advice for my home on the playa

[the_beacon]

i am gathering my stuff for the burn this year. and have a couple questions for you veterans.

last year i camped with ludo and he halped me with a shade structure and such.. but it looks as though this year i will be on my own with a few more virgin friends. there doesn't happen to be a costco near me or anywhere that i know of in oklahoma city so i am finding it a little more difficult figuring out what to do about the ever important shade structure. i'm okay with dropping a little cash but i need to figure it out real quick like.. especially if i am going to be buying something off the web to accommodate and have time to get it, set it up, and make sure it will work.

also, last year we used small tents just big enough to sleep in really.. and i happen to have acquired a large tent (one of those 3 room jobs, which really just means it has zippers inside, that sleeps 8 or 9 according to the box) and i dont know if it will stand up to the conditions or not.. i will be useing it at bonnaroo next week so i guess i should have a better idea then but what do you think about big 10 by 20 or so tents out there... and if i cant figure something better out and ideas on how to reinforce it?




lastly i know my eplaya name is the same as the paper.. i didnt however know that when i picked it.. it was just my myspace address and i dont have the option to change it now.

[oneeyeddick]

That doesn't mean you can't start over here now before it's too late,
we won't consider it a sock attack if you do it quick.

You can always start a different myspace account if you can't change the name there.

Some car parts stores generally carry carports also, give em' a call.

[ygmir]

I went on line to Sam's club and got a really good 12x20 shade structure for last year. it was under 200 bucks and held up really well. They sent it UPS.
No need to leave home if you have internet.......Sportsmans guide also has some, I'm sure other online places, as well.
UPS is our friend......well, mine at least.

yeah, OED has it right, just make a new account, maybe even a "heads up" of what your last account name was, and, no "sock alert".

[CapSmashy]

Pep Boys carries them at a pretty good price.

As a matter of fact, get thyself down there. The website is showing a Shelter Logic 10x20 carport for $79.99 after $20 mail in rebate for the Oklahoma City sales flyer. Rebate is available through Jul 19.

This one does not have the walls with it, but we had much better results hanging shade fabric around it last year then when I used the vinyl walls in '07. Wal Mart and all of the big box home improvement stores sell shade fabric now and its very affordable so buy lots. Better to have an extra roll than be one short. To hang it last year, all we did was zip tie it every 18 inches or so to the top rail and zip tied it down each leg. Went up fast and was quite nice inside.

We also augmented our roof last year with a large tarp secured on top of it with the silver side up to reflect some of the heat. It covered about 2/3's of the carport roof and that combined with our double shade fabric walls around it, left our tent in the "dark" all day.



If ya'll can swing it, I'd say buy two of the carport frames and set them up side by side. Tarp the tops and wrap in shade fabric. Hopefully, your tent will fit under one of them (what are the dimensions on it if you remember). If it will, then you have the other side that's nice and shady to set up a chill space and your kitchen area. While not a perfect wind stop, the shade fabric seemed to help cut a lot of the wind that was blowing through camp.

[ok_burner]

alright.. i will try to check out some auto stores or just get one off the web.. anyone have experience with one that they would recommend? there seems to be some debate about how sturdy some are but i think if they are tied down right and all that they should be fine.


i checked the dimensions of this tent and it is about 20' x 18' x 7'. last year i didnt seem to recall just a great amount of wind and since thats is the only year i have been i dont know if it gets crazy or how crazy it gets. if i hide my tent behind carports they should absorb most of the wind right?

[oneeyeddick]

That all depends on which direction the wind is blowing that day.

All carports are strong enough to survive the playa as long as they are staked down properly.

White carports have the added bonus of not getting as hot as those costco ones, plus they don't have those vents that seem to do little more than act as scoops for dust to get inside.