Yesterday, my son and I assembled our hexayurt. (flickr.com/photos/timge...3502/detail/) We wanted to build it before we got to the playa, and it was worth while. Here's what we learned.

1. We got all our panels from Home Depot: most are Dow Tuff-R, but the last 3 are R Max. The 8' sides of the R Max panels have some sort of coating that keeps Gorilla tape from sticking. I tried Windex on the R Max to remove the coating so Gorilla tape would stick with no luck. The 6" packing tape was wide enough to extend beyond the coating.

2. After taping together the first two pairs of panels, don't be tempted to build the rest of the roof structure two panels at a time. Bad idea, as the greater distance of taping together two panels (rather than one) make it hard to apply the tape.

3. We used a closet rod cut to 4' as a prop for the roof. After the first few panels were taped together, the rod also made a good way to pass the tape roll from one person to another.

4. We used a chalked line to mark the panels to cut. This worked pretty well and eliminated the need for a straight edge.

5. If you want your roof pieces to have the same side showing (mine alternate) cut half the panels left to right, top to bottom and the other half right to left, top to bottom.

6. If you use packing tape to tape the edges, it is easy to remove the tape used to assemble the hexayurt. Gorilla tape is not wide enough, and pulling packing tape stuck directly to the panels removes part of the panels.