Monkey Hut question

[FIGJAM]

$3000 monkey hut!!!

http://www.sears.com/shelter-logic-shelterlogic-32-39-x-14-39-x-12-39/p-SPM217624040?prdNo=29&blockNo=29&blockType=G29

[Savannah]

But it's anti-fungal.

[FIGJAM]

I'd rather spend $3000 on fungal.

[Krokodyle]

It would have to be really really good fungal at that price

[Earthwalker]

Can you smoke fungal, or do you have to ingest it?

[MacGlenver]

Speaking of huge monkey huts... what's the longest rib section you've seen on a monkey hut, and what thickness is the PVC on that?

We do a 30' long hut with 30' long ribs (making the opening about 20' wide). The 30' long ribs are 1" Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit with built-in bell connectors.


The 1" PVC holds up pretty well at that length, but does start to get a bit flexible. We guy down the peak of the front and back ribs, but the tension even with 30' ribs starts to pull the peak down towards the ground more than we'd like.

We're planning on experimenting this weekend with 40' rib sections of the same 1" PVC, but I have some doubts as to whether it will be stiff enough to keep a decent peak at the front and back when guyed down. I'm thinking we may bring some 1 & 1/4" or 1 & 1/2" PVC to sleeve over some of our 1" stuff on the end ribs to stiffen it up.

Has anyone built a hut that uses 40' long ribs, and, if so, did you have to go to the 1 & 1/4" or 1 & 1/2" PVC or use a vertical brace to keep the peak from drooping?

Our test build this weekend will be in a pretty serene location compared to the playa, so it won't be a full test, but it should tell us something. Luckily there's a Home Depot nearby so we can retool if needed. I'll follow up with pics to let you know how it goes.

[FIGJAM]

I was thinking the same thing about sleeving for extra stiffening, but some 1/2" or 3/4' regular pvc inside of what you have would be easier and cheaper.

[MacGlenver]

I was thinking the same thing about sleeving for extra stiffening, but some 1/2" or 3/4' regular pvc inside of what you have would be easier and cheaper.

Ah, good call! We've got some leftover 1 & 1/4" from another project that we can use for sleeves, but it may not be enough. If we have to get more I'll definitely try out the 1/2" or 3/4" inside. Thx!

[MacGlenver]

I'll follow up with pics to let you know how it goes.

To follow up on this post, we opted for a different design for our structure and never tried the 40' ribs for the monkey hut. We DID use 40' sections of 1" PVC, but we built a "dome" with eight 40' ribs crossing in the middle. The dome was about 23' in diameter. We bungie balled the intersection point (which was about 15' in the air). We added some 20' PVC arches at each of the 4 openings and guyed them down. It made a fantastic shelter (though would be bad in high winds, I expect). We were too tired after building this thing to try to do the 40' ribs on a monkey hut. That said, the ribs were very floppy at 40', as you would expect. We reinforced the bottom section of PVC with some 1 & 1/4" PVC sleeves, which helped. This design worked because the PVC crossed at the center point at the top and was bungied together. Since a monkey hut wouldnt have that, the top of the ribs would be very weak. I think to make a MH work with 40' ribs you would have to either use 1 & 1/4" PVC for the whole thing, or reinforce most of the rib sections either with an external PVC sleeve or an internal one.