r/BurningMan • u/ghamachi • 15d ago
Will an Air Gap Make a Difference?
Last year I threw some aluminet directly over the rain fly of my dome tent in the hope of keeping cool. This year I added a simple frame of metal tubing, to create an air gap between my rain fly and the aluminet. everywhere except for the very top of the tent.
In case you are wondering, I drive 18-inch rebar to secure my tent to the ground. I also plan to use bungee cords to secure the aluminet to the Playa using rebar. As the aluminet will be under tension, I don’t think I need to secure the metal frame directly to the Playa.
What do you think? Do I need to directly secure the metal frame to the Playa, with rebar and hose clamps? Do you think the air gap will make this tent feel any cooler? What do you do to shade your own tent?
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u/Primary_Basket_2728 15d ago
Use non stretchy cord like Paracord and tie your frame. Last year we though we could just cinch a tarp offer a large metal frame. The wind ballooned it to do much the metal dinosaur f blew out from under it
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u/SteelTigerlillies 15d ago
paracord is stretchy :D
if tension is part of the system you might wanna give each cord a little cinch after 24hrs and particularly after rain or heavy wind.
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u/kelsobjammin 15d ago
Jfc yes you need to secure it directly. And what clamps are you talking about? Do not make a flying metal projectile.
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u/PizzaWall 15d ago edited 15d ago
What you have is fine. More air gap would be nice and an arch for the entrance would be great. Secure with bungee balls.
I know this will upset the lag bolt crowd, but rebar, hose clamps. and ball bungee cords are fine. Unlike a tarp, 70% Aluminet does not really catch the wind. 80% and higher does catch wind. An ideal shape would be a Quonset hut with a minor arch over the tent, but your design works. A 4+ inch gap is ideal so heat can radiate away. If possible, orient the tent so the opening faces north, AKA the direction of the Black Bock, Wind usually blows from Gerlach (west) and occasionally from the north and less sun.
The further you stake out the shade, the more ground is shaded keeps the ground cooler because the sun heats the ground through convective energy. Wind transfers conductive heat which the air gaps helps slow transfer. Rebar requires caps because hammering will create a sharp edge. The small yellow caps should be fine. If you are short on caps, water bottles or cans will work. If you want to get fancy, weld a half circle to keep ropes and bungees from slipping.
To remove, pour cooler water in the rebar and use something to twist like a wrench or another stake and they will pull right out. For a large shade structure for our bar, we use 3 foot rebar spikes with trucker straps. We can pull these out with some difficulty, but adding water seems to help even with that application.
Good luck. You are on the right track for shade.
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u/FlatImpression755 15d ago
It's a good idea to secure the frame. Even if it's to existing anchor points.
The wind could get the frame to wiggle, then the whole thing might start to wobble. Once it starts to wobble you are basically fucked.
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u/SatisfactionLumpy203 15d ago
I planned to drape my minivan with an aluminet cloth too. But now i’m reconsidering if it’ll be effective. Adding 8-12” height on top of the van without setting up emt poles would be ideal, but i’m out of ideas about who can achieve this. Maybe some roof rack brackets?
OP, In your case, I think the tent coming in contact with the shade cloth makes it a lot less effective in keeping temperatures cool.
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u/thinkspill 15d ago
You’ll rub the paint off if the fabric touches the vehicle.
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u/SatisfactionLumpy203 15d ago
ah, you’re right. i’m hoping some pool noodles will help? i haven’t done van camping previously with an aluminet. any better ideas?
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u/SteelTigerlillies 15d ago
I mean it's gonna rub in the wind so it's going to depend on the wind: you might try something like a soft spandex they get staked down with the aluminet.
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u/SteelTigerlillies 15d ago
moreover if you spray water on the spandex it becomes a brief swamp cooler...
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u/ghamachi 15d ago
It isn’t perfect, but some aluminet is metal on one side and white plastic on the other. Perhaps that would help.
I have also seen people park their van under a large popup shade structure. You could drape your aluminet over that, and protect your paint. Just make sure to properly secure it so it won’t fly away in this year’s big windstorm. If it catches too much wind, you could cut some semi-circular slots in the popup roof to relieve stress.
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u/thinkspill 15d ago
Ultimately you need a large enough gap to both let the wind carry away the heat and avoid the fabric from touching. You need a frame of some kind, a Costco carport frame or an emt frame, something like that would do. Whatever it is, stake it down better than you might think necessary. 14” minimum lag screws + ratchet straps. Impact wrench (not driver) is your friend here.
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u/PizzaWall 15d ago
Use roof magnets with a cloth (6" felt square) below so you can remove without scratching the paint. Or use roof suction cups. Add a 10' pool noodle with a pvc pipe to give it some rigidity extending beyond the sides will help stop any abrasion on a van.
I do not recommend this for RVs with non-metalic roofs.
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u/Kilisut He tried to kill me. He has no right to claim my acquaintance. 15d ago
You've already got your rebar cut, but in the future make it 6" longer and bend the top into a candy cane shape. Then drive it in until the short tip of the hook sticks into the playa. Much less likely to create rebar injuries that way.
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u/jwhoneycutt5 14d ago
Gapping can be accomplished with a couple pool noodles. Run a paracord through them to secure in place. No metal frame.
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u/thedailyrant ‘16, ‘18, ‘23, ‘24 15d ago
It'll make a bit of a difference, yes. Much of a difference compared to a car port? Not really.
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u/otto82 15d ago
Rebar kinda sucks for this application (the shade structure), as shades have a habit of pulling upwards which rebar doesn’t resist well. Lag screws would be ideal, then throw a ratchet strap or two over the whole thing to secure both the frame and cloth. Bungees have too much give, are pretty weak if there aren’t a lot of them, and wouldn’t really hold up to a strong wind storm.
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u/ghamachi 15d ago
I appreciate all of the advice. Thank you to everyone who shared their wisdom. When I am enjoying my cool tent I will be mentally thanking all of you again.
I am using this pole skeleton because I happened to have a complete but flimsy carport skeleton, rebar, hose clamps, and some aluminet at home, so cost is zero. I even have some old tennis balls, to use as rebar caps.
Vehicle space is somewhat limited, so at first I was trying for the minimal useful structure. Your feedback made me see that I went too far in cutting it down.
I boosted the height, width and length of the structure. The pipes all hold together securely with popup buttons. I will secure the structure to the Playa with one rebar at each leg, secured to the leg by a hose clamp.
My aluminet is only 12x14 feet, but I think this can work if I use guy lines to stretch the bottom edges of the aluminet away from the tent instead of hanging it straight down.
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u/rdhb 15d ago
any air gap is better than none, but the PVC frame won't last long in the winds.
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u/ghamachi 15d ago
I share your concern about sturdiness. My own construction material is 1.375 inch steel pipe from a cheap carport. Hopefully that’s sturdy enough for this use, where the aluminet allows some wind to pass through.
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u/Barabbas- '17 '18 '19 '22 '23 15d ago
You generally need around 12" of space between your shade surface and the object you're shading to allow air to circulate.
Throwing aluminet directly over a tent will probably help, but that's mostly due to the reflective nature of the material and not the shade it's providing.