Pimp your Rental RV
Camp BloodyMaryLand is renting an RV rather than driving one cross-country this year. We may want to use these tips over at Instructables to make it super-sweet!
Will bring bloodies to the Playa in 2018!
Camp BloodyMaryLand is renting an RV rather than driving one cross-country this year. We may want to use these tips over at Instructables to make it super-sweet!
We’re thinking about building a more sophisticated shade structure for our tent this year so that we can sleep past 8am. Modified hexayurt, anyone?
Details:
http://hexayurt.com/
On Wikipedia
Very long discussion about ventilating the hexayurt.
Photo from Hexayurt.com (thanks guys!)
Will drafted this layout of the camp. I’ll bring the original to the meeting today. Camp Layout
Ok, so I changed the sidebar a bit on this blog. You can now see recent comments and I updated the Burning Blog RSS feed to be the current one.
Today, I scored a deal at Yesterday’s Rose, where there was a 1/2 off linens sale. Got two sheets for $1, which Herb and I will be using to cover the mesh in our tent. Our rainfly keeps rain out but allows ventilation through the screen mesh on the roof and two sides of the tent, which I’m sure would be swell in the rain, but seems a rather horrid idea for the playa. Details and photos of the fix to come. Oh yeah, this thrift store had bikes too. 3 or 4 kids bikes and one adult bike.
If any of you want to try to find deals in Northern Virginia, here is a map of thrift stores:
Temporary Desert Structures
Whoa, this website has overloaded me with information on building structures and shelter on the Playa.
Notes about building for Burning Man and other Projects, by Bob Stahl
http://www.geocities.com/potatotrap/tech/bluetarp.htm
Bike Rentals for Burners
We may end up needing this service if a ton of people fly out.
They sell recycled bikes too.
http://blackrockbicycles.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&id=444
Q: ” Why rent when I can buy?”
A: “This one of the most asked question we get. Yes you can buy a bike at Kmart or Wal Mart for close to the same price , but then what ? Do you drop it off, donate it, or worse yet leave on it the playa when you are done with it? This is best of all you get a new or close to new bike, no hassles. You rent it return it and off till next year and no fussing. You will also see bikes on the side of the road for rent but do you want to find out that the bike you planned to rent is gone. We offer stress free rental with your bike reserved until you pick it up.”
Let me show you Sean’s plan for building a shade structure. Please excuse the crudity of this model,I didn’t have time to build it to scale or to paint it.
Actually, it is built to scale more or less. The support poles are 12 feet long and the whole structure is about 35 feet long. You can see more pictures at. http://picasaweb.google.com/cubicleescapee/BmShadeModel
I have my opinions on the structure now that I’ve seen it, but I’ll get some comments before I weigh in on the subject.
For those of you who bothered to read my last post on shade structure design, I’ve got what I feel to be an innovative idea on how to kill two birds with one stone. A tensegrity shade with a built in bar. Since Mindy and Alison were the only two people to respond, I’m still not sure how the whole camp feels about it. I would encourage you all to consider the design, pros and cons, and we should vote on whether or not to pursue it. I’m willing to put the required time and effort into this if we agree it’s the best course of action, but I need to start on it NOW NOW NOW. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings if you think it’s a bad idea; I could care less. I just want to get this matter sorted so I can get rolling on whatever we do decide.
As you may know, my assignment was investigating how we can build ourselves a better shade system.
Our criteria from wayback included:
I went a step further to add:
To that end, I’ve been conducting research in that arena for some time now and have arrived at what I feel is our best bet for a solution. Tensile Integrity, or “Tensegrity” structures offer a degree of elegance that you don’t often see in canopy designs. Basically, the designs use rigid and flexible properties of different materials to hold shit together. Yay. Modern tent designs are now beginning to incorporate tensegrity principles. You have seen a larger one if you’ve ever driven down RT 50 heading to Ocean City, MD. The tent-looking ampitheater in Cambridge, MD is a prime example.
Now, there are a handful of examples of tensegrity structures on the Playa, most notable among them is from Camp Elsewhere:
Their website lays it down proppa –
“They [tensegrity structures] work well for Burning Man because they are:
1) cheap to build,
2) fairly easy to transport,
3) fast and easy to set up,
4) nice and cool with maximum airflow, and
5) best of all for the playa, they are pretty much indestructible.
Word. Don’t confuse this with stretching a few tarps across some tent poles. The construction is more than that. By using flexible canopy material, you create a structure that is strong yet giving (useful in high wind scenarios), with a high shade-surface-to-weight ratio. Below are some pencil sketches of a preliminary design that allows for basically the same camp layout as in ’06, but adds some refinements I think you’ll find useful. The sketches are roughly hewn and even rougher in scale. I did not have a ruler at work and drank too much at my five martini solo lunch to risk tracking one down from my coworkers…
Tensegrity Structure Side Elevation
This first image give the side view, minus the RVs. This was done as to not distract from the view of the canopy. As you can see, it looks a lot like a circus or wedding tent (and really, what is the difference between a circus and a wedding that needs a fucking tent? Not a goddamn thing.) There are no side panels thought, and the canopy holds its shape through the use of a flexible fabric stretched across the rigid beams. You’ll see that there is ample space under the canopy, and more importantly, the support beams also serve as the verticals for THE BAR! And the bar is BIGGER, with BETTER SHADE, and now a degree of CROWD CONTROL, which we’ll see more of in subsequent drawings.
Tensegrity Structure Overhead Elevation
This shitty sketch shows an approximation of what the camp would look like from overhead. The “V” configuration of the two RV’s is still preserved, as is the bar being at the front of the camp. One of the things we all complained about last time was the inability to close shop when we needed some downtime. By integrating the bar with the supports, we can extend the canopy material over and “Close” the bar unequivocally as need be. Since the structure is independent from the RVs, the placement of said vehicles allows for much greater flexibility. Shown here, I’ve left space in between RV and shade structure for cooking areas and bike parking space. Now we don’t sacrifice precious shade for storage.
Tensegrity Structure Bar Detail
Which brings us to this awful piece of shit that my high school mechanical drawing teacher, Mr. Sheridan would most certainly have wiped his ass with. Whatever. I’m surprised that I can draw anything at all, let alone semi-detailed projections. At any rate, here is the skinny on the bar. We have options. I figured we’d just festoon it to the shade beams and call it a day, with some “modesty panels” affixed to shore up the surface and make it look less like a bench and more like a bar. Depending on how much load bearing we need, we can add some upright wire supports. This should effectively DOUBLE our bar surface area, as well as allowing for space behind the rail for us to work. And taking cues from early Christians, pioneers in primitive crowd control (they invented the aisle to accommodate pilgrims who came to view St. Peter’s tomb), I’ve separated the bar into “wet” and “dry” sides (just like a darkroom). So the guests come down one side, get their base and their booze, and then head over to the other side where the drinks are finished, garnished, and mixed. This way, we compartmentalize to some extent and cut back on bottlenecking. Or we can split the line and run two at once. Whatever will reduce our foot traffic spilling out into the outer ring, which if you recall was an official complaint from the last time.
PRACTICAL ISSUES –
There are a few hurdles to overcome, but none that are insurmountable to clever children such as ourselves. They include, off the top of my head:
That’s basically it. More to come as we refine. Input from everyone is a must, and the sooner the better.
-Sean