Building a new H13 Hexayurt : mitred, vinyl, Velcro -- old one avail free

[Plumitt]

after 9 years on the playa, my old h13 is starting to sag in the roof and I've patched several of the walls and the corners are crumbling. So I've decided to build a new one.

I'm going to build an H13 again, making the following changes to the nominal tape and 2-in RMAX design:

1. I'm making 1 5/8" thick panels from three layers, 3mm coroplast for reflectivity, rigidity and durability, plus a 1/2 and a 1" RMAX.
panels. these materials are purchased.

2. I'm going to miter cut these panels so that they fit together more neatly. There is a foam cutting blade available on Amazon which I've used to do almost all the miter cuts and will finish them later today. This 7 and 1/4-in blade with a corded circular saw makes absolutely perfect, clean cuts with minimal dust and no tearing. highly recommend.

IMG_20220701_201029_01_copy_768x1020.jpg

3. instead of tape, I'm going to seal the edges with vinyl from a used billboard sign. I purchased ~20x80 used billboard sign for under $100 delivered, and it seems very sturdy. I'm going to use a 3M neoprene contact adhesive to attach strips to seal the edges. application of this adhesive is tricky, and I don't have a process. quite worked out yet but hope to in the next couple days. I'm hoping to use a low pressure paint gun for application, but the first trial didn't go well.

4. I'm going to use the standard dangercamp (if I recall correctly) technique for folding hexyurts, but instead of tape, again I'm going to use billboard vinyl.

5. instead of using tape at assembly, I'm going to also attach flaps with industrial velcro so that it should be an 100% tape free design with no waste each set up. I do not yet know if I'm going to have to augment the adhesive that's on the back of the Velcro with the same 3M adhesive mentioned above.

6. to ensure the structural ring is sound without the tape, I'm probably going to use a ring of trucker straps and build a very sturdy door frame that can transfer the force so that I get the intact ring structurally speaking.

7. I also expect to see that super clever subambient ultra white paint /film available commercially in the next couple years. I have not yet decided if I'm going to add a layer of Mylar on the outside. until then. I looked into trying to formulate a calcium carbonate or barium sulfate-based paint myself, but I don't think I'm going to have time this year. I tried to get on 3M's beta/prototype program for their film version to no avail.



All that said, if anyone is up in the Seattle/ Pacific Northwest area and wants a 9-year-old H13, It's yours for the taking.

It needs some restoration, especially the tape on the edges. It will probably hold up for a few more years if treated well.... I'm just very tired of the tape mess, the time that it takes to cut and apply all that tape, and am a little worried at some point The roof panels are going to buckle. I'm also looking forward to saving about a quarter of the thickness of the packed up yurt.