errantember

I've managed to add a ridge vent to the hexayurt. We'll see how well it works. I'm bringing an inside-outside thermometer so we can see how the temperatures differ at Flipside.

So when I decided to turn my 6' hexayurt into a 6' stretch, I didn't want to lose the convenience of having it transportable in only two pieces. As you can see here, upgrading the walls simply means adding two more 4'x4' panels to the existing 6 for the wall, and you're done. That part was easy.

It was the roof I was worried about. The existing 6-piece roof fanfolds neatly in exactly the same way the walls do, but how was I going to make the new roof, with it's lack of radial symmetry, do the same? All the scenarios I could think of in my mind involved at *least* three if not four pieces total, which would be *much* less convenient than only two. Not only that, but while the current roof, *un*like the walls, actually fits inside my Honda CR-V, I was really afraid that the upgraded version wouldn't. How could I keep it inside the vehicle?

Inspired by a showing of Oh Brother Where Art Thou, I found the answer:


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I had a great time this weekend at the Fall Freaktactular. The weather was almost, but not quite, cold enough to ruin everything. There were probably around 100 people there. Canyon Lake park was nice, except for the toilets. The men's room closest to the event didn't even have a toilet seat, just a hole. Some further away *did* have a seat, thank God. I spent most of my time with Storm and her husband, including a judicious amount of group time in their fabulous RV. The hexayurt was also finally christened after two years in the scene, and proved it's worth in cold-resistance. It was chilly to start with, but even when not taped to the tarp it was on, warmed up to an acceptable temperature within a few minutes, and stayed that way most of the night in 40-degree temperatures.

For the very first time in human history, an air mattress didn't deflate overnight, despite extensive impact motivation.

So, among other things, I had dream last night that I somehow became a zombie, and was tearfully shot by my own German grandmother whom I haven't seen or really even thought about in about 20 years. This is a bit more out-of-left-field than most of my dreams. After going through a Dream Worker phase, and because I rarely have to get out of bed on anyone else's schedule, I now have a policy of going back into any dream that ends badly and changing it to something positive instead.
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After growing weary of being driven out of my tent at 9:30 AM by the relentless sun after a hard night of honest partying, I decided, two days before our Austin community truck left, to build a Hexayurt to take with me.

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Due to the difficulty of finding the right tape here in Austin, I pre-assembled my hexayurt almost entirely with duct tape. While it was sitting in the heat waiting to go on the community truck, it was already starting to peel. I then got an emergency message from one of the hexayurt staff that I should take stranded tape with me to do repairs once on the playa, or my yurt is likely to blow away. I already bought some 2" stranded tape for exactly this purpose, since I knew the duct tape wasn't as strong as I'd like it to be. I also ordered some 3" stranded tape which will hopefully be here by Friday. This is the kind of tape I would have used if I'd had more than two days to get the job done. The yurt is on the community truck, which is already on it's way.

So now the question is, what do I do when I get out to Burning Man? It's virtually guaranteed that all of the existing duct tape, particularly on the outside, is going to melt off. If I wanted to take off *all* the duct tape and start over, this might be an advantage. But this implies re-doing hundreds of feet of taping in the dust capital of the world, which may not be an option. I'd also really like to re-do the fan-fold design with the new tape, but this is time-consuming and fussy, so I might not have time. Finally, the foil coating that makes the whole thing work is *very* fragile, and pulling even ordinary packing tape off of it is very fussy, careful work that still can partially damage the surface.

It's going to be interesting...

Ten hours ago, it was only a Great Idea to Procrastinate Packing for Burning Man. Now it's standing in my bedroom.



I built the smallest one, the 6'. It has a door but needs windows. Maybe one small skylight for light, and two small windows for airflow when I want it. I'd really like to rig up some kind of swamp cooler, but I'm not sure I have time before I have to put this fucker on the community truck at noon on Sunday, especially considering I haven't really done much packing yet.

This is to address a Big Problem at Burning Man, which is that it's simply not reasonable to go to bed early, but sleeping past 9 AM is often prevented by the transformation of one's tent into a kiln. The R5 heat rating and a small mister should keep me comfortable for a few more hours each day, which will result in a more well-rested Me.

Another minor issue is that my full-sized mattress barely fits right in the middle, but the space, with it's superior daytime-hangout characteristics, is a great place to sit around with three or four people. The solution, I found, is to deflate the mattress just enough to fold it into a corner. Then it's mostly out of the way, *and* it adds another layer of insulation to help keep things cool.