Fabric Features & Flaws

[SimplySearching]

!!!WARNING!!! I am a virgin burner... with lots of outdoors experience !!!WARNING!!!
(translation I think I know a lot more about stuff... than I probably actually know)

I have done some searching and reading here and haven't come across an answer...

So my question is... what kind of wind and sandstorm protection does aluminet 70% provide?

Ready to be beaten with my own post...

[theCryptofishist]

Aluminet. What "kind of wind and sandstorm protection" does a fishing net give?

Edited to add: Yeah, it sounds snarky. I'm trying to give that "aha" moment that will give the op enough understanding that he never has to ask again. "Aluminette" would be something different.

fuck, I'm never going to outswim my reputation for meanness...

[trilobyte]

The wind and a lot of dust will get through aluminet.

[SimplySearching]

GOT IT! Thats what I figured I would hear. There was someone on the interwebs that commented that the sidewalls of his aluminet structure blocked the dust from blowing around. Seemed unlikely to me... thanks for clearing it up!

[junglesmacks]

So my question is... what kind of wind and sandstorm protection does aluminet 70% provide?

There's actually a super good article on this here..

[SimplySearching]

Very clever response. I appreciate the time you took to offer your insight. I have spent the last 3 days, a total of probably 8 hours, researching this very product. I reasoned out the very answer that some other very helpful people confirmed for me. Being I have never been ... I just wanted to make sure my assumptions were correct.

[junglesmacks]

It took you 8 hours to figure out that something that looks like this would indeed let dust blow through it?

[SimplySearching]

lol... again your quick wit is appreciated. No, the 8 hours was spent researching alternatives, cost, manufacture, stretch rate, grommets, clips, repairing, joining, attaching, reviews, options... just to name a few. The question was left with was whether or not Aluminet, having never ACTUALLY used it, was any good at wind diffusion, not blocking, and whether or not it offered any protection from a sand storm.

[theCryptofishist]

It's not sand, it's dust. It gets through just about everything. Apparently, canvas tents and hexayurts are the cleanest environments you can pitch out there.

[SimplySearching]

Yah I am choosing to go with a bell tent (here comes more brow beatings)... I live in Seattle and so for the type of camping we do when we car camp it is a good option. I have also heard that they perform very well on the playa so its a win win. I am planning to build a shade structure over and in front of my tent as a three sided enclosure. Having read all the warnings about "lifting the skirt" and leaving it open in any way... i will be sure to close it up tight when not actively in the tent.

The dust storm difference is noted... and major.

[theCryptofishist]

Shade structure is really important. It's the luxury I consider a necessity.

[some seeing eye]

I have built a 3 side plus roof Aluminet tensegrity "box" over my tent with a seating area to the open side. It has 4 2x3 or 2x4 wood 8' posts, with guy lines to ground and guys making an x and a square between poles. There is an inverted U of Aluminet side-over top-side, and an L of Aluminet over top and down the back side. The Aluminet will catch some wind, so stake well. I had the Aluminet edged and grommeted, so the grommet can just fit over a 16d nail or 3" drywall screw sticking out the end of the wood posts. Sorry no pic.

These shade structures, wood posts, Aluminet, rope, rebar stakes are inexpensive, compact and lightweight to transport by car or truck. Throw on some segmented curtains of multicolor fabric and they are presentable.

My friends from Seatown had a tent like that that worked well.

You can use the Aluminet to extend your growing season into Summer of salad greens or shade your porch or pet.

[tamarakay]

Surprisingly it keeps out more than you would think. Of course there is dust, but completely shocking how much it does knock down.

[GreyCoyote]

!!!WARNING!!! I am a virgin burner... with lots of outdoors experience !!!WARNING!!!
(translation I think I know a lot more about stuff... than I probably actually know)

I have done some searching and reading here and haven't come across an answer...

So my question is... what kind of wind and sandstorm protection does aluminet 70% provide?

Ready to be beaten with my own post...

No need to be beaten at all. (Unless you like it). And you dont need to cowtow to anyone. Its a valid question. Of course the usual suspects and their insecure snarks will tell you otherwise because... Welll... I will let them explain their behavior. In the meantime lets talk about your question.

Aluminet is indeed a net. Of an aluminum-foil-like-thingie construction. Its kind of a wierd woven creature that blocks (reflects) about 70% of light and passes the rest. It was developed for use in agricultural situations where seedlings needed light and air but not 100% light and air. A LOT of this gets used in the Phoenix, AZ region where open greenhouse growers cultivate 1000's of acres of early-start plants. This is what it was designed for.

Others have posted a picture of the product so please refer to that. It wont stop a sandstorm. At all. But it will knock down (get this) about 70% of the bigger grains. But the powder will go right on through. On the playa this means you will be cool, and only mildly sunburned, and very dusty. It does not create "black shade".

Note that playa dust is a mixture of both sand and powder and everything in between. As the wind speed goes up, the particle size increases too. During the really big blows you can collect 40-grit sand 20 feet above the playa floor at 4 and K. Pretty impressive!

Back to your question: will it stop a sandstorm? No. But it will slow the wind down a bit and allow some of the suspended coarse matter to drop out. And it will catch monkey huts, sparkleponies, and the occasional FlyCycle. In other words its better than nothing but a far cry from dust-proof.

So there you have it. Aluminet isnt ideal for dust-storm protection. But its good stuff otherwise!

Oh. BTW Welcome!