My turn for a question.......
I'm thinking of getting a carport to put my tent in. I've not used shade structures over my tents in the past as I spend little time in my tent, until last year, camping right at BMIR, the office so to speak I was in it often. It got so hot cans of coca cola exploded, (yes that sucked big time) fortunately I had a condo in BRC I could live in for the two weeks so it wasn't a big deal, but I digress..........
I want to get one of those 10X20 portable carports. I'm assuming that's 10 feet wide X 20 feet long. The question is how high is the carport in the center? Here's my tent : www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en...rd-item.jsp
I have the 6 person one which has a floor of 10X10 that should be OK, but it's 100 inches in the center (just under 8.5 feet ).
Anyone have one of these?
This would be a nice solution for me and the additional 10 feet up front would give me room for Bobzilla's Buddah Lounge.
I'm thinking of getting a carport to put my tent in. I've not used shade structures over my tents in the past as I spend little time in my tent, until last year, camping right at BMIR, the office so to speak I was in it often. It got so hot cans of coca cola exploded, (yes that sucked big time) fortunately I had a condo in BRC I could live in for the two weeks so it wasn't a big deal, but I digress..........
I want to get one of those 10X20 portable carports. I'm assuming that's 10 feet wide X 20 feet long. The question is how high is the carport in the center? Here's my tent : www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en...rd-item.jsp
I have the 6 person one which has a floor of 10X10 that should be OK, but it's 100 inches in the center (just under 8.5 feet ).
Anyone have one of these?
This would be a nice solution for me and the additional 10 feet up front would give me room for Bobzilla's Buddah Lounge.
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Carports
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 12:47 PMI have one of those by my house, I'd say it's about ten feet at the peak, certainly higher than I can reach. Your tent should be fine. -
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Re: Carports
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 12:53 PMYour tent will fit fine in a Costco carport. The peak of the carport is about 10 or 11 feet. I think the side walls are about 8 feet high. In 2006 I brought a 10 x 20 costco carport and parked an extended Ford Aerostar minivan inside it, and still had a little bit of lounge room left. I also had tons of room to store stuff on the roof of the van.
The main thing is that you need to really ratchet those suckers down. I'd suggest using two pieces of rebar at least 3' long on each corrner, plus one piece on the middle poles. Ratchet straps work WAY better than rope - the don't stretch and they're a lot easier to tighten. -
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Re: Carports
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 4:20 PM
Hey Bobzilla,
Hatfield is correct in regards to securing the structure with rebar. We use candy-caned rebar for ours.
Here's a couple of tips to make set up go faster and smoother:
1) While you are doing your practice set up before going to the playa, separate and organize the different tubes into sets of the same length. You will end up with 5 or 6 sets. For each set, spray paint it a different color (bright). Just a couple of inches on the ends of the tubes. Enough to identify them. For transport, use a couple of the white bungy thingies (that come with the cover) to tie the poles in each set (6 in a set) together.
2) The little wrenches that come with the kit are crappy. Buy a couple of small ratchet wrenches, bits and ratchet screwdrivers. I believe the bit for the ratchet wrench is 10mm. But doublecheck that. I could be wrong.
3) You'll definitely need a second person to assist you. And at some point in time a third body when you put the legs on it and stand it up.
Hope this helps.
Mikey
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Re: Carports
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 7:00 PMStop by on the playa for your thank you margaritas! -
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Re: Carports
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 8:08 PMOh, one more thing - I don't know if the new Costco carports use them, but the old ones used hitch pins to hold everything together. They provide a little keyring thing to hold the pin in place, Huge pain in the ass! Ditch the rings! Go to the hardware store and get hitch pin clips instead:
people.tribe.net/9c568c13-...7443033e77
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Re: Carports
Mon, May 12, 2008 - 7:28 AMI lost a couple of the pins (and their hitch clips), and when I went to replace them at Home Depot, I discovered that they go for something like $2 a pop. Ridiculous!
Then, my clever boyfriend suggested that I use carriage bolts and wing nuts instead. Maybe 40 cents or so for the both.
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Re: Carports
Sun, May 11, 2008 - 1:44 AM
Ahhh, nothing beats a cool refreshing margarita in the middle of a hot playa day.
Oh yeah!
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Re: Carports
Sun, May 11, 2008 - 8:09 AMWe have a chunk of billboard vinyl for the underfloor, and we roll all the pipes into it like some giant burritto. A tough plastic bin holds the feet, joints, bungees, guy ropes and tighteners, and misc crap. A flight bags holds the folded roof and walls. A third wooden box holds the rebar and mallets.
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Re: Carports
Mon, May 12, 2008 - 8:53 PMHey Bobzilla,
We actually use our large dome tent as a supply tent with quickie shade draped over it. Placed right behind our Costco structure. Then use our Costco car structure to live in. We hang a partition wall (silk tapestries hung over braided line) to divide it in half. Sleeping and living quarters. It's so large we setup a massage table and still had plenty of room for food prep and seating.
The walls that are included work well against the high-speed winds as long as all of the fasteners are used and the structure is tied down with LARGE rebar stakes and high strength lines. Don't just anchor the feet. Our structure stood up to the highest winds and was as aerodynamic as a brick. Much better structures were coming down last year due to inferior anchor stakes. If you need some serious stakes made drop me a PM and I can cut and weld some stakes for ya'. U supply the rebar. I like Peets coffee BTW...... ;-)
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Re: Carports
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 2:05 PMOh another thing to consider is to get a carport with the roof or gable vents. I have a 12'x20'x8'high and without the gable or roof vents it can get really, really hot in there during the day.Other than that they work great. -
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Re: Carports
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 11:22 PMthat's right. we don't attach the upper triangle part of the front and back doors specifically for heat ventilation. also keeping the broadside of the structure perpendicular to the southern hemisphere helps some... but you probably know that already.
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 12:53 PMI went to Costco today and whoa those 10x20's are heavy. I'm going it alone and just didn't see how a single person could manage that by themselves. Def a 2 person or more job. Rethinking my shade options. -
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 3:19 PMOne person can put a carport together. Although it is quite a bit of work. However, once you put the roof section together (and the roof on) it is pretty easy to garb 4-7 other people for the 2-3 minutes it takes to put the legs in.
Martini Steve
Apokiliptika - Biological and Chemical Weapons Division -
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 4:04 PMGreat way to offer an opportunity for your neighbors to gift you with camp set-up! -
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 5:24 PMDoesn't mean you have to do every little thing yourself.
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 5:56 PMIf everyone was 100% radically self reliant, then many opportunities for possibly meeting your newest greatest friends could be lost.
I've met many great people when I found myself in a rut and reached out for help.
Just sayin'. =) -
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 5:59 PMMy first year I lost my friends and I put up a Costco carport all by myself. The hardest part is the actual barn-raising part where you lift the roof section and get the support poles underneath. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I did it so it can be done.
That said, there are a lot of pieces that require assembly and more hands makes for a much easier job.
As for the radical self-reliance part - showing up, doing most of the work yourself, asking your neighbors for help for five minutes for the one hard part, that's okay. Showing up, expecting your neighbors to help you put the whole damn thing together, not okay. -
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 7:17 PMShowing up expecting to use the neighbor's shade the entire event ... really, really not okay. -
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Re: Carports
Mon, June 2, 2008 - 10:09 PMUnless you're a hot chick/dude, of course. -
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This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: Carports
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 12:40 AMArhhhhhhhhhh!
i am 5'41/2" and 120lbs on a good day and am bringin' a carport... i plan to put the thing up before i attempt to do it on the Playa. Wanna make sure all the parts are there and workin', and know how much help i'll need. i'm very strong for my size but there is a height issue, LOL! Will let ya'll know............ -
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Re: Carports
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 10:11 AMWe had one in our camp two years ago. With 5 people it took like 20 - 25 minutes to get it up. -
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Re: Carports
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 12:14 PMThe new carports go up quickly and are easy enough. My wife and I set up our Costco carport last year in just over 20 minutes. This was after a 27 hour drive and no sleep.
You MUST do a practice setup before arriving on the Playa. This gives you a chance to remove all the MOOPy packing materials and customize/alter/personalize your carport.
I used a 3’ long angled rebar at every leg with ratcheting tie downs. When the first white out hit, I ended up helping to hold down my neighbors camp. Check the rebar tie downs every day. I tied glow stick to them at night to make them visible.
This year I am planning a mister system to put inside the structure. It does hold in the heat very well.
MilkRun -
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Re: Carports
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 7:44 PMSetting up once at home is a must, and also I'd recommend marking each piece as to what type it is with colored tape (for example), and then marking the instructions' pictures of the pieces in the same way. My friend has a Pep Boys carport and there's at least 3 different types of pole but they're all white and look very similar. Also learn how to tie a couple of knots so that you can tie the guylines with the kind you tighten by pulling on it (I can't remember the name). -
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Re: Carports
Tue, June 3, 2008 - 11:06 PMI would suggest not using ropes. Use ratchet straps instead. You can get four-packs of them at Home Despot for around 15 bucks. Unlike rope, ratchet straps don't stretch. They're easier to tighten, easier to see, and you don't have to remember any fancy knots! -
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Re: Carports
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 5:43 AMWe use ropes, but mylarry spliced and rewove the loops, and permanently attached tighteners. A boy scout and a sailor, he's quite handy to have around.
But yes, the ratchet straps work well. Also available at truckstops. -
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Re: Carports
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 11:16 AMOr use a "taught line hitch". Why blow bucks on tie-downs. Tie downs are for motorcycles.... =-)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautline_hitch -
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Re: Carports
Wed, June 4, 2008 - 3:09 PMWe didn't buy ours, we salvaged them.
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Re: Carports
Tue, June 10, 2008 - 5:09 AMOkey Dokey,
Giving it up to the higher power as in yurt/dome... Carport too bloody heavy and too big for me to deal with... = )
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