by point.

[Swope904]

Hexayurts are all covered in the links provided to you.
No point in repeating details here, point by point.

ok thanks

[lucky420]

1 inch

[Swope904]

How many swamp coolers do you put in your hexyurt to keep it cool during the day?

[Canoe]

How many swamp coolers do you put in your hexyurt to keep it cool during the day?

My god, do you have to be spoon fed everything?
Are you sure you can cope with Burning Man?

Latest Swamp Cooler recap
viewtopic.php?f=280&t=33842&start=2430#p990806

[GreyCoyote]

OK. Lets try this little guided tour of physics, shall we?

Evaporative cooling yields 8700 btu per gallon of water. You want 8700 btu/hr of cooling? Simply evap a gallon of water every hour.

A FIGJAM cooler on high seems to evap about 1 gallon every 4 hours. And that RMax iso board 1 inch thick has an effective R-value of 6. Surface area of your RMax is 12 sheets of 4x8' for a total of 384 sq/ft. The published thermal gain coefficient from near IR sources is about 0.2 referenced to unity. You can estimate the thermal delta to be about 30 F on the playa (ie, inside is 75F and outside is 105F, or inside is 75F and outside is 45F, depending on time of day. YMMV). Playa relative humidity during the day is about 10%. Air exchange is negligible in a yurt, call it less than 5%/hr

So, now it's time to practice some radical self-reliance and Google the appropriate equation. Really simple stuff. Just plug-in the above values, push "calculate" and you will have an answer rooted in hard science. You will also know how many gallons of water to bring. Need more cooling? Add more FIGJAM's and water, or re-design the FIGJAM cooler with more surface area/airflow.

If you can not manage this simple calc, then please buy yourself a window AC unit, a small (QUIET) generator, and bring 30 gallons of fuel. There ya go. Problem solved.

Still no love? Then just know the Ultimate Answer is "six times seven". Douglas Adams would understand...