Newbie coming from LA, building a YurtDome

[Drizzt321]

Newbie here, coming solo up from LA area. I think I'm going to be fairly prepared, but the loooong drive might be a bit much for me, even with that I'm planning on at least 1 major stop to nap for a couple of hours, trying to make it there for Monday early morning (my goal is 5am-9am), hopefully to get my YurtDome setup before it gets too bloody hot. So, was wondering if any other burners were coming up from the LA area wanted to carpool (I only have a Honda Civic, but if your supplies are going with someone else I can do) and/or caravan up with another car or two to help keep us all awake throughout the night.

--Aaron

[jkisha]

Hey there, welcome to eplaya!

It's not the heat you have to worry about setting up a Yurt, it's the wind. Early morning is usually a good time. Then, some days it's calm; but if the wind decides to blow, it's usually the afternoon; often it calms down again just after sunset. (Assuming you're talking about a Hexayurt. Last year we had to sleep in the back of our box truck for two nights because of rain and the wind never seeming to subside.)

[Drizzt321]

I was worried about the heat for me Although I figure I'll be able to handle it fine, it'd just be nice to have my shelter up, even if I don't have the sunscreen up yet, before the day got too hot. Good point on the wind, hopefully it won't be too windy. Or hopefully I'll camp next to a few people who are nice enough to give me a hand


I've got a 14' dome coming from http://www.shelter-systems.com/. They're pretty strong in the wind (it seems), and they have a full section http://www.shelter-systems.com/burning-man-wind.html on securing the dome in the wind. I have 10 candycane rebar (yay for pre-bent!) and a few straight lengths of rebar which should be plenty for staking it down right at the bottom, with a few left over to stake down poles (still have to get) for part of my sunscreen. Plus some 550lb para cord (bright orange!) for any guy lines and tiedowns I need. Any wind other wind recommendations?

--Aaron

[jkisha]

OK. I was thinking "Hexayurt" when you said yurt/dome. Those 4'x8' panels are hard to manage in the wind. Though I've seen entire shade structures get torn out of the ground when a sudden wind storm comes up before everything is tied down.

We have one of their 30' domes. Hopefully it will make it out there this year too.

I would just make sure your frame is securely anchored to the ground with your candy cane rebar before you start putting the cover on it.

[Drizzt321]

Well, apparently putting the dome up involves building the frame on the covering (external frame) as the frame & covering reinforce each other, once combined. So I'll probably tie off part of the frame to a length of cord to my car or a stake as I start, just in case. I'm going to have to find a spot to put it up at least once before I go to make sure it's all good, and I will have a few extra frame poles with me. Just in case.

I do need to find something to use as poles for part of the sunscreen. I have one of their 20'x20' 80% screens that I'm planning to have cover at least the top part of the dome, with the rest coming out over the front supported by 2 (or more?) poles to give some shade where I can sit out under. Any idea what/where I could get some good strong poles? Preferably ones that break down into reasonably short pieces so I can fit them in my car.

--Aaron

[trilobyte]

Hi guys, and welcome to ePlaya, Aaron. I'm going to move this thread over to the Q&A board, since I think the yurt/dome setup discussion (which is great) best fits over there.

As for the carpool/caravan mention, you may want to check the 'Sharing Resources' section, and post there to get that in front of others who would have interest in that as well.

Good luck, and I hope to see you out there!

[Drizzt321]

Thanks trilobyte, I did find the Rideshare section on the BM website, I'm going to put up something there (already sent a few emails).

On the subject of the setup, doing some research for the posts for the sunshade posts, some galvanized steel/aluminum poles that can be screwed together might be my best bet. Not too expensive, strong, sections small enough to fit in my car, and easy to use to tie-down. Hmmmm...maybe I need to get some more rebar candy canes.

--Aaron

[jkisha]

I was going to upload a pic of the dome we take to the playa, but I see posts in the Q&A Forum doesn't allow this. Interesting as this is one of the forums that could use it most. I think I'm going to report my own thread to the mods in the hope they can relay this to Admin for fixing.

[AntiM]

If there's a bug on the forum, post it in the eplaya feedback area for bugs. The reports aren't seen by the admins that I know of.

You can still post a picture the old-fashioned way, upload it to something like photobucket, then post it with image tags. Do size it to fit.