Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Ideas, advice, tips, and tricks regarding shelter, shade, tents, and camping. Yes, this includes RV's too.
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Savannah
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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by Savannah » Fri May 31, 2013 4:16 pm

I have had positive experiences with a very 1) short 2) well-staked dorm tent. Those two elements were key. Had no windblock whatsoever in 2000's 4-hour Wednesday storm and it came through with flying colors. It did let in a little drizzle on Burn Night or Temple Night. Heh.

The same small dome tent had the minor windblock (of campmate's canvas tent) for 2008's 2 epic storms, and didn't budge.
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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by theCryptofishist » Fri May 31, 2013 7:12 pm

... dorm tent...
Ah, you went to clown college, too.
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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by swampdog » Fri May 31, 2013 8:41 pm

big fan of the monkey hut. Cheap, easy to store/carry, easy to set up. I can set my 30' up myself in an hour or two with very little trouble. Very stable, altho sometimes the windward side bows in a bit. I use shade cloth, which is light, shady, wind porous, and easy to attach. I just zip tie it directly to the PVC. At the end of the burn I fold/roll/smush it into a pile and then shove it into a contractor trash bag until next year.

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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by Savannah » Fri May 31, 2013 9:01 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:
... dorm tent...
Ah, you went to clown college, too.
You were my very favorite Professor, you know. :)
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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by misterdj » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:20 am

I was hoping someone can help me. I plan on making a 10 x 10 flat shade canopy as the pic attached. My tent is 6 ft tall and the area is 9 x 9. What height should I make make the canopy? Also, based on the height, what length would be ideal if I tie the walls at an angle? Any help would greatly be appreciated.
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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by BBadger » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:25 am

Try basing your heights, etc. on the materials you can buy. For example, if your poles are 8ft long, make that your standard height. It avoids having to cut your materials to size or extend them. Then use trigonometry to determine the length of the guy wires at 45 degrees or whatever angle you choose to use (hint: for 45 degrees it's squareroot(2) times the vertical length).
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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by trilobyte » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:36 am

FYI, those are also called conduit frame structures...

Ideally, you want 12-18 inches clearance from the top of your tent to the height of the roof. When the sun hits the tarp, it's going to heat up and radiate heat downwards. Normal airflow will carry that heat away, but if your tent's too close to the roof (ie within 12-18 inches) it'll get toasty.

For my structures, I use a vertical height of 6'8" and advise our campmates to aim for tents in the 5' and under range (we have a large shaded space to walk around in, no need for multi-room tentasaurus rexes). At that height, the structure's easy to assemble without the need for stepladders/stools. The horizontal poles are all 10' long, which means no cutting (from where we get our conduit anyways) and easy modular fit with the roof tarp. Tarps are secured with ball bungees.

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Re: Shades, stuctures and desert dwellings to rely upon

Post by misterdj » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:48 am

Thanks Trilo.

I bought the 10' 1"EMT pipes. I needed a bit of guidance on the clearance of the roof being my tent was tall.

Is it safe to say I should cut it to 7'8"?

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