Easier to transport stretch yurt

[owstopit]

Hey Burners!

I'm on the verge of throwing together a Hexayurt this year, but the idea of lugging around an 8x4 foot package seems tricky! I am wondering if I could build the 6 foot stretch hexayurt using two 4x4 foot boards for each wall without compromising the integrity of the structure. Anyway have experience with this? Will this make the yurt far less stable and wind resistant? Pretty much the only thing keeping me from building one right now is the difficulty of transporting an 8 foot long package! Help would be so appreciated! Thanks in advance.

-Neal

[sstrak]

I have been wondering the same thing. The 2 long side panels will have to be cut in half as well as the long roof panels.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Any suggestions on how to best reinforce those panels?

[Token]

It looks like you guys are pioneers in the field.

Try it and let everyone know what happens.

[whaleboy]

have you checked out bjurts?

[sstrak]

BJurts are interesting but provide none of the benefits of a Hexayurt: heat insulation, noise insulation, dust-proof, etc.

[sstrak]

Reinforcement:

If the long walls and ceiling pieces are in danger of buckling they should be reinforced (beyond additional tape)

What can be done to strengthen these seems without adding additional weight?

[capjbadger]

Reinforcement:

If the long walls and ceiling pieces are in danger of buckling they should be reinforced (beyond additional tape)

What can be done to strengthen these seems without adding additional weight?

Angle aluminum?
Furring strips?
Extra burners?

-Badger

[sstrak]

Angle aluminum?
Furring strips?
Extra burners? Wink
-Badger

-----

Good ideas. The angle aluminum won't work because we're trying to make two 4'x4' pieces of foam board into one 4'x8' piece. Maybe a flat piece of aluminum or 2 perpendicular to the seam and taped down? maybe something lighter or stiffer? wood? plastic?

I'm not a construction expert; aren't furring strips normally 2"x4"s? May be a bit heavy for the roof panels being that the structure is purely made of foam core. Same issue with the Burners. Unless you by furring strips you meant the mink type

[capjbadger]

Angle aluminum?
Furring strips?
Extra burners? Wink
-Badger

-----

Good ideas. The angle aluminum won't work because we're trying to make two 4'x4' pieces of foam board into one 4'x8' piece. Maybe a flat piece of aluminum or 2 perpendicular to the seam and taped down? maybe something lighter or stiffer? wood? plastic?

I'm not a construction expert; aren't furring strips normally 2"x4"s? May be a bit heavy for the roof panels being that the structure is purely made of foam core. Same issue with the Burners. Unless you by furring strips you meant the mink type

A flat piece of aluminum will just flex. The L stiffens it up.

The furring strips are not 2"x"4 (1.5"x3.5") but are 2 1/2"x3/4".
Pretty lightweight but stiff enough to keep the junction in your roof from bending in, specially if you were to run it perpendicular to the seam and set it on edge. (easier to bed it one way than the other)

-Badger

[sstrak]

Ah, I think I catch your drift. I plan to buy everything and build it on Friday. I'll let you know how it goes.

[sstrak]

Got the R-Max today. Haven't built it yet but I can tell you that the 2" R-Max
may be more trouble than it's worth. 7 pieces x 2" x double up (cut in half)
=28". That is one hell of a thick brick to stick on top of your car. If I had a
truck it would be no problem. Note: get a 48" drywall square (metal straight
edge) and a long knife. I hope to do a mock build on Sunday.

[sstrak]

OK, 2" R-Max is a lot of work. You need to cut through it very straight. It insulates like crazy. Test build was a success. Pics to come.

And no, cutting the 8 foot sheets down to 4'x4' squares did not hurt at all.

[owstopit]

Well, I tried using the smaller pieces and was able to attach the package to the top of my car! I used 10 4x4 Isosceles triangle pieces for the roof, and 8 4x4 square pieces for the walls. Used the heavy duty 6" wide Bi-Directional Filament Tape.

The yurt held up amazingly well in the 45mph wind storm this year! The incredibly hard rain that fell early in the week let a lot of water into the yurt, but none leaked from the ceiling! It just crept in on the tarp floor. In a couple of days it was all evaporated!

There was one minor mishap: During the wind/rain storm, I realized that the door I made needed support. The door opened into the yurt via a Gorilla Tape hinge and the wind was pulling the door outward. Eventually, the pull became great enough that the door pulled on the tape hinge and tore apart part of the door panel. I taped this over and had no more problems for the rest of the burn. I learned an important lesson tho! You should put a water jug on both sides (if possible) of the door during high winds! This will keep it from blowing around in the wind and putting stress on the walls.

My final conclusion is that YES you can use 8 4x4' boards for walls and 10 4x4 Isosceles triangles for the roof. The longer trapezoidal panels from the roof can be made by taping together three of the triangle pieces. The longer walls can likewise be made from two taped together 4x4' boards. JUST MAKE SURE TO SECURE YOUR YURT WELL WITH STAKES AND ROPE!!!

Cause otherwise it'll fly away. If anyone has questions about the construction of this type of yurt, feel free to ask!

[Redward]

I am currently working on a 6' stretch hexayurt that folds like an accordion, The hinges work so that they buckle outside and not inside. Won't let me post the picture but maybe you can get it from the description:
front and back 8' panels are cut into 2' 4' 2' sections, the 2' sections folding into the 4 foot face and rear. The side panels are also divided in 2' sections. When stretched out like accordion it is two 4' panels with six 2' panels connecting them in a zig zag on either side. The roof is in two sections. The package is 4'x'4 by 14". Model is built construction starts soon. Let me know if this helps and what you think.

[Ugly Dougly]

Do you have no room at all for anything 8 feet long?
What's you maximum dimension available?

[Redward]

The folded down backseat of a toyota carolla. I am leaving about a month before the even and will be carrying my hexayurt the entire time, having it strapped to my roof will hurt my gas mileage to much. The design in model works really well, and after hearing some wind storm stories I am feeling pretty confident in my design. I will just overbuild it.

[Ugly Dougly]

I have a Toyota Prius and can carry a seven foot spear with room to spare. The point goes somewhere in the passenger seat well and the other end near the rear window behind the driver. I have carried 8-foot 2x4's like this.
YMMMMMV!

[Redward]

That is impressive of you. I have packed this car with more then I thought she'd hold more then once, but I cannot fit a 8x4 sheet of anything. Challenge brings innovation though.

[Ugly Dougly]

Never said sheet. Read again.

[Redward]

Yes I read it correctly but I didn't get how the 2x4's help the yurt.