SHADE:seriously BIG parachutes

[cornbread]

I have two sixty-five foot diameter military cargo parachutes. Both have their original nylon packing bags. One has a few slits cut 'hambone style' in for wind relief. Also, I have one angle-iron circular ring to fit the chute's upper opening for rigging.

Will trade for who knows what. You wantee? Writee!
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[Figment]

I've a bit o' interest in them there parachutes. contact me off-e-playa if ya've 'em still

iamafigmentofyourimagination (at) cox (dot) net

[bearsnest]

do you still have the parachutes and what color are they?

[cornbread]

Sorry to be so sluggish in responding to queries. Yes, I still have both chutes, and they are classic us army green.

playa dust-the breakfast of champions

[bearsnest]

would be nice to have 1 of the two..does not have a tear in it as i have another use in mind ? bear

[cornbread]

I'm not sure what you mean about tears. I believe only one has some holes, but it it be impossible to tell which one w/o unpacking which is a BIG job and takes a large, clean, indoor area. So, tears/holes good? bad? don't matter?

[bearsnest]

I ment Holes..not tears from my eyes..stupid me...what is the estimated trade valu for 1 or both. Bear

[cornbread]

hard to say on worth. trade value even harder. USD, probably around $150-200 ea. as they aren't made anymore and these were pretty hard to find.

would you be shippin to Alaska?

[burnerboy33]

Are you in need of some 12v batteries?

[cornbread]

specifically, what type of 12v batteries and how old are they?

[burnerboy33]

The batteries are 12v, sealed, gelcells. they are the size of a car battery (thay work great in a car also) and can be mounted flat, upside down, or on there side. They dont leak. most are under two years old but a few are older but still in great shape. Four ran my "bike" around for 20 hours of drive time. The "bike" used two 24v 1hp wheel chair moters.

[cornbread]

although I have no idea what I would do with batteries, they sound sort of nifty in a playa sense. I would want the newest/least used. what's your offer?

and, neither the batteries or the chutes are easy/cheap to ship. do you get up to the playa much off season?

[burnerboy33]

Well I don't know where in CA you are, I am in concord CA. Are you coming to pick them up? If so I can give you 4 of the newest and what ever you want, need of the rest. I only need 8 for next year. Send me your # to [email protected] of just an email and I can give you mine.

[KellY]

Hey y'all, In my experience, parachutes are a REALLY bad idea for shadecloth on the playa. We used them to cover our domes in '99, the first year I attended, and as some of you may remember that was the event's windiest year, hands down. Our domes were totaly trashed. Admittedly, we were using pretty wussy metal poles for struts, but still, anything meant specically to catch wind is not a good building material on the playa.

Also, the mareial doesn't breath well at all, so it tends to get very hot and stuffy in parachute-enclosed spaces.

[cornbread]

you make some good points and burnerboy is well aware of them, I do believe. Wind pockets can be cut/sewn in, or alternating panels can be entirely cut out. Whatever is done, large pieces of fabric and high winds make for a dynamic mix. burnerboy has both of the chutes now and, he has some serious anchoring hardware in mind. And, I've got some gnarly batteries and I thank this forum for getting us together!

BURN ON!

[burnerboy33]

My Idea is to build a BIG teepee. I will use my bucket truck for the center post and tie the chute tight to the ground. This should make a hard cone shape. The wind should hit the teepee and blow up and over it. The Indians used this with great sucess. As far as not nilon not breathing, I'm not sure but I think the shape will fix that also. The chute has a 3 to 4 foot hole in the top. (cornbread, could you send me a pic of the ring you have?) If the teepee is tight and I leave a 12 to 18 inch gap between the bottom of the teepee and the playa I should get air to move through there just from the heat rising and going out the top. I am also tring to build a windmill to charge batteries and if it gets to hot inside I can convert the windmill into an exaust fan to blow the hot air out the top. So what do you think?

[Badger]

I will use my bucket truck for the center post and tie the chute tight to the ground. This should make a hard cone shape. The wind should hit the teepee and blow up and over it. The Indians used this with great sucess.

I'd think that if you need a bucket truck for setting your center pole that you need to figure a way to successfully set you anchor cabling. Either by using VERY stout (and long) rebar or other smaller poles set in a circular patern.

There was a group this year that had a massive hammoch camp using a large center pole with smaller poles set out from the center. They had to enlist 30-40 people to help unfurl the chute and get it anchored to the cable lines.

There might be pictures somewhere on the board showing the set up.

[burnerboy33]

for anchoring I plan to use screw anchors. The same kind used in guying telephone poles. They screw in the ground 6 foot with a gas powerd auger. When you are done you put the machine in reverse ans screw them out without disterbing the ground too much. I will use three of these to guy the boom(center pole). Then use smaller 2 foot screw anchors at the base of the teepee about every 3 to 4 foot.

[burnerboy33]

I am not using my truck to set the center pole, My truck will be the center pole.