inter day cooling and canopy ?'s for a virgin

[iamtonynyc]

hey all, its the new year and i made a resolution that 2004 is my year. and w/ that said, i will be doing bm for the first time, making the trek from new york city.

i realize that it's soooo hot during the day and a big part of the survival is keeping cool and out of the sun during the day. i was looking into some different canopy options and i was wondering if someone can give me some tips on what to get and how big, or should i construct my own. i was thinking the bigger the better....share the wealth type of thing. its totally possible that i may be making the trek by myself. shoud i get a canopy w/ sides or not. i do realize that the weather can turn in a matter of minutes so i would think that one w/ walls would be sweet, but i also realize that i would have to really secure it down.

secondly i think some sort of misting system would really be sweet. i was looking online and all are mucho dollars and run off standard 120volts. i dont want to rent or buy a generator if i dont have to. there is the personal fan w/ the water bottles attached, which would be sufficent but i want to have a nice system.

any help would be greatly appreciated! peace and happy new year!

[unjonharley]

When it gets real mid day. I get quiet out of the sun. Then wet a hand towel wring it out and lay it over part of me. The evaporatuin takes some body heat with it. Also a wet head cover helps. Some side walls trap the heat. The 10x20 carport we used held a lot of heat. Building my own this year. Keep ashing questions and look up piix. of shelters.

[Bob]

You'll have better luck browsing further down on the eplaya Index page for the Structures and regional forums, and reading before posting.

[Last Real Burner]

Listen to Bob.


"Always listen to the big giant head of Bob."
serendipishly,
mr smith

[Bob]

[Dork]

You definitely want something with at least partial sides to the East and West to keep out the sun when it's not directly overhead. In a pinch, a huge tarp draped between two trucks can be enough.

Ideally, you'd have one shade a foot or so above your tent to keep the sun off it, and another shade for a chill/kitchen area.

The biggest problems people seem to run into with shades are 1) using structures that can't hold up to the wind (1/2" PVC won't cut it for long unsupported spans) and using cheap, loosely draped tarps or Tyvek. Those suckers get LOUD when the wind picks up and the grommets tear out. Mesh dumptruck tarps, parachutes, and blankets are much quieter. How are you planning to get there? Are you driving or flying and buying the big stuff in Reno?

I wouldn't mess with a powered misting system, personally. If you leave it on all the time it will go through a lot of water! A nice, cheap option is to get a cheap garden mister from your local hardware store and soak your clothes from time to time. It also comes in handy for cleaning dishes and such without using much water.

Hook up with a camp in advance, if you can. There's probably another NY group that could use help with a project.

[Ducky]

avoid green tarps!!!!
go for blue or blue and reflective

[shitmouse]

they have cool and cheap vented mesh "tarps" that are great to use.
as well, try to cover your tent with a shade structure. you'll get that muchly needed sleep, and not burn to death in the morning.
-(can't stress that enough).
-b

[retropsycho]

Check "neck coolers" with a search engine. A competent seamstress can make these using "watering crystals" that are used for watering plants.

Both misters and neck coolers here:
http://www.mistymate.com/home.html

[jm]

I checked out Mistymate and their products look great. Has anyone used any, and if so, any in particular you recommend?

[Guest]

Flat sides to a tarp can act like a sail. Angle them out with a gap at the bottom. Don't know about misters, mister.

[stuart]

silver tarps!!!!

block 100% of the sun.

the sun is super bright. You can actually still see a very clearly defined shadow underneath cheaper (say, blue) tarps. Also, try to get your shade elevated.

we had silver tarps on an 11ft tall post and beam structure in '03. In the high heat of the day it was pretty comfy underneath. The garden mister thing is a must have as well.

[er1c]

I have one of the portable hand powered misters. It works pretty good, if only for 5-10 minutes at a time before you need to pump up the pressure again. You wont see the HUGE cooling effect that a large system will provide, but for the price its a pretty good deal.

[AntiM]

We found a tiny six nozzle mister system designed for a patio umbrella, around ten bucks. I'm not sure what the original water source was supposed to be, but hubby hooked it up to a 5 gallon garden sprayer and then clipped it to the canopy of our four-wheel bike. The sprayer was tucked in behind our seats. Portable mist, uses only as much water as the person operating the handle allows. The sprayer only had to be filled a couple times, but we had allowed extra water for that. We stayed cool, and with some of the nozzles pointing outward, could cool a number of passer-by as well. That it was mobile prevented puddling, but if it were hot enough, that may not be a factor.