YURT! Will it work?

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:07 pm

One tent type I've seen do very nicely even in some pretty ugly thunderstorms at Pennsic... is the yurt or ger. I'm thinking of building one. Does anyone have suggestions/experience regarding these?

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:29 pm

They're amazingly popular on the playa - there were two within my immediate vicinity in BLD, and I saw lots more around and about. Talk to your SCAdian friends about companies they'd recommend or avoid; you can get scads of recs from people here, but that personal touch is always a bonus in my opinion.

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:34 pm

::rubbing hands together and looking at tools inherited from her wonderful grandfather, who watches from on high with a grin::

I've talked to the SCAdians I know... I have the plans... baby, I'ma roll my own! (Well. Hopefully it won't actually roll..)

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:46 pm

I can personally testify that gers work beautifully on the Playa. I brought one from Pacific Yurts in '98, and we've have it in Opera Camp between 2001 and 2003. We didn't put it up this year because there weren't enough people in camp to justify the time it took to put up, but I'm getting it back to use as a personal shelter again next year.

Mine is a 16-footer. Estimate that it would comfortably sleep six people. We've had as many as 22 people in it at once but everyone was sprawling all over everyone else like a Roman orgy, the proverbial carpet of bodies. Twelve people can hang out in it comfortably. For one person, a yurt that size is positively decadent.

I light it up with three strands of faerie lights, 100 bulbs, run through a battery and inverter. Generally takes two-and-a-half, three nights to run the battery down. It looks beautiful against the night, it glows like a lantern.

Pacific Yurts uses clear fir for the wood. You'll probably want to select yours this month and get that out of the way. I take Orange Glo wood conditioner and give the wood pieces a good oiling down to help protect from the Playa's damage. You'll need a 4x8' trailer to haul it, but not necessarily enclosed, it can be open. If you're a skillful builder you can pull it in under 1000 pounds.

You can make a platform for it. Basically it's just pie slices with two-by-fours on end underneath. I would make one for mine but I don't have a big enough woodshop and my dunnage to the Playa is insane enough as it is.

Securing down is easy. I use five rebar kandykanes, drive them into the ground in a pentacle layout: one on either side of the door, one opposite the door, two in between. Attach the lattice to the kandykanes via bungee cord.

Be sure to position the door to the lee of the prevailing wind direction.

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:56 pm

Ooo, the one I plan on making is actually a great deal smaller. The plans I have are for a yurt probably about half that size, able to be transported on a good roof-rack. The lattices fold down tightly and are divided into three pieces.

The rest of the suggestions you have are great, especially about the kind of wood to use and also the platform. Thank you!

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:56 pm

In case you didn't figure it out already, Pacific Yurts is a good company. Scope their site, http://www.yurts.com for inspiration. They're good people and know Burners. I sent them a picture of mine on the Playa.

This year, I'm totally Wolfing out my camp. I'm going to have pine garlands, wolf god thangkas, sheepskins, wall masks and all kinds of wolf iconography all over my yurt. The door canopy is going to be held up by two wolf-headed pillars. I've started work on the thangkas already

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:58 pm

That sounds absolutely gorgeous! I had considered having hyenas (my totem animal) painted around the top of mine!

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:19 pm

Too bad I'm not a mechanic...a mobile yurt would kick ass! Certainly better than the bazillions of rolling bars I saw out there last week. A traveling chill space, drive out to the trash fence at dawn with a load of people and sit there for sunrise meditation.

The hyaena paintings sound cool...did you know there are paleolithic cave paintings of hyaenas in Cosquer and Chauvet? Do a Google search on "Chauvet, cave paintings, la hyene." I'm doing a triumvirate of a wolf-headed Nataraj, Anubis and Le Sorcier tapestry hangings.

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:23 pm

::makes a truly comical mad dash to go and look those up!:: OOoooh.... source material! I am also trying to find some way to turn my recumbent bike into... well... into a hyena.

And rolling meditative space... oh, for disposable income to do THAT with.... I would love to have a rolling chillspace/temple!

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:29 pm

my recumbent bike into

*Boggle*

Forget Costco, I think I found my soulmate...
I have a recumbent, too! Bike-E? She finally got her Playa name this year, everyone kept saying "Nice Ride!" to me, so her name is "Nice Ride." I'm going to art her out this year as my main project.

Recumbents Rule!

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:31 pm

Yes!! Yes!! Mine is a Bike E AT, all black! ::is all excited now:: Her name is Blackshatter, or... 'Girrrrrrl, whachoo ridin'?!". The latter was repeatedly yelled to me as I rode around New Orleans, grinning, Gothy and all X'ed up!

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:33 pm

Did you see the yellow stupa in Orion's Belt, next to Tribe/Eyes of Gawd? So simple...dome, with a kumbha lantern on top. Astonishing how much the Buddha eyes look like the Egyptian eye.

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:35 pm

::nibbles her lip::.... I'm a newbie. BM2005 will be my first burn. I am in the planning phases... and people like you are telling me I've made the right call, I've found the right vibration of weird genius.

::spontaneous hug:: You have no idea what you have given me... just by thinking I have been there before.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:37 pm

Right on. We'll have to get together a 'Bent contingent for Critical Tits next year.

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:41 pm

How many 'bents are around the Playa? OOH! Another thing about mine; I have a bike trailer that'll pull about 100 pounds. Watch. I will end up being Ice Run Goddess!

::giggle:: What's Critical Tits?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:45 pm

[Hugs back]
Be careful, if you're a newbie you'll want to do EVERYTHING. But don't take too much on your plate and burn yourself out.

The yurt by itself will be quite enough project for you. Stick with that.

And forget about doing a theme camp, your freshman year is the year you just go and learn and observe. Focus on making the yurt and do <i><b>that one thing</i></b> well. Koosh's village, Blue Light District, are a good bunch of folks. I camped with them my first year and they took good care of me.

What are you planning to use for the side covers and roof?

oldbear · Post by **oldbear** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:48 pm

I was wondering what plans are you using to build your yurt??

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:48 pm

Very, very, very good advice.

I am going to be using the heavy, wide canvas available from www.dharmatrading.com. It's specifically designed to be painted on and is a very tight weave. I have a pretty ballsy sewing machine, and it'll all be straight, flat-felled seams anyway. I'm (obviously) going to treat it to repel water and so on.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:51 pm

Meep wrote:How many 'bents are around the Playa? OOH! Another thing about mine; I have a bike trailer that'll pull about 100 pounds. Watch. I will end up being Ice Run Goddess!

::giggle:: What's Critical Tits?

I haven't seen many, people seem to think that they're a little too nice for the Playa and those skinny tires don't do well. I've brought mine out for the past five years and the only year I had trouble with her was in 2001. But everyone had trouble that year.

Critical Tits is the huge bicycle ride of thousands of women on bikes, with bare chests and decorated breasts. They convene at the Man on Friday evening and ride through the city to a big party at a big rave camp where they dance, schmooze, get slaved upon by fetching young male creatures and party it up. It's fun...they play disco music which I'm not thrilled about, but the rest of the party kicks ass.

Listen, hate to break this off but it's late, I've been unpacking and cleaning and everything all day, I'm starting to melt. Type atcha later

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:55 pm

Good night! Rest well! And thank you for all the help!

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:04 pm

Hey Meep! I have two sets of yurt plans I found on the internet/world wide web, and (hopefully) 2005 will be my first burn as well. I haven't got much beyond the pricing and planing stage due to lack of money and workspace. (I am hoping to borrow my dad's workshop, but my parents live about 40 miles north of me and my car isn't too reliable....

)

I want to cover my yurt with used billboard tarps. They are supposed to be pretty strong, with the biggest problem being that they don't breath. (I HOPE that rolling up the bottom of the covering partway will solve that problem, otherwise I will have to figure out how to put some windows in!) I think that I should have some sort of inner covering as well, to cut down on the dust some.

BTW, I like your name! Unfortunately, I suffered from a momentary creative block and just used my intitials..., maybe I'll get re-named on the playa.

Brian

Meep · Post by **Meep** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:09 pm

The design of the yurt seems to be conducive to breathing. From the look of it, all you would have to do is roll up the bottom a little and then open the hole in the top, where the ring is, to get a decent breeze going. I'm thinking of doing something like making a sort of dust-screen out of very light, breathable gauze for when I need to roll the walls up for air.

I get called Meep... because I go MEEP! And... other really appalling noises.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:27 pm

I get called Meep... because I go MEEP! And... other really appalling noises.

I believe so did the dragons in Phil Folio's "What's New?" comics in Dragon Magazine back in the mid 1980s.... (Great, now I am admitting to both my age AND the fact that I play role playing games!

)

I've used the handle "Blupe" on and off again on different e-mail lists, boards, and forums over the years. I don't know why I didn't on this one. The name comes from a really obscure creature from the Lovecraft mythos.

Yeah, the convection currents you can set up by opening the roof hole and rolling up the sides are why I think I might be able to get away with the billboard tarps. I don't live all that far away from the advertising company which does most of the billboards around Madison, WI, and I hope to get the material free or for cheap (which would help a lot).

Geez! Its one-thirty in the morning!

How'd that happen?! (Well, okay, so that probably happened because I was procrastinating working on my finances, since I don't like how low the numbers keep coming out, but....

)

Good night! Keep us posted on how your yurt is coming along! Good luck!

Brian