share your non-dome shelter blue prints

spoteditor · Post by **spoteditor** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:25 am

We all of your great comments, my new plan is as follows.

1. One large family sized dome tent. Cover it with aluminet.

2. Costco car port 10 x 20 (with second hand carpets on the ground). Thanks safetythird for this gem. Can't wait to hear how it does for you on the beach.

3. Use truck as wind breaker. Downgraded rental from 10' cube truck to gas guzzeling ford expedition. A bit cheaper because of unlimited miles, can get a confirmed, won't fuck with you later, reservation (yay!!). Also, can pick it up at airport and they don't mind playa dust. They told me they would charge $150 if I don't make any effort at all.

4. Thinking of killing sun shower and useing wipes. Or gifting my way into someone elses.

Thanks for the Costco car port idea. It all hinges on how safetythird's test goes. Fingures crossed

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:36 am

The carports have worked well for us, there's two in our camp. The wind can tear the walls, so bring grommets, duct tape, a spare piece of tarp, whatever repair stuff. I like the way you can adjust the walls, up, down, leave them off as you need. We also have used spring clamps to put up billboard vinyls in place of the walls, mostly for the graphics. Yes, they do get hot inside, but this year we're adding a shade wing off the side using snow camo.

And nail the feet down so it doesn't wibble around.

If you leave one set of legs off, you get a windbreak/lean-to, best for short folks.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:31 am

spoteditor wrote:4. Thinking of killing sun shower and useing wipes. Or gifting my way into someone elses.

I think you should try to do this part. Nothing better than being able to wash the playa dust off occassionally.

You might want to peruse this thread: http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Short of that, I would definitely bring some kind of wash basin so you can wash your hair, pits, crotch, feet, face, hands, etc. It does wonders for your ability to stand the dust.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:40 am

spoteditor wrote:4. Thinking of killing sun shower and useing wipes. Or gifting my way into someone elses.

~
There is always the dirty old garlic farmers shower. It's on the playa for there enjoyent. Beware.

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:07 pm

AntiM wrote: If you leave one set of legs off, you get a windbreak/lean-to, best for short folks.

How funny. S3 & 2/3rds and I had very similar conversation. She doesn't need legs on it at all.

Sorry I can't give you an URL for this on Costcos site. They don't list many of the things you'll happen to find in their stores. We just walked into our local one and bought it. If you happen to be in my area I'll help you purchase one.

Well, this is what it looks like. The only tool I needed was a small ladder.

Still trying to figure out how to rig the guy lines without putting holes in the tarps.

S3

hunter S · Post by **hunter S** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:14 pm

A little trick with the car ports, don't bungie or velcro the top of the end peaces. instead tie a long strap over the frame. in the heat of the day leave open on both ends, lets the breeze blow through

dust comes up,pull strap lifting the flaps & tie off. worked well for me last year & we had some pretty stiff wind & dust.

this year I'm adding few exstra gromets to the bottem of the walls for rebar stakes, hoping to reduce some of the wind flap on the breezey'er days. Also found carports in "Sam's Club" comp on price & had windows.

hunter S · Post by **hunter S** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:26 pm

Saftythird, I tied from the peeks of the roof frame on each end to concrete stakes, the used tie down straps on the corners. get yourself some 1" nylon strap cut 3' peaces tie into loops, wrap around steel frame wherever you want your anchor lines. the nylon tie downs are a worth while investment to replace rope

IMOP

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 3:14 pm

I think our carports were from the (evil) Sam's Club, but are essentially the same, except white ... larry makes guy wires out of nylon rope, starts by splicing a loop into the upper end of the rope. Slips it onto the top of the joint, the part that angles toward the peak, above the wall, so the rope comes out between the wall and the roof flap. Important to splice it although a knot would work too, a proper splice will not come loose. One rope per leg.

And nail the feet down. BIG nails, landscaping spikes I think. What, ten inches? Cheaper in the garden section than in the nail section of a big box store.

We also have "rope slides" which are metal thingiees to tension the guy wires. Came in a military tent repair kit.

lazyvegan · Post by **lazyvegan** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 4:52 am

DallasPlaya wrote:Thought update: I was talking to someone at work yesterday about shelters and he mentioned the possibility of just getting a pipe bender (cheap) and conduit and building your own joints for your shelter.

a pipe-bender will crimp the conduit, not bend it...they are made for bending true pipe, and conduit won't hold up...your best off just splurging on the connectors...they'll last a life-time anywayz....

and although it has not been playa-tested, just thought i'd share my (almost) non-dome structure i designed and built as the main stage for SOAK, the portland regional burn...

it's an icosahederon in the center, with five 10x16' tarps coming off each side. the ico is composed of 1-1/2"x 10' lengths of black conduit, and the outer rim for each tarp is simply two 8' legnths of conduit slipped over rebar, connected together by another ten foot span, then both are guy-lined with ratchet tie downs to candycaned rebar for tautness, and rope running along each side of the tarp for tautness too..and there's a stage off to one side..the center is open for a burn barrel...it was all lit up nicely at night...it covers a pretty wide area, which was a good thing since our burn lived up to it's name when it started to pour down rain for a gazillion hours strait the second after our wonderful burning raindrop man fell...that's what you get for naming yer party SOAK i guess...but hey, this is portland...

whether or not this is a playa-safe structure is beyond me...perhaps i'll set it up this year and see...

more SOAK pics http://www.portlandburners.com

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 7:33 am

safetythird wrote:Well, this is what it looks like. The only tool I needed was a small ladder.

Can you roll up the sides?

Still trying to figure out how to rig the guy lines without putting holes in the tarps.

I guess the only way would be to get a grommet kit and make a grommet for each opening for the guy lines (?)

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:53 am

Quote:
Still trying to figure out how to rig the guy lines without putting holes in the tarps.

I guess the only way would be to get a grommet kit and make a grommet for each opening for the guy lines (?)

Nope, no holes, the roof and walls are seperate pieces and the rope goes over the joint and out the flap between the roof and the wall. Yours is a bit different from ours, but I think you can make it work that way. This is the best shot I have of one of ours set up.

http://home.comcast.net/~maggiemayday/w ... 13348.html

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:09 am

We get some winds from hell here. Guess they come in from the coast. Anyway, I tied my port so as not trip over the tie downs. Set the legs in place with rebar up the inside of the leg. That will keep it from dancing sideways. Then a line from the top of each post down to within a foot to the bottom of the next leg all the way around. When done you will have lower case x's between each leg. Drop the walls and no ore tripping. Unless you into tripping ;>(

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:05 am

safetythird wrote:Still trying to figure out how to rig the guy lines without putting holes in the tarps.

Another idea: For tie-downs, what about c-clamps on the top of the exposed vertical right below the gable part of the roof?

blyslv · Post by **blyslv** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:37 am

spoteditor wrote:. Or gifting my way into someone elses.

Wipes work fine, but if you want to borrow a shower the best way is to bring your own water and a way to remove an equal amount of grey water.

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:02 pm

I think I have my guying all figured out. Thanks AntiM for showing me the way.

I just odered 10 1"x15" soft ties to wrap around the top bars and 10 2"x20' ratchet tie downs. I don't really need the soft ties but I don't like the idea of wrapping the ratchet tie downs around the top bars. The soft ties are pretty cheap, come in designer colors and I can put them on early in the assembly without them getting in the way.

Ebay Soft Ties

Ebay Ratchet Tie Downs

Now all I need to do is get 8 straight 24" peices of rebar to go under each leg and have someone weld rings onto 10 other pieces of 24" rebar for the guy tie downs.

For my beach test run (7/13-7/17) I'm also going to need 8 2'x2' pieces of plywood with holes drilled in the center to place over the straight rebar stakes and give the carport feet bigger foot prints (or is it feet prints?). Won't need them for the playa but highly recomended for sand. Oh, and probably need one big enough for my ladder too. I'll be using sand bags (why not?) to cover the exposed rebar. On playa I'll have to use something else.

Will update when I have more data.

S3

haptotrope · Post by **haptotrope** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:59 pm

Ok... this is my plan... I bounce it off all y'all.

I am doing the Stevelerner.com/geometry dome only 8' struts instead of 10, and I have these cut-offs that I hope to configure as such:

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/search.htm ... &tp=3&sp=1
(forgive the wacky link, I have no access to a drawing program)

and put a formed white spandex shroud over the lower dome, then drape (with their clip-grommets) some 70% aluminet over the top-dome... I could then illuminate the space between the spandex and the aluminet --- but that it would be a cooler space between the shiny and the spandex...

Also would I want Aluminet "walls" or is that a little less important? that an Aluminet ceiling?

Thanks a bundle!

haptotrope · Post by **haptotrope** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:00 pm

ok.. so I'm a total forum anarchist. my apologies for misposting in the wrong thread...I'm trying to figure out how to delete posts.

Post by **AntiM** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:43 am

Chuck of Arabia has amazing vision, and the ability to make vision reality:

http://eternal-mysteries.org/Utahburn/T ... oEssay.htm

I hope he gets this out to the playa!

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:28 am

AntiM: Now that's a serious shade structure. I'd love to see it on the playa too. Kinda makes everything else suck by comparison, doesn't it?

And now for the much anticipated (or not) carport test results.

S3's JMM05 Monkey Lounge

If you don't want to follow think the short version is: it kicked ass!

Feel free to post any questions or comments here.

S3

Post by **AntiM** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:41 am

Very nice Monkey Lounge! I wish I had a good pic of larry's tiedown ropes, he was a sailor AND a boy scout and can do some funky cool things with splicing. heh.

Yes, Chuck's quite the engineer. He's done the Utah burn effigies several years in a row, each unique and ambitious. You should have seen the GingerBread Man last year, I have the link for that story somewhere too ...

Tumbleweed · Post by **Tumbleweed** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:21 pm

Ok, so here is my work in progress.

First, a picture of the frame (the curve in the vertical poles is due to the wide angle lens, and is not representative of the actual shape):

It is 8'x10', about 6'10" tall, and made of 1 1/2" PVC. All the PVC connectors have been bolted to the pipes. The diagonal supports are aluminum rods. Each vertical pole will be secured to a 3' length of rebar pounded into the ground.

The roof will be a silver top / black bottom tarp. Here is a shot of the roof tarp tied to the roof frame:

There will be two side walls of black shade net along the 10' lengths. They will run diagonally to the ground at about a 45 degree angle. The top ends will be attached to the top of the frame with rope as the roof is. Then short guylines will be tied to the bottom ends at 3 points (or more) then tied to stakes in the ground. This drawing illustrates the front view of the structure:

The idea here is the side walls will act like guylines to help secure the structure, and will also give me extra space to put stuff like a table, bike, etc.

The back half of the framed area will contain my tent. The front half will have a couple chairs.

I know it's not pretty. I was going for functional simplicity.

Comments/suggestions are welcome.

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:49 pm

I know it's not pretty. I was going for functional simplicity.

Actually, it _does_ look pretty. I hope to see it in person.

Martiansky · Post by **Martiansky** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:52 pm

I agree...I think it's brilliant!

Tumbleweed · Post by **Tumbleweed** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:05 pm

Wow...thanks.

Now, as long as it stays in one piece on the playa, I'll be happy.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:17 pm

Nice. I've always wanted to do a cube. I figured that I could just screw together plumbing pipes.

Tumbleweed · Post by **Tumbleweed** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:28 pm

DallasPlaya wrote:Nice. I've always wanted to do a cube. I figured that I could just screw together plumbing pipes.

Yeah, I was thinking of metal tubing for the frame, but PVC is just so lightweight and easy to cut/drill etc. Also, since this is a sort of tensile structure, I thought the PVC might be sufficient. I'm hoping the tarps/netting, when well tightened up, will further stabilize the structure. I also chose to use shade net for the side walls so the wind will filter through a bit.

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:51 pm

Tumbleweed wrote:
DallasPlaya wrote:Nice. I've always wanted to do a cube. I figured that I could just screw together plumbing pipes.
Yeah, I was thinking of metal tubing for the frame, but PVC is just so lightweight and easy to cut/drill etc. Also, since this is a sort of tensile structure, I thought the PVC might be sufficient. I'm hoping the tarps/netting, when well tightened up, will further stabilize the structure. I also chose to use shade net for the side walls so the wind will filter through a bit.

Right. Looks fine. At worst you'll have to adjust it a little bit while on-playa (just like the rest of us have to).

I always WANTED to build it but it's not necessary (unless you want to have a structure strong enough for people to stand on :D). Hmmm....

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:46 pm

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to think about shade structures and thriving in that harsh dessert climate. I didn't plan on thinking about it. It's too damn early to think about it. With the constant rain and cold weather I surely didn’t want to think about it.

It was sort of thrust upon me as I innocently walked into Costco this past weekend. From the doorway I could see it. Way in the back, mounted proudly and towering over everything else. THE COSTCO CARPORT IS BACK! RIGHT NOW!

Oh shit!

That's right. Time to dig up the ol threads and post a heads up. They are in stock at 2 local Costcos in San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, CA. (We're so lucky to get another one within the same 30 mile diameter) The price is the same as last year at $170.

I will be buying another one this year, just as soon as it stops raining long enough to load it and drive home. Nothing wrong with the one from last year other than a dented leg from a rider less bicycle. It held up well and impressed me with its sturdiness. I will be buying another to ADD to the shade area that was quickly consumed by grateful campmates and visitors. The Monkey Lounge will return in 06 and it will be, not twice, but three times the area. 2 carports assembled 10' apart plus cammo netting in between equals a metric buttload of shady acreage.

It's On!

S3

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:32 am

2 carports assembled 10' apart plus cammo netting in between equals a metric buttload of shady acreage.

That's basically what we did last year, works great, but here's a tip: Get a pole and spreader (or two) to support the netting in the middle, Larry was constantly being whapped in the face by our drooping snow camo.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:36 pm

safetythird wrote:Well, it's that time of year again. Time to think about shade structures and thriving in that harsh dessert climate.

AGREED.... And to that end, let me share my oddball plans for this year:
...After three years of bringing complicated, heavy and burdensome geodesic structures, I have instead elected to create a modest shelter that will interact with my vehicle.(2003 Honda Element, named "Babar".)
Going into Year Four, I have determined the following as priorities for MY shelter, and perhaps YOURS as well...
-SHADE. Crucial for siesta comfort, maximizing cooler efficiency and, to a lesser extent, privacy- My plan is to enclose the car with a simple wooden frame, covered with fabric. I've been salvaging loads of kickass material from work, and plan to create a very colorful whatsis.
-SHELTER. Uh, YEAH, to expect SHELTER from A SHELTER is asking a bit much. *Snort* I've learned that getting outta the wind can be nice, for cooking, sleeping, contact-lens cleaning.... I plan to create a four-posted structure that'll connect to the tailgate of Babar, braced by the luggage rack and a coupla rebar stakes. Honda even MAKES a "tailgate cabana", but I've never gotten rich or drunk enough to actually find out HOW MUCH they want for it....The clever Honda marketing team assumed that the Element would be "The New Woody", and that intrepid young people would actually SLEEP IN IT- But perhaps if they had thought to outfit the tailgate with AN INSIDE LATCH, (!!!) more folks would have taken 'em up on THAT. (SHEESH! I finally cut a hole into the plastic cover over the rear gate latch,and dressed the opening with the base from an aluminum butter container!)
-A VIEW. The four posts will support a small plywood deck, possibly to be accessed through the weird, removable Element "moon roof".

I have lots of ideas for extras....A shady cover for the top deck, 12 volt hookups for lighting, water cannons.... All subject to motivation and space considerations. i'm already planning to pack every spare corner with either art or salvaged banner cloth to give away.

share your non-dome shelter blue prints

BIG whompin' tent