Newb question about camp size?

[fernley1]

Lots of people use costco carports at burning man, it seems like they are everywhere you look.
search costco on eplaya and you will find lots of info on them.

[Royal Turkey]

This is perfect because I m coming in from Michigan with maybe 2 other people and we wanted to know how big we can make our camp! My plan right now is to use our pickup to get down there and use it as wind block, possibly rent a box van and park the two in a V formation. I have a CostCo carport that I will put between the two and then I plan on building a yurt as well as bringing a smaller tent to keep food and other stuff in.

I want to steak in rebar and hang hammocks all over the place like you guys so we have an open and inviting place to chill and meet fellow burners!

And I thought we were being ambitious.. I was looking into Yurts, they have a lot of space, you probably won't need the tent (although a backup shelter plan is probably not unwise for a first time yurt.) You might consider buying or renting a trailer if you are driving already, money wise it might be less than renting a truck and you might be short on space with 3 people in a pickup from the start.

As far as hammocks go I don't see how they would be inherently more dangerous than an unsecured camp chair and less harmful if they did get away. The Net ones don't catch much wind, or if yours are the solid nylon body camping style (like Eagles Nest Outfitters) they should be unhooked from one end and stuffed in the sack and hung like fruit from just a single anchor when not in use so they don't become a sail pulling on your structure when you aren't home.

I am considering at Camp Elsewhere's Tenstegrity structure for shade and hammocks (Derek Hansen has better instructions here (although read Camp Elsewhere's ideas about rope and stakes for playa):
http://sectionhiker.com/portable-hammoc ... ek-hansen/

The design is playa tested, packs well, but has a big footprint when guy'ed out at 60 degrees. I would suggest wind permeable shade cloth or aluminet to lessen the stress on the structure. 3 foot rebar, cap your ends and flag your guy lines with reflectives. I haven't tried it yet, but will have several opportunities this summer to test it.

If you did one of those, you could skip the car port, although it would have more shade. There are several other hammock frame ideas as well at that site, some that can anchor off a vehicle on one side.. not sure how bomb proof some are.

And I am new at this myself so.. YMMV.. have fun planning it!

[FossaFerox]

The thing about guylines is they suck to walk or ride a bike into and they waste a lot of space. My camp's guylines were either run out between parked vehicles or along the edges of angled tarps (which provided usable space) without exception. There was nothing for passersby to trip over. Rebar is even worse. If you leave exposed rebar to stake out a hammock (as opposed to driving it all the way into the ground and using it to tie out a thicker, blunter support post) that's a major impaling hazard. Even with the smarter route the guy lines become space devouring tripping/clothesline hazards. It's potentially awful.

[Popeye]

Fossa I agree with you on guylines, I found some glow in the dark/ florescent orange and green rope that really picks up any light and makes the guylines pop out. So much so that I almost didn't recognize camp at night. (No, I wasn't that drunk).
I looked for tennis balls to cover rebar ends but couldn't find any in Reno so I bought some soft plastic gas line the same ID as the OD of the rebar and used that. It doesn't get kicked off and there is no way to cut or stab yourself on hose covered rebar. Cheap too.