Tent and shade... HELP

[Zephyr85]

Hi everyone,

I'm a second time international burner (from London). I'm in a bit of a pickle and need your help - I've read through lots of threads and lots of articles and seem to be finding lots of conflicting information, so hoping some of you lovely lot can help me out

A friend who was not going to burn this year had offered to lend me their Shift Pod, but now they are burning after all, so I need to figure out what to do for shelter. Last year I had a cheap tent from Walmart plus a shade structure covered with a parachute, but the one night I spent in it, I was frying like an egg by 9am (luckily I made a friend the next day with an Air conditioned RV where I spent the rest of the week )

This year I want to make sure I am able to keep my tent cool on the Playa - I was considering buying a shift Pod, but they are a bit out of my price range. A friend of mine has offered me his hexayurt, but we will not have space to transport it to the Playa. Another friend has offered to lend me their 4 man REI tent, but I am concerned about keeping it cool on the Playa.

I have seen someone selling a second hand Soul Pad 3000 ultralite for $250, which looks like a good option as it's cotton canvas, and some people have said it's cool enough without any additional shade. I've read other articles though that say even with cotton canvas you need additional shade so I'm not sure.

Shade-wise - I basically have no clue. Can I just drape aluminet over the whole thing and peg it in with Rebar or do I need a whole structure?

Or does anyone have any suggestions for set ups which are:
1. Not crazy expensive (Ideally I don't want to spend more than $500 in total for shade and tent - coming from London for the burn means I'm already spending lots of money on flights and car hire!)
2. Not too bulky - we don't have that much space in the car, and I'm relying on a kindly friend in SF letting us store stuff in his storage unit between burns
3. Easy to set up
4. Will let me sleep in the tent until about Midday without boiling alive!
5. Don't need me to do much ahead of time. I have friends in SF that I can have stuff shipped to, but live in London and will be flying in just before the burn, so big DIY projects that I'd need to do ahead of time are just not practical.

Thanks in advance for your help lovely fellow burners!
Zephyr xx

[Chowski]

You have two options - spend more money or change your expectations. With a tent/shade set-up, you won't "sleep until midday". That requires AC and/or an RV.

What you can expect from a tent/shade set-up is a cooler tent until maybe two or three hours after dawn, and then a shaded space outside your tent to kind of sleep another hour or two.

I know people are going to disagree with me, but you can get an ez-up for $100.00, tape all the joints, stake it down really strong, and if you are able, secure it to a larger structure, or right next to your vehicle for shade, wind break, and stability. Best if you can remove the solid top and replace it with some vent-through material which still provides shade. Hang a cheap sheet or curtain of some kind on the wall where the sun rises and you will get another few degrees of cool. Morning shade comes from the side, not from above.

Once your tent becomes an oven, drag your mattress outside into your personal shade and nap for a bit longer.

You can also go to sleep before the sun comes up. If you are a "dance until after sunrise at Robot Heart every day" type, you aren't going to sleep until noon on $500 bucks. Make your choice. Dance until 9am every day, OR sleep some nighttime hours and not lose your mind

Good luck.

[Ratty]

Chowski is right. You will need a figjam cooler or AC. NO tent stays cool without them. No yurt or any other containment unit is cool without a device cooling it. Your cheapest shade is an easy up. If you follow his advice you can keep it in one piece and not have it blow away. Or go sleep in Center Camp on a bench with the other ill-prepared folks.

[desertdweller64]

in my opinion, if you're tenting it, a Springbar is the only way to go. The things last pretty much forever and are bomber in heavy winds and weather. The canvas breathes to keep things cooler in sun too and does a good job keeping the dust out. I also think the quality on a Springbar is better than the Kodiaks a lot of people get (kodiak is the big-box knock off of the Springbar) also, it looks like Springbar has tents in stock this year and are offering free shipping- usually they are way backordered. The stakes that come with it are 12-inch solid steel so plenty secure for the playa. check them out www.springbarcanvas.com

[BBadger]

Spend the money on the shade first and then spend the remainder on the tent. You can sleep in some dusty $100 tent from Amazon. You can't sleep in the heat. Get a carport or monkey hut and do a good job securing to the playa.

[mudpuppy000]

Yeah nothing stays cool without A/C or a swamp cooler. Coolest scenario without any active cooling is being under shade and having the wind blow freely. That's going to get dusty though. Any type of tent will feel warmer due to the lack of airflow, and your body heat warming it up.

[Wilbur4s]

I'm going to have to disagree with the easy-up advice. If you are solely relying on the shade structure to keep cool, what you need for effective cooling from a shade structure are a three elements:
a) actual full shade (top and sides towards sun)
b) sufficient air barrier between your shade structure and your tent/shiftpod, etc to create a temperature gradient
c) air flow
All three of these elements contribute to effective insulation from the sun. And I submit that an easy-up will not provide enough of any of those elements to be effective in keeping an internal structure. Will it be better than nothing, sure.
Oh, and if the shade structure could have a reflective surface, that would also help.
I do agree with the advice that either more money needs to be spent, more effort, or a change of expectations.

[TT120]

Cheap $35 craigslist tent inside a Monkey Hut with a Figjam cooler. (Notice the hole in the tent on the right side for the dryer tubing from the cooler) About $150 total cost and I can sleep all day if I want.

[AntiM]

I can sleep in the afternoon with a figjam, in a tent under a carport. Flying in and making a swamp cooler is not very feasible unless you can talk someone into setting you up.

We put ours through the tent door.