
Hokay, so....I needed a shade structure, so I started building one with a friend. It turned out to be a bastardized monkey hut, but I wanted to run it past all you smarties (and snarkies) to see if it will hold up on playa, or if we need to make adjustments.
I've never built a shade structure for a tent, so this is all new to me.
Here's what we have:
1. Structure is 16'x17'x9'
2. There are 7 ribs
3. Each rib is about 2 1/2 ft apart, I think a little more since it's 16' long
4. Each rib is made using 1 1/4" PVC => 10' piece connected by a 45* coupling to a 5' piece that goes straight across into an X-joint, to another 5' piece into another 45* coupling into another 10' piece. So each side is 10' with 10' across the top, a spine down the middle using X-joints, and the sides are connected with the 45* couplings
5. Medium-duty green/brown tarp that's 16'x25' for shade covering, to be staked into playa to make everything secure
6. Ribs are slid over rebar that will be pounded 12" into playa with 20" sticking out for the PVC
My concerns: Couplings will shatter/pop, too much rebar sticking up that will hinder flexibility, 1 1/4" PVC is too rigid for the winds. My friend that helped me build this is convinced that it will hold up, but he's never been to playa before. So I want to run it past to see if it can be adjusted to make sure it will hold. Skeptic is skeptical. I did try researching it using couplings, but couldn't find much of anything. So if you know of a thread that has already discussed this info, please kindly point me in the right direction to it!
Attached are pictures - let me know your thoughts! Thank you!