Shade advice - traveling from London

[Pollylop83]

Hello there,

I'm returning to the playa after 10 years and bringing 4 virgin burners with me! Super excited! We are travelling from London and I'm looking for advice on building a shade structure. Last time I was so unprepared and only had a tent, we really suffered not having somewhere to hang out and escape the heat. Luckily, we made friends with our neighbours and they really kindly let us use theirs. This time I want to make sure we get it right, and be able to have a space that others can use - those guys saved us! (would love to be able to return the favour )

We are picking up an RV in Vegas (I know some people think there's too many on the playa but we are doing a big trip across Nevada) and will have to pick up materials on the way. Thinking it would be best to build something simple on the side of RV but don't really know where to start. Can you wise folk offer any advice on ideas of structures that might work? Or a good store on the way that we can get tarp poles etc from? There's only 5 of us but we are planning on hosting a mad hatters gin party one afternoon so I guess we need a fair bit of space.

Hopefully see you all in the dust. Or serve you some gin. Thank you! x

[FIGJAM]

A monkey hut is the cheapest and easiest shade you'll find.

The parts can be obtained at practically any hardware store.

[Elliot]

What Figjam said.

An other way is to buy a Costco carport (or two), if those are available at the time. These run about USD 250.- and are very sturdy. They measure 10 feet x 20 feet, and are tall enough that most people will not scrape their heads. They also come with walls.
Costco is a "membership store", which means you have to pay for membership, but I think it is only USD 50.- or so. There are several Costco stores in Las Vegas. There is a risk that they do not have any carports in August, so you might try to connect with a Burner in Las Vegas to buy it for you now.
Oh, and you will need 8 anchors per carport. Some of us swear by "lag screws", which require a power tool, but I just might be operating an installation service by then.

[dragonpilot]

There is nothing wrong about using an RV at Burning Man.

[Elliot]

Of course not. The concern with RVs is that some relatively few people have used RVs to "circle the wagons" around their camp, so that nothing but RV walls can be seen along the street. This is obviously no way to foster interaction and camaraderie. RVs sitting in the back of camp like any other tent or hut are perfectly agreeable.

[krly]

http://galaxybeing.com/galaxyhut/

[simplyallure]

I am going to piggy back off of this thread because I have a similar question about shade and I am also flying into the area. I am going back and forth between building a monkey hut and buying the costco carport. My question is, can you buy all your material for the monkey hut in reno and construct it on the playa without any problems? Does home depot stock enough PVC that we won't run into a problem of not having the materials we need? I found the design we will use that is playa tested and feel confident that my engineer boyfriend will be able to put this together with my help. Looking at the monkey hut designs, I don't see any reason we could not build this out there. But this is my first burn, so I'm hoping for some advice from those who have been there and have done this before. Second, if we do decide to go with the carport, it's probably only about an extra $100 in cost compared to monkey hut supplies, but do they have them in stock and for sale at the costco in Reno days prior to the event? To buy it here in NJ and then ship it out there will be adding on to the cost.

[Popeye]

I am going to piggy back off of this thread because I have a similar question about shade and I am also flying into the area. I am going back and forth between building a monkey hut and buying the costco carport. My question is, can you buy all your material for the monkey hut in reno and construct it on the playa without any problems? Almost certainly Does home depot stock enough PVC that we won't run into a problem of not having the materials we need? Probably I found the design we will use that is playa tested and feel confident that my engineer boyfriend will be able to put this together with my help. Looking at the monkey hut designs, I don't see any reason we could not build this out there. But this is my first burn, so I'm hoping for some advice from those who have been there and have done this before. Second, if we do decide to go with the carport, it's probably only about an extra $100 in cost compared to monkey hut supplies, but do they have them in stock and for sale at the costco in Reno days prior to the event? Probably not To buy it here in NJ and then ship it out there will be adding on to the cost.

Nobody can guarantee what will be at Lowes or Home Depot, that said the stores in Reno know we are coming and what we will buy. They do gear up for us. Costco Carports are a different story, there seems to be a limited supply and people alert each other when they are available and which store they are in. If you are reasonably adaptable you should be able to build a monkey hut from materials bought in Reno.

[simplyallure]

Thank you for your response! As long as we can get PVC and rebar when we arrive then we will be good to go. The rest should be easy to travel with. That's our plan. Worst case scenario, we have to be innovative and come up with a new idea.

[The Bee]

The burner artist who made the Serpent Twins sells shade kits in various sizes that you can pick up in Oakland CA, or in Gerlach. The structure is made from EMT metal conduit. The kit includes the conduit for the legs and frame, fittings, bungee balls and tarps. I believe you provide your own method of anchoring it which likely would involve using rebar. Rebar is available at most hardware stores. If you google "blackrock hardware shade structure" you should find it.

[danibel]

The burner artist who made the Serpent Twins sells shade kits in various sizes that you can pick up in Oakland CA, or in Gerlach. The structure is made from EMT metal conduit. The kit includes the conduit for the legs and frame, fittings, bungee balls and tarps. I believe you provide your own method of anchoring it which likely would involve using rebar. Rebar is available at most hardware stores. If you google "blackrock hardware shade structure" you should find it.

My black shade came with the rebar, not sure if the kits in Gerlach will include that, but the ones I picked up in Oakland did. It's a thicker rebar than you get at Home Depot. I did buy extra tie downs and extra rebar, just in case.

Also should note - this kits contains poles that are 10 feet long. Not all vehicles can transport that. You could tie them to a roof rack on top, but be sure to secure them very well. There are also eight foot poles that are the "legs." Other than the poles, the kit is very well contained in a single heavy duty bin.

[Canoe]

Not a fan of rebar (but it does work).

survival guide - rebar-stakes-2.png

Easier, significantly less chance of injuries: Lag Screws.
Screw it in; screw it out. Powered drives are the super easy install. A ratchet works too.
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