Wow! Until I found this thread I thought I was the only one who tried to build a Hexayurt with velcro for on Playa assembly instead of BiDi tape. This past summer (2013) I made the standard H12 hexayurt design using velcro joints. Basic specs of this yurt:
* 1" Thermasheath RMAX material (12 pieces total for build) * 500D Cordura, cut into 6" strips (same width as the BiDi tape I used for rest of construction) * Barge Glue (1 quart was almost enough for the whole construction) * 2" wide commercial grade hook-and-loop strips, no adhesive back * All bevelled edge design (absolutely no Camp Danger hinges) * 6" BiDi tape for permanent hinged sections * 2 hinged roof cone sections (6 triangles each) * 3 hinged wall sections (2 panels each) It took me several experiments with different glues and different synthetic cloth materials to come up with the Barge Glue and Cordura combination. The key factors were finding a glue that (1) would adhere well to the aluminum backing, and (2) wouldn't break down in the Black Rock City heat. To test (2), I used a heat gun set at 100 C to see if the glue would soften up or separate from the RMAX. Most did, including the DAP material I see some folks have tried. Barge Glue held up. Some other details about my H12 construction: * The velcro "eye" material was sewn (face down) onto one side of the 6" cordura strips with a standard sewing machine. The other side of the strip was glued permanently onto the roof or wall sections. * The velcro "hook" material was glued to the foil. * I followed the Barge Glue instructions exactly, coating both surfaces and waiting a few minutes for it to set before applying strip to foil. Work outdoors -- the stuff stinks to high heaven! * Standard BiDi hinge taping was done on all permanent hinges - five 8' or 9' hinges on each roof section, one 4' hinge on each wall section. Some "learning experiences" along the way: * I bought dark blue Cordura material, thinking it would look sharp against the silvery yurt. However I quickly learned in the test setup that it soaked up a lot of heat, which transferred inside the yurt. Before I took it to the Playa I painted the roof strips with white paint. Covering with foil tape may be in the future, we'll see.... * I bought one large quart bottle of Barge Glue. By the time I was getting to the bottom the glue was very thick and hard to work with due to evaporation. I think two or three pint sized bottles would be easier. * Tried using neodymium magnets embedded in the door and door frame to keep it closed without a latch mechanism. Turned out not to work at all against the wind on the Playa, and ended up throwing shoes in front of the door to keep it closed. The end result: The yurt was my residence for Burning Man 2013. It was a total success. With 6 people (it was very windy so I needed more people to help hold it down) the thing went up in less than 10 minutes! No taping, no hassle. Amazing. At the end of the week, 3 people were able to take it apart gently in less than 15 minutes. Packing it up in its crate took another 15 minutes. If you will be in or near the Washington D.C. area this April 2014, I will be showing the assembly of this yurt at a Hexayurt Construction Workshop. Location and exact date are TBD at this time, so check the DC Burning Man Meetup Group for details. On Wednesday, September 4, 2013 10:47:33 PM UTC-4, Jeremy Shaw wrote: > > I built two 6' folding stretch hexayurts this year. One was a traditional > design with camp danger bifi hinges. The other used contact cement, vinyl, > and velcro. > > The contact cement+vinyl+velcro solution definitely required more work up > front. But the pay off on the playa was huge! It went up and down so much > faster. And, it is already ready to go back up again. There is no per-use > consumeables and nothing that has to be cleaned off before the next use. > > I have a bunch of video and other details on the build process that I hope > to upload 'some day' but the short version is, DO IT! > > - jeremy > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hexayurt" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hexayurt. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
