Renting a shade structure ? Camp utilities ?

[Lucky Gonosz]

Hi guys !
Last year was my first time in Black Rock City. I loved it. I can say it changed my life for ever.
I'm coming back this year, with a group of 15 to 20 people. Some are experienced, but a big part will be virgins.
Some will come from Montreal, Canada, and some will come from France.

We are planning on building our own camp. And I was looking into getting a shade structure.
As transportation from Canada or France is going to be an issue, I was wondering is someone here knew about a place either around Reno, or on the way from SF to rent a shade structure for our camp. We are also looking for cooking stoves.
Evey single renting place I contacted don't do rentals for Burning Man.

Any idea where I could get what we need ?

[Boijoy]

IMHO. probably would be best to plan on buying everything in Reno ( or whatever town you pass thru ) before heading out to BRC & donating it when you leave ( Salvation Army, etc. NOT donate it by leaving it in the desert )
I don't know of anyplace to "rent" camping equipment & it probably wouldn't be worth it finacially anyhow.

[Savannah]

If you don't find a rental, you could pick up supplies in Reno and make several monkey huts. They provide excellent shade, aren't that hard to put up, and survive the wind pretty well.

http://www.chromatest.net/Lovemonkey/

[theCryptofishist]

The reason why they wont rent for Burningman, is that too much equipment comes back trashed. I would seriously consider Savannah's monkey hut suggestion, and see if you can find a place in San Francisco or Reno that will set aside one of those three burner stoves for you. (you may have to pre pay.) Or, if you have hotel reservations, have them ship it to your hotel so you can pick it up there. (Just don't order it now, I don't think a hotel is going to want to hold it for months.) You might find someone on the playa to give it to after the event, or there's always donating to charity. (I wonder if that would be in the least bit useful for Burners without Borders.) Or you can rent a storage unit if you're going to come back in '14.

[Savannah]

Here's last year's link to where to take trash and recycling after the event. Details might change for this year (so check the 2013 Survival Guide when its posted) but this is good to look at so that you can get an idea of what can be recycled, what can be trashed . . .

http://survival.burningman.com/leave-no ... VNf2c1Qolk

And what can be burnt on community burn platforms on the Esplanade (untreated, unpainted wood).

http://www.burningman.com/installations/open_fire.html

[Elorrum]

Hi guys ! Last year was my first time in Black Rock City. I loved it. I can say it changed my life for ever.
I'm coming back this year, with a group of 15 to 20 people.

You've got some planning to do, sport. 15 to twenty can do mighty things. Start reading and researching. It's fun to figure things out. This is part of Burning Man.

[some seeing eye]

I wonder if there are any French speaking friends you could make in the SF Bay area who want to camp with you? That person could be keeper of stuff. Have everyone fly in early leave late and share in the prep and cleaning, storing after. Problem solved.

It is a big job and stressful to form a camp and there are many threads on that here.

[BBadger]

Even if you did find a shop willing to rent shade structures, they may not be able to withstand conditions at BM. You could end up buying them anyway if they get destroyed, or need to pay extra for more sturdy structures. I agree with the above and suggest building some Monkeyhuts.

One Monkey Hut can hold 2x 2-man-tents comfortably with extra storage space for coolers and stuff like that -- maybe more if multiple MHs are connected. So you can bring 5-6 of those things and have pretty decent camp shade for relatively cheap. They're also pretty light and easy to set up.

I'd also bring a Costco carport or something similar for some communal shade at camp.

[Savannah]

Another solution would be to fly into a city that still has RV rentals and pick up 3-4 of them, park them in a "U" shape and tie tarps or jungle netting from roof to roof to have some exterior shade between the vehicles. How to do that securely is a whole 'nother thread, which I have not had enough coffee to locate.

(It is a commonly held belief here on ePlaya that no matter how many people an RV is supposed to sleep, 4 is the maximum number that can be tolerated for a week in an interpersonal sense.)

. . . I pitched my tent in an inner corner of the aforementioned U-shape layout with some friends this year. Great windblock, good shade.

[Capt. RON]

Hiya Tertert, I'll recommend (2) 10x20ft CARPORTS, which you can purchase at most WALMARTS, COSTCO, or HOME DEPOTS in Reno.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/ShelterLogic- ... r/12349825
You'll also need (12) 24 inch long pieces of rebar for anchoring and (8) 15ft ratcheting cargo straps for cross anchoring.
These weigh around 100lb each and come in boxes about 4 to 6 ft long, so take that into consideration when renting your vehicles.

[TomServo]

Party rental companies usually have good tents, but the cost may be way over your head. Plus, they would have to set it up for you. I'd buy a couple carports and donate them after.

[tattoogoddess]

If you guys decide to buy a car port or monkey hut and want to donate it, let Tom or I know. We will take it for you off the playa and use it in our camp next year.

[Savannah]

That's not a bad offer.

[Skipixie]

Question about the monkey hut... the directions call for one rib structure, but in the picture it looks like there is one inside and another outside??? How does the thing actually go together?

[maladroit]

They did that to keep it from billowing up. It's actually not necessary. I crossed a couple of ropes over the top of mine, loosely, to keep it from going too crazy in wind.

[Earthwalker]

Question about the monkey hut... the directions call for one rib structure, but in the picture it looks like there is one inside and another outside??? How does the thing actually go together?

I've read those instructions quite a few times and I'm not clear on what you're asking. I think if you re-read you'll understand better.

There can be as few as two ribs, and as many as you can imagine (personally I'm doing 7, for a 30ft length). The "extra rib" on the outside is there strictly for the optional Shade Flap. I'm not using the shade flap, and it doesn't seem like many others do either. If you do want to use it, you can build an extra rib on the outside, or you can just attach it to the last rib, or you can do what the guy says above about the ropes.

Bottom line, not necessary for typical construction.

[Milayna]

Question about the monkey hut... the directions call for one rib structure, but in the picture it looks like there is one inside and another outside??? How does the thing actually go together?

So the picture on Lovemonkey's site also includes an extra shade flap. So the regular monkey hut without shade flap has 3 ribs with the middle one UNDERNEATH the tarp (the tarp is secured to the outer 2 ribs). If the extra shade flap is added then an additional rib is put over the OUTSIDE of the hut near the middle, with the shade flap coming off. This baffled me too for a while when I first looked at his pictures.

[lucky420]

Milayna,

Thank you for explaining this clearly. Helps a lot. I have my mh frame but still have to buy the alumni net

[xurbia]

If your camp are planning to go regularly you could hire a storage space/lockup (maybe Reno), then you can leave the communal camp stuff there.

A lockup tends to need strict organisation/inventory (so it doesn't become a nightmare) and you need to work out a way to cover the cost each year from camp dues. If you don't pay up, you obviously risk loosing it.

If people leave personal stuff in there, then it can get tricky (they don't go one year/stuff gets borrowed or broken). Make sure everything is labelled and inventoried with what state it is in, especially if it needs fixing for next year (e.g. bikes/rips in shade); that way you can order stuff and prepare more easily.

I know people from LA and from the UK who do that and leave shade structure, camp kitchen stuff, bikes, dusty tents, etc. Usually it works out much cheaper than buying all that stuff again each year.

First time I went to BM it was with virgins from Montreal. I'm from the UK and met up with them in San Fran. Good luck with your camp.