Which cars can fit 10 foot pvc pipe inside?

[stangogh]

I'm planning on picking up some 10 foot pvc piping to construct a monkey hut design as in these instructions:
http://www.chromatest.net/Lovemonkey/

Problem is I'm flying in and renting a car to drive out to the playa. I can't measure the dimensions of the interior before getting there, and am trying to figure out if the piping would fit in the car with the back seats folded down.

What kind of cars has anyone successfully done this in?
Would it fit in a ford escape? Chevy Malibu with the back seats folded down? Dodge charger with the back seats folded down?

[watchyourfeet]

I can do it in my Honda Element.

[TheFastCat]

For my galaxy hut I cut my 10foot pvc pipes them in half and then bought couplers - setting up this weekend to see if it's a problem (I doubt it will be especially with duct tape employed)

[maladroit]

I fit an oversized monkeyhut inside a Jeep Grand Cherokee (and later parked the Jeep most of the way inside the monkeyhut). There were a dozen or so 10' PVC pipes. Everything fit inside perfectly...after I removed the front passenger seat. I doubt that's an option with a rental.

You know what vehicle takes a beating and keeps on ticking? Has easily removable seats? Stores ALL your cargo and gets good mileage?

A minivan.

[winterdream28]

I was able to get the 10 ft pipes for a Monkey/Galaxy hut that covered two kodiak tents into my Kia Forte:)

The trick was had to go from trunk all the way to the passenger floor foot area. It bent the pipes a little but it worked:) I will say it is not the most comfertable drive though but I will stop my complaining;0)

[VultureChow]

I rent a miniwan,. EVERYTHING fits inside a minivan. Cops don't pull over minivans.

[LowePro]

If you have to wedge PVC pipes into your car, make sure not to put the butt ends of the PVC up against or near the glass.. Learned the hard way that PVC can break auto glass.

[FlyingMonkey]

If you have to wedge PVC pipes into your car, make sure not to put the butt ends of the PVC up against or near the glass.. Learned the hard way that PVC can break auto glass.

I know all to well that it is 10' (give or take an inch) from the front center floor to the rear hatch of my Honda Odyssey.

Now if that folding center tray between the seats didn't have such a hair trigger I wouldn't have change all over the floor. Arrrrg, I hate that!

[Raoul]

I was able to fit 8 pieces of 10' PVC in my Ford Explorer with a couple inches to spare.

[LowePro]

Apparently it is 9.999 inches from the back hatch to the front dash of a 09 Subaru Forester. The extra 0.001 inch bangs into windshield. Adios dinero. Could probably wedge it in a different way and make it work.

[stangogh]

Thanks guys - cannot believe I didn't think of getting a minivan. They're pretty affordable to rent and now I can ride in style and not get pulled over!

[danibel]

Thanks guys - cannot believe I didn't think of getting a minivan. They're pretty affordable to rent and now I can ride in style and not get pulled over!

Bonus would be to find a foam pad that would fit in the back and use it to sleep in. That would mean you would have more pre-return clean up (dusty), but it's nice to get into a closed vehicle when a big dust storm comes. You can use your tent for all your stuff.

- Bonus clean up tip - Amour All Leather Wipes. After using every remaining baby wipe you have on the console of the rental vehicle, go over once again with wet paper towels (add a bit of vinegar to the water), and then wipe the last dregs of dust away with the amour all leather wipes. They work to clean boots too.

[unjonharley]

Armoralled the dash. the dust reappeared in a week..

[Savannah]

2-passenger cargo vans are great too, 'cause the PVC pipe fits and you can lash bicycles to the inside walls as well.

And hose them out when you're done.

[stangogh]

- Bonus clean up tip - Amour All Leather Wipes. After using every remaining baby wipe you have on the console of the rental vehicle, go over once again with wet paper towels (add a bit of vinegar to the water), and then wipe the last dregs of dust away with the amour all leather wipes. They work to clean boots too.

Has this gotten you around the fee I hear they charge at the rental shops for when your car comes back playafied?

[VultureChow]

Don't bring back your car playafied.

But there are some tips.

1) If you can, return late at night. Most airport rentals are open 24/7 but after say 8pm they run a skeleton crew. So they might not do a full inspection. This happened to me last year.
2)Have the engines washed and cover the upholstery. My first year I sat a a sushi bar next to the manager of the car rental that I used. After the embarrassing reveal where I tried to remember if I told him my name, he told me they check the engines because people forget to clean them and they hit the seats to see if dust comes out.

I have never been charged a cleaning fee.

[pink]

I could never get the playa off my dash until I started using vinegar based window cleaner.

[danibel]

Armoralled the dash. the dust reappeared in a week..

It's not just Amour All - it's the leather clean one. I don't know why.

I rented cargo vans twice from Enterprise and was horrified to find that there is a black rubber floor in them that the dust just wants to live forever in. I couldn't hose them out because of the electrics, so I used about a million baby wipes first to get off as much as possible, and then I used micro fiber clothes and a spray bottle with water/vinegar. The last step was the amour all leather wipes and it worked a charm. I didn't have any extra charges. I also cleaned the engine and sprayed under the carriage.

After spending 8 hours each time cleaning - I said "fuck that rental shit" and bought a cargo van that gets a light rinse and a new air filter every year.

[jdkindle]

I would cut the pipes and buy joints. Guess that goes for other uses also

Seriously though, some pipe dope and dollar connectors get around the small car issue

[vargaso]

I first did the monkeyhut thing using this exact design in 2008. The 10ft poles fit nicely in my 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with the two rear seat rows removed and the poles sliding between the 2 front seats. We pile everything else on top of them, no problem.

For 2014, my son and his girlfriend borrowed the hut materials. They have a 2002 Volvo station wagon. We duct-taped groups of 3 poles together and tied them on top to the roof rack. Worked fine.

[Sic Pup]

Thanks guys - cannot believe I didn't think of getting a minivan. They're pretty affordable to rent and now I can ride in style and not get pulled over!

We may never see those words in succession again....... but I digress.

They fit in a '10 Jetta Sportswagen but I only did it once that way. Traveling 5600+ miles the last few years I've gone the cut and couple route but do consider that I'm an idiot traveling from one end of the country to the other to play in the dust.

[Captain Goddammit]

Yes... Minivans can be useful rental sleds, but one cannot "ride in style" in a minivan!
That may well be the definition of the opposite.

[EspressoDude]

Nissan Xterra. Passenger footwell over the console.....

[theCryptofishist]

Alas, I fear I will never ride in style again.

[Ratty]

Vargasso, In your Dodge where were you when the tranny finally went out.

[maladroit]

but do consider that I'm an idiot traveling from one end of the country to the other to play in the dust.

That's true, why haven't you moved out here yet?

[vargaso]

Vargasso, In your Dodge where were you when the tranny finally went out.

<knocking furiously on wood>It hasn't gone out yet.</knocking furiously on wood> Did you have tranny trouble with a Grand Caravan? And, didn't Russ Meyer make a movie called Tranny Trouble?

[Sic Pup]

but do consider that I'm an idiot traveling from one end of the country to the other to play in the dust.

.

That's true, why haven't you moved out here yet?

Bagels, pizza, knishes,streetmeat, snow, fall, Brothas, Sistas, Latinas,Latinos,Jews,Poles, Ruskies, Arabs, Indians, Pakastani, Krauts, Guinas, Japs, Chinese, (all in the same subway car), Broadway, beaches, museums, tourists, 24hr everything, noise, pace and subways.....but mostly bagels, pizza, knishes and streetmeat (Halal is crack). That said, I will say that stretch between Co and NV makes me rethink it every time.

[mudpuppy000]

Consider getting a vehicle with a roof rack and strap everything up top. That way you can fit more stuff/people inside. The possibility of scratching the paint is increased though.

[burn_shady]

Off topic but since there's a mention of cutting the pipes in half, I wanted to chime in with the best way that I found for re-fitting them back together. First, especially for a monkeyhut design, do NOT try to use the standard fittings or couplers. While this may hold at first, in my experience, this approach does not hold up to significant bursts of side-loading that can happen due to gusts or even reassembly.

Assuming that you're using 1" outside diameter tubes, the cheapest and most robust solution that I found was to make 6" long sleeves from 1.25" tubes and then run a piece of paracord through the sleeve to hold the 1" pipe segments in place. When inserting the tubes, make sure that they meet in the middle giving each side a 3" insertion depth. Do not use a sleeve shorter than 6". Longer sleeves are better, but more than 3" of paracord as a locking mechanism per side, depending some on the materials being used, can turn into too much of a locking force and you may not be able to get the tubes out of the sleeve. Here's a picture of a sleeve ready for use:

coupler1.jpg