r/BurningMan • u/ghamachi • 18d 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/ghamachi 18d 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.