Two virgins from Norway 2018. Help? Is our tent good enough?

[vMarie]

Hi, we're two people from Norway coming to BM 2018 (Yes I know it's almost a year until the next BM happens, but we want to be ready)

We started discussing going to BM after I found the livestream for it this year. At first it was just a thought of "wow this looks kinda cool", but then we started reading up on it, and it was overwhelming how much planning was involved. So after the first week of "holy shit we're never going to be able to fix all of this!" the panic settled somewhat and we started looking into the logistics, read- and re-read the survival guide and the first-timers guide, and started to hit the forums to see if our questions had already been answered (which most of them had).

But, there are some questions (one major one to be exact) that we can't find an answer to (or at least not a good answer to), and that is: Is our tent going to be good enough for the Playa?

We're planning on bringing a tentipi, a Robens Fairbanks to be exact, but we can't seem to find anyone who has experience with using a tentipi at BM, so our question is basically; would it be strong enough to stand up against the white-outs and occasional vicious gusts?
It's polycotton (65% cotton, 35% polyester), and it should be able to handle wind up to 168 km/h (104 mph), but we're still a little anxious of it not being able to handle the harsh conditions out on the Playa.

it looks like this:


I didn't know where to put this, so I hope this is okay!

[AntiM]

Looks okay, although you'll want to find a way to shade it a bit. Also, is there a mesh vent at the top? That will let dust in, so you'll want to be able to seal that off. Sun and dust will be greater concerns than wind, in all honesty.

I've seen people camp in worse tents successfully.

[Traveller in Time]

Welcome to ePlaya

I am just a nuthead with some burner feeling.

You are completely familiar with the birgin guide.
Your tent should _not_ have any mesh or dust will be able to make the interior unbearable.
A secundary shade structure may be required during the morning/day time to keep the wind and sun from your tent.

[some seeing eye]

Welcome to ePlaya. Great you are starting your prep early!

Questions and Answers are good here: viewforum.php?f=275

Seems like the tent will stand up well to wind. The concern is dust getting in near the top of the pole. The dust is the consistency of baby powder and gets into everything. The poly cotton fabric is a good idea.

The challenge for international visitors is shade over the tent. There are many discussions of solutions on ePlaya. You might consider some of the new silver fabric tents which don't need a shade structure over them designed for Burning Man and other festivals. Perhaps you can get one delivered for pick up in the US? They are expensive, but probably have good resale value and they are sometimes rentable.

A good way to plan is a packing list. There are many on the Internet to start with then adapt for your own needs. I'm also an advocate of costumes (not everyone on ePlaya is though.) It's ideal to make/alter rather than buy off the shelf costumes.

[vMarie]

There is a mesh ventilation at the top yes, but we're looking into ways to seal it off (again diving into the depths of the forums on ways to do it), and we're also looking at different types of shade-structures.

We are also looking into joining a camp (not asking here, we prefer to ask around ourselves first) to help provide us with a way to ship our gear to the Playa and as a way to make friends. Coming from abroad isn't easy (which is our main source of slight panic atm). So depending on transportation method come next year, we want to be ready for anything really.

We're not rich by any means, so buying a yurt (?) is kind of out of our price range (Especially if we have to rent a van/car for a week as well). We're both working on saving up enough money to make the journey, so we don't have a lot to spend on "luxury" items to bring to the Playa

[Popeye]

You might want to think about the cost of air freight/excess baggage to get the tent to the States.

[legionvr6]

We had several members coming in from Hawaii. If you line up a US based camp to join or have US based friends, have all purchases shipped directly to the US and just order via US sites. that will save you a good amount of money

I know Hawaii is in the US but it's an island so shipping stuff from there to California would have added up so they just ordered everything to us.

[Elorrum]

I like the tipi shape because it is tensioned fabric around all sides, which can spill some wind, and has lots of guy out points.

[vMarie]

Thanks everyone

You might want to think about the cost of air freight/excess baggage to get the tent to the States.

The tentipi doesn't weigh that much thankfully (20lbs). So bringing it on the plane isn't a huge hassle as we can both have 45-50lbs of luggage with us each (+35-45$ for 1 extra 45-50lbs bag), and we're going to buy everything we don't strictly need to bring with us home again when we get to the US.

The reason we want to bring our own tent is because we're not just going to use it for BM, if that was the case we would definitely look into buying a new one when we got to the US. It was the main reason I asked if it was good enough to withstand the harsh environment on the Playa really.

If you line up a US based camp to join or have US based friends, have all purchases shipped directly to the US and just order via US sites. that will save you a good amount of money.

We don't know anyone in the US (yet), so we don't know if we would be able to do that. But we'll definitely look into it if we do end up joining a camp that's open to helping us out on that end.

[AntiM]

Being active on eplaya is a good way to get to know folks who have camps. This is much better than randomly handing over dues to a camp which may or may not be a good fit.

[vMarie]

Being active on eplaya is a good way to get to know folks who have camps. This is much better than randomly handing over dues to a camp which may or may not be a good fit.

I don't think we're going to pick someone at random and hope for the best really But we're using the BRC map from 2016 and this year and reading up on the ones that seems like a good fit for us on the BM theme camps page. So if we feel like they might fit us we'll send them a PM and ask if they would be interrested in adding us to their family. We're also not that interrested in joining a camp that provides everything for us (we want to be as self-reliant as possible, but still have the comfort of being with people who know their stuff and can yell at us when we're doing something wrong xD) Of course, if we don't find anyone that way we'll discuss if we want to join up with anyone here, or just camp the two of us.

We are (if it hasn't been obvious) still in our early stages of planning, so we still have a lot to figure out, especially when it comes to the logistics of everything. Every bit of help is appreaciated though.

[AntiM]

That sounds like a solid plan. Once you've settled in on eplaya, you can certainly ask various people their experiences with established camps.

I have a tiny theme camp and get inquires now and then. Unfortunately, I can tell that they have not read a thing about my camp. LOL, we have five core members only, camp in Hushville, so no generators, and we do not have amenities such as showers or a meal plan. We have hosted international burners in the past, offering mostly a monkey hut and moral support (plus use of the propane stove and hauling in extra water), but not every year. This year we hosted someone with a media pass, which was interesting. She was very independent, but had missed some key ideas about the conditions. We were glad to help!

[Wigwam]

All of the above is great advice. You’ll also want to bring rebar, or at the very least some very heavy duty tent stakes. The typical tent stakes provided with tents can easily pull out in strong winds sending your well prepared tent flying across the playa.

[Elliot]

Var det noen som sa "Norge"?

Jeg er litt sent ute med å ønske deg velkommen til ePlaya, men... Velkommen! likevel!

Your English seems excellent, and we better use that, so no-one thinks we are talking about them.

I grew up in Norway, on the outskirts of Oslo, and now I live in Northern California. Yes, we Norwegians are everywhere, just like Burners.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Have you subscribed to Jackrabbit Speaks?
.

[Elderberry]

Hey there, welcome to ePlaya!

[Kikikukiki]

Hi,

Got you some affordable tents examples for you to look at. As compared to tents that has a 2 layer setup (Internal Mesh layer and an outer covering layer), this one comes in one a piece without any gap inbetween. Good for not sifting fine playa dust into your tent.

This pop up tent cost about USD70 or less





And a tarp to go over it for some sun shading and rain shield.
Cost about USD 7

[vMarie]

Happy new years!
Thanks for all the good tips everyone. (So sorry for my silence, life in the default world has been consuming my time)
We've decided to drop getting the Fairbanks Tipitent, and will focus on finding a more affordable one to bring on the playa instead. So we're most likely going to buy one or two smaller ones and a tarp once we get to the US.

We're planning on going to the US a little over a week before BM starts, so we can get rid of the jet-lag (as there's a 9h time difference), get to see a little part of LA (as we're most likely going there first), and have time to buy everything we need before going on a mini-roadtrip to BRC.



Kikikukiki: Thank you, I'll check them out

Elliot: Hei! Kult å se flere nordmenn her!
But yes, I agree, let's keep the conversation in English, (Thanks , I studied English for some years at Uni, never graduated though because of medical reasons, but I still pick up my books now and then to brush up on my grammar , and I try to talk/read aloud several times a week so I don't loose my British accent).
We're from the westcoast of Norway, somewhere between Bergen and Stavanger
I have subscribed to almost everything I think

[nkrober]

Canvas tent like the Kodiak is the best. It's around $500, but very sturdy and will be good for many burns. Tall enough to stand up in. So if you plan on coming back, then spend the money. It's a bit heavy, so you'd probably want to order it and have it shipped to your US destination.

Aluminet for shade. We had 50 virgins in our camp last year, and the number one thing they regretted was not bringing SHADE to put over their tent.

Definitely heed all the warnings about heavy duty tent stakes or rebar. The small diameter cheap ones that usually come with a tent are not enough to withstand the wind.

Like others already said, cover ALL mesh. You can google crafty burner solutions for covering the mesh in your tent. Do it before you come to the playa.