Shade Structure for 2 Kodiak Tents

[winterdream28]

Hello everyone -

I created a new thread because I did not see this exact scenario yet. Tried to edit my orignal comment in another thread and can't
Please move if I did it wrong:)

We have almost all lose ends tied up but now am back to the good on shade structure debate.
I have read many threads on eplaya but have yet to find anyone who has solved what we are trying to solve. Myself and one of our camp mates have Kodiak tents. One 9x8x6.1 and the other 10x14x6.6. One factor I need to keep in mind is I only have a Kia forte and we would need to modify any structure parts so that it can fit in my car for transporting reasons. Other key points, our camp has a geo-doom for daily community resting/hang out/nap-nap area, as well as, our tent has a bucket swamp cooler.

After reading I have found 3 possible solutions and would appreciate anyone opinion on the matter and also any other things I may have overlooked.

Monkey Hut - Figure out a way to get a standard monkey hut design taller
Galaxy Hut - Take the standard galaxy hut and expand it out further
Aluminate Cloth - Wrap the tents in aluminate / or create some sort of roof over
You cant make it that big - would be more of a hassle to make one just make two smaller ones
Give it up - may there be no way that I can get a shade structure for two large tents plus all items needed for the week in my little kia

[winterdream28]

my attempt of mocking up the Galaxy Hut

[International Incident]

Hello everyone -

I created a new thread because I did not see this exact scenario yet. Tried to edit my orignal comment in another thread and can't
Please move if I did it wrong:)

We have almost all lose ends tied up but now am back to the good on shade structure debate.
I have read many threads on eplaya but have yet to find anyone who has solved what we are trying to solve. Myself and one of our camp mates have Kodiak tents. One 9x8x6.1 and the other 10x14x6.6. One factor I need to keep in mind is I only have a Kia forte and we would need to modify any structure parts so that it can fit in my car for transporting reasons. Other key points, our camp has a geo-doom for daily community resting/hang out/nap-nap area, as well as, our tent has a bucket swamp cooler.

After reading I have found 3 possible solutions and would appreciate anyone opinion on the matter and also any other things I may have overlooked.

Monkey Hut - Figure out a way to get a standard monkey hut design taller
Galaxy Hut - Take the standard galaxy hut and expand it out further
Aluminate Cloth - Wrap the tents in aluminate / or create some sort of roof over
You cant make it that big - would be more of a hassle to make one just make two smaller ones
Give it up - may there be no way that I can get a shade structure for two large tents plus all items needed for the week in my little kia

Monkey hut and make it taller. Mcglenver (spelling not right) posted a great thread about making the hut taller. Have a hunt on the monkey hut thread. PM me if you can't find it and I will track it down. That said your space limitations are an issue. If you have decent shade outside tent just bring a decent chair and hang out there. Your monkey hut - or any shade structure- are going to buy you another hour of sleep time in the morning.

[some seeing eye]

That will be a tall monkey hut another option is a tensegrity box.

I have carried 20' sections of 1" schedule 40 white pipe on a sedan. Attach a roof rack. The pipe bends down in front and is tied to the bumper. In back it will need a red flag. Entirely likely you will be pulled over by law enforcement for safety reasons. Humor them. I was not and had no problem hauling the items 500 miles to and returning. You can easily pick up the items at a home-hardware store in Reno. There may be an opportunity to donate the pipe outbound. I used it at home for landscape wiring and sprinklering.

The tensegrity box is a way to support shade cloth. The corners are 8 foot 2x3 (2x4 and 2x2 would work) lumber. They are anchored to 1/2"+ rebar at least 1' into the ground at the base. You could also bury. Guy the corner posts. Tense between the corner posts with rope. Put the shade cloth over that. I have done a 25x25 structure with 4 posts. I usually put a few wood screws near the top of the lumber to keep any knotted rope loops from slipping up or down. The longest length your vehicle needs to carry is 8'. Roof rack.

Sounds like you are well prepared! Have an excellent burn.

[winterdream28]

I just saw all of these amazing responses! Thank you all so much for all of these suggestions. I feel much more confident in this all:) Have a great Monday guys!

[StevenGoodman]

Camo netting and a couple of spreader bars. You really only need shade from the east for the mornings. 20x20 of camo netting and two spreader bars is way less space than a Kodiak tent.

Martini Steve

[Sic Pup]

The problem with a monkey hut is mainly the pvc pieces. It's hard to get them to fit in/on/around small cars like yours.

You can get around that by simply cutting them in half and using 2' lengths of larger diameter PVC as sleeves to connect the pieces. Net you're hauling one extra pipe but at half the length for the whole shebang. Here's my MH w/shade flap PVC:

[VultureChow]

Hmmm... I've decided to go the route this year of basically wrapping my Kodiak in aluminet and having a small monkey hut for napping and shade. Last year I did nothing and it was unbearable past 7:30 or so.

With a Kia, schlepping the two tents plus structure, you are pushing it. If you can afford the aluminet you can try that. Someone also posted that simply wrapping the tent in billboard vinyl helped a lot. The vinyl might be a good try for this year.

Those would be my suggestions. Good luck.

[winterdream28]

These are wonderful options. Thank you guys for all the feedback. I should specify.... We only have one of the tents in our car:) I am having my bf check in on this thread, we are going to figure out our plan of attack this weekend and all of the different options are really helping us! Thanks again!

[winterdream28]

So galaxy hut is a go! We went to Home Depot to get PVC and crazy enough it fits:):) test run to come this weekend.

[MacGlenver]

How'd the hut work out? I had someone reach out to me about how my shade for my 10x14 Kodiak went last year. Here's my response:

It was a very mild year for wind, but, even if it had been windy, it's really a non-issue with the Kodiak. There are few options as sturdy as a Kodiak or Springbar so long as they're properly staked out. As for staking, I would just caution you against using rebar through the fabric stake loops on the Kodiak, as it could rub & cut them. I used lag bolts & a bit of chain to stake mine out (check out FIGJAM's recent lag bolt thread to see what I'm talking about).

As for shade, my shade solution last year was a total fail. My friend was convinced that we could get his 10x10 Kodiak and my 10x14 Kodiak under a monkey hut with a 20x20 tarp. This did not succeed. We tried 30 foot ribs on a 20 foot long monkey hut. We were too lazy to guy it down as well as we do our normal 30x30 hut, so the wind just beat the hell out of it and flapped the tarp like crazy. If we'd used 20 foot ribs, I don't believe the arch would have cleared the top of the hut or would have provided enough room to get in/out. A monkey hut WILL work if you're willing to put in the time & energy to build it right (like we do for our other huts), but I just didn't have the energy to build one for my tent after building all the other huts. In the end, we pulled the tarp off just before some big wind came through, which surely would have torn our poorly secured tarp. I went without shade last year (2013).

My shade plan THIS year is to get aluminet. I'm either going to drape it directly over my tent, or I'm going to build a simple frame over my tent with 2 pieces of PVC (probably 25' long each). If I go the PVC route, I'll crisscross them in an X over the center point of my tent, joined at the intersection above the tent with a couple bungee balls (like this: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tzRPQwrA128/S ... G00118.jpg), then I'll drape the aluminet over it and guy it out with bungees or something. The reason for the frame is to prevent any rubbing on the tent material and to give an air barrier above the top of my tent. I did a bunch of searching and it seems that having the aluminet draped directly on the tent is NOT really a cause for concern, but I'd rather be safe with a $600 tent. Plus I think it'll look cooler and work better (for cooling & entry/exit from the tent).

[silvergirl70]

I know I'm replying to this YEARS later, but I'm starting to look at shade for my 10X14 Kodiak tent. The last 2 years I worked overnight with ESD and just BAKED in the tent when I tried to sleep. I need some shade. Refuse to do RV with generator. Phoooey. I am having monkey hut envy.

I'm in the Midwest, with all my stuff out west in storage, so I can't set up the tent here to test it first, although I can mess around with PVC. I don't know the height at the corners of the 10X14' Kodiak to calculate my clearance needs. (If you know this...Data would be greatly appreciated!) I'll check the website for info. I don't care if I have <1' of clearance as long as the tent isn't rubbing against the aluminet.

I'm curious how your original 30' rib monkey hut worked for your 10X14 tent, assuming you turn the tent sideways to have the 14' end parallel with the long axis of the hut. Was there enough room to get in the front door (without dust bath from aluminet tarp)? I think the tent is too high for this, no? I am thinking about making a 24' arm length hut with 3 pieces of 8' ribs joined in the usual fashion.

Did you end up trying the 'X' structure above? I'm just thinking about how you would guy that down, and how the tarp was tied down to prevent flapping and redundancy.

I suppose that I could just buy a Costco carport. but gees are those things heavy. My gas bill getting to the event would be astronomical. I like doing stuff myself, but I'm missing a few pieces of data.

[BBadger]

My friend fit his Kodiak under a monkey hut I let him borrow. It touched the top, but still worked. If you're concerned about height, you can bring a carport, which will fit it. You can also bring the ends of the monkeyhut closer to make it slightly taller. It's already about 6'4" in height with the normal build.

It doesn't cost that much to drive a carport to the playa. They weigh about 160lbs if I recall. The Department of Energy figures that 100 pounds extra weight can cost up to 2% fuel efficiency. So you're losing, what, 3% fuel economy? It's not that much. Even on the poor fuel economy I get on my car that's like 0.66mpg less. Whoopdeedoo! All this also highly depends on what vehicle you're driving too. Most fuel economy is lost due to aggressive driving and higher speeds (go 60mph!), not weight or things like that.

Also having a bunch of 10-ft long poles hanging off whatever you're carrying them on (trailer?) will create far more turbulence, and therefore worsened fuel economy, than the rigid compact set of pipes that make a carport. You could even have the carport inside your car, like I do, for zero turbulence.