Parachute for Shade... how effective?

[Josh-n-Cody]

I've seen parachutes used as shade structures for years on the playa. they seem plentiful. However, in working to set up our own "dome".

We are wondering.. " how effective are parachutes at shading?"

We have sourced some white and red parachutes. It would seem the white chutes would not absorb as much heat, but possibly not shade as well. How hot to the green chutes get? Can we use another material just as easy, if so, what?

I must admit, 60 dollars for a 30 foor diameter chute, and using cut bamboo from our back yard is a VERY cheap way to go. Just wondering!

Love to all!

Cody and Josh

[Timezone LaFontaine]

I've hung out and napped under a green chute quite a bit, and heat wasn't a problem. I expect a white chute would provide comparable shade, but be more of a problem as far as glare is concerned.

[phil]

You'll get lots of answers, but the best answer is to try it out. I suggest this because personal use and experience varies. I want complete opacity: not just to visible light but to UV and IR. If I understand correctly, heat comes from infrared, and I want that blocked in my shade. Additionally, I have vitiligo, which is a skin condition that prevents me from tanning in the affected areas - I burn instead. This means I need UV opacity as well. Parachutes don't protect me from UV and IR rays, so I choose a totally opaque tarp.

Your experience with a parachute will tell you whether you want (or need) total opacity. I think most people tolerate parachutes better than I would (I visit lots of people under chutes, and they seem to have no problems), but living under one for a week (or days) will give you your personal answer.

As for the fabric getting hot, that hasn't bee a problem for us for a couple of reasons. We have two shades. One is white rubberized fabric on a flat roof about 6 and a half feet off the ground. People have commented that it isn't high enough and will radiate heat down on us. My answer is, "Touch it." The response is always, "Oh! It's cool." The other tarp is the ubiquitous silver tarp, and it does get hot. However, it's on a peak roof that is so far overhead as to present no heat problem at all.

Again, your experience will answer your questions: if your dome is big and high, hot fabric is a non-issue. If it's white, it may not get hot. (Glare is not a problem for us with our white rubberized fabric, as it's totally opaque.)

Good luck and have fun.

[Josh-n-Cody]

in 2008 with great results. we are trying to design a better "pod shade" than we had....

[303jewels]

A product that I think is particularly suitable for shade is 'Tyvek', I dont know what you call it in the States but the product is basically an underlay type roofing felt, its thin, lightweight and very tough . It will probably come on a 50metre roll and is about 1 metre wide, a stapler for stapling paper etc will hold it on/join it , its a 'light' colour - I think one side is pretty much white.
Either way it'll shade you a wont 'take off' like a parachute as the 1metre width of it allows air to flow.
At a Guess $60 for 50 metres.

BTW we used a green coloured 'chute this year and our little dome was cool enough to sleep in daytime quite comfortably. And being from England I'm not used to heat!

[303jewels]

Tyvek is'nt transparent BTW so shouldn't 'glare'.

[theCryptofishist]

A product that I think is particularly suitable for shade is 'Tyvek', I dont know what you call it in the States...

WE call it Tyvek, too. I mostly see it in envelopes--it's lightweight and tough--good things in the post. It can be recycled by sending it back to DuPont. I don't know the details, but we do it at my job.

[DoctorIknow]

Tyvek is what the Swedish Snow Camo was made of, and as far as I know, that stuff hasn't been manufactured for about 10 years.

There is "snow camo" around, but it is more like military "green" camo, which is basically a net with nylon fabric woven thru it. It works real well and comes in huge sizes, but ain't cheap at all.

The old Swedish Snow Camo can stand up to severe wind the playa dishes out, but if it is rubbing against anything, there will be rather fast abrasion, leading to a hole. The good news is, the stuff doesn't rip like normal material...I guess the fibers have no pattern. But the chafing leading to holes can be bad.

I've stood in front of huge rolls of Tyvek in Home Depot and could never figure how to use it at BM. First off, since there are no holes in it, its potential to turn into a sail are significant. Therefore, one would need a MUCH stronger structure than for military style camo. But even more critical is how you would attach it to anything without causing chafing right there.

And to consider MAKING it into camo by cutting lots of holes and sewing seams with line inside the seams on all edges.... well, for a small piece, maybe, but otherwise forget it.

As for parachute, I did yoga for an hour under one and got the worst sunburn I've had since I was a kid. It did provide shade, and they look great, are tough in the wind, and there roundness really is great for domes or a single center pole.

[gyre]

White material makes a great greenhouse, unless it blocks light.

[Oldguy]

I had six virgins camped next to me that used a small canopy to shade the east side of their motorhome and huge pieces of lumber company tarp to shade their tents on the west side. The parachute caught the wind and only lasted till wednesday, it would pull up their small stakes. The white truckers' tarp was solid and blocked the wind and sun.

[sfmikelia]

We used a Green Parachute as an outer shade structure both in 08 and 09. We set up a "carport structure" from Costco and put the Parachute over it. The difference in the temperature outside of the shade structure averaged about 10 degrees hotter, so for us is worked very well.