Costco Carports

[Leo]

I'm considering the purchase of a Costco 10' x 20' carport for my shade structure for 2011. the price is right: $198.00 for a 200 sq ft shelter (less than a buck a square foot!). Any tips or tricks for using these carports and not having them blow away during the windstorms? Thanks!

[Bob]

Anybody tried to fill one of these with unladen swallows?

[TomServo]

Deep anchors...at least a foot deep...for guylines. Or T-posts duct taped to at least 4 of the legs.If you can, somehow tie it to a vehicle. Costco carports are a popular shade structure on the playa, but over do the anchoring. I have seen them airborn.

I use t posts only and they work like a charm, but they are heavy and bulky.

[moonrise]

I'm considering the purchase of a Costco 10' x 20' carport for my shade structure for 2011. the price is right: $198.00 for a 200 sq ft shelter (less than a buck a square foot!). Any tips or tricks for using these carports and not having them blow away during the windstorms? Thanks!

Hope this helps; lots of carport info from many points of views and refs to other easy, effective shelters
viewtopic.php?t=38068&highlight=carport

[Leo]

Thanks Moonrise and TomServo for your helpful information. What is a T-post?

[Leo]

Thanks also Bob for your link to desert structures.

[ygmir]

I've used one from Sam's club for 4 years now........
I tie it down at each leg, and put a couple of crosses in it.
so far, so good.

[TomServo]

Thanks Moonrise and TomServo for your helpful information. What is a T-post?

http://www.sinowiremesh.com/p10.htm

[uncle sticky]

I used to hammer in rebar candy canes, but this works better, if you have access to a portable drill, or a socket wrench. We use foot long lag bolts, with angle iron. The iron is a thick 2 inch by 2 inch L bracket, which you can get at a place like Fastenal fasteners. Pretty cheap. Put the angle iron on the lag bolt, drive it into the playa. Attach a ratcheting trucker strap to it, ratchet it on down. I find that doing four straps, all in opposing directions, gives you plenty of stability.

[Elorrum]

Anybody tried to fill one of these with unladen swallows?

African or European?

[theCryptofishist]

Anybody tried to fill one of these with unladen swallows?

African or European?

American Dream Swallows.

[ygmir]

Anybody tried to fill one of these with unladen swallows?

African or European?

American Dream Swallows.

.......

[Timezone LaFontaine]

I use a modified carport that I reduced from 20' long to about 15' long.

From my observation and experience, it's the solid tarp roof that is potentially the most dangerous thing about the structure since the wind wants to use it as a sail and rip the whole thing out of the ground. Consider possibly modifying the tarp roof with some crescent-shaped holes, reinforced to prevent further tearing, to allow some wind to flow through. Or use an alternate kind of shade fabric rather than the tarp. The downside is that if it rains, it'll let some water through, so you have to weigh out the options. Strong wind is a guarantee, strong rain is rather more rare, but of course we sure enough had it this past year.

Also, AntiM hipped me to the idea of only using the vertical legs on one side of the carport. This makes the whole thing lean over and have a flat roof with two angled sides. This has a more aerodynamic shape and I felt like it was much more secure from strong winds, even with the tarp roof. The drawback to this is it greatly reduces the vertical height, which is an annoyance for me, being 6'6". I was thinking of getting some threaded pipes and building a custom base to raise mine up another foot or so for the future. Of course that got me to thinking about just building something completely of my own design, but that's a whole 'nother subject.

I forged some custom designed, ribbed steel stakes with eye hooks for ropes. One stake for each leg, and four more stakes, each one at a diagonal out from the four corners. The leg stakes are right up against the leg, pounded well over a foot into the ground with a few remaining inches above ground gaffer taped or duct taped securely to the leg. These stakes also have ropes tied to them crisscrossing in X shapes up to the roofline. The diagonal stakes out from the corners are tied up to the roofline also, and flagged a whole lot to raise visibility. Also, I gaffer tape or duct tape each joint of the structure to increase their strength.

[TomServo]

Anybody tried to fill one of these with unladen swallows?

African or European?

American Dream Swallows.

.......

Can American Dream swallows be laden with coconuts?

[dinks]

I got to use mine for the first in 2010 and my only complaint is we managed to damage one of the zippers on the main entry panel. Other than that, for $200 it can not be beat.

Anyways, tips.. Ditch the box it comes in and get a large plastic tote. Keep the instructions, end pieces, brackets, stakes, a couple tennis balls and a hammer in the tote. Makes it super easy to keep everything organized and makes setup/tear down really easy.

I used 12" nails, 2 on each foot to secure it to the playa. Then some candycaned rebar to tie the guylines down with. It did not move at all the 4 days we were on the playa.

[Timezone LaFontaine]

Oh yeah, I just remembered... one thing that helped me set up a little bit more quickly in the middle of the night was going ahead and connecting half the little connecting joint pieces. If that makes sense... anywhere there's a connector joint that holds together two or three pieces, like the apex of the roof, one half can already be connected en route to BRC. And I drew my own little easy-to-see symbols on each connecting piece to help me identify what goes where.

[knowmad]

Oh yeah, I just remembered... one thing that helped me set up a little bit more quickly in the middle of the night was going ahead and connecting half the little connecting joint pieces. If that makes sense... anywhere there's a connector joint that holds together two or three pieces, like the apex of the roof, one half can already be connected en route to BRC. And I drew my own little easy-to-see symbols on each connecting piece to help me identify what goes where.

oh yah the setup.
We Set ours up and painted it before leaving for the playa, we were all pretty loaded with the intent of setting it up "under Playa conditions" total fail.

[AntiM]

Practice is a must.

We can't prep ours as the poles are rolled in the vinyl flooring, the joints and feet and bungees and ropes in a tough-tote plastic bin, and the roof/walls in a parachute bag.

[Elorrum]

electrical metallic tubing

[Sail Man]

I've used one from Sam's club for 4 years now........
I tie it down at each leg, and put a couple of crosses in it.
so far, so good.

Any of these crosses your particular favorite?

[EspressoDude]

I've used one from Sam's club for 4 years now........
I tie it down at each leg, and put a couple of crosses in it.
so far, so good.

Any of these crosses your particular favorite?

would depend on the kind of vampires, goblins, or spirits you are trying to repel ( or attract )

[BAS]

I've used one from Sam's club for 4 years now........
I tie it down at each leg, and put a couple of crosses in it.
so far, so good.

Any of these crosses your particular favorite?

I see a 33 in the corner-- so where are the other 32 pages of crosses!?

[Ugly Dougly]

Put up the frame and stake it before throwing any cloth over it. As soon as you put a tarp onto it, you have a kite. Make sure it's staked before you do that.

[ygmir]

I've used one from Sam's club for 4 years now........
I tie it down at each leg, and put a couple of crosses in it.
so far, so good.

Any of these crosses your particular favorite?

don't cross me...........

[Ugly Dougly]

We've gone beyond double-crossing.

[ygmir]

yes, yes, you're right..........

"oh Regan......."

[Teo del Fuego]

three years in a row with Costco carport w/o any problems.

Anchor the legs by pounding 4 foot rebar halfway into the playa at each leg, then wrapping with duct tape.

Biggest problem is not losing the little eye-hooks that hold the front door on.

[fbcota]

The dust storm on the Saturday before gates this year destroyed our neighbors carport and a pair of ours in camp. The poles themselves actually buckled, and the car ports crumpled under the force. The 2 we lost were not completely anchored yet which may have contributed to their death. However the Neighbors was pretty well anchored.

They seem to be serious wind blocks, as another poster said its probably smart to cut some openings in them and then reinforce the opening. The gusts we had that day were no-where near normal (after all it snowed on the hills that night) but as its the desert its better to be prepared for the worst.

[TomServo]

They seem to be serious wind blocks, as another poster said its probably smart to cut some openings in them and then reinforce the opening.

If beauty is not a concern, place strips of duct or gorilla tape on the tarps, and cut inside the tape. So your tarp doesnt become a ripped up mess.

[Teo del Fuego]

wow, would seriously recommend any Costco carport owners to ignore the advice of cutting slits in the vinyl to dissipate the wind. If one is that concerned, I would suggest throwing two or more guy lines over the roof and staking those down securely. Maybe I just got lucky, but my carport survived both windstorms in 2008 as well as everything else in 2009 and 2010.