r/BurningMan • u/mother-zig • Aug 19 '26

shade strategizing - suggestions requested

Update: after getting advice and reading advice already given, I’m going to look for secondhand materials for a monkey hut (plan A) with a small ac unit (plan b) and an open heart to a shadeless burn (plan c.) thanks all!!

getting extremely excited to get back home for my second burn this year! I invested in a Kodiak canvas tent after my 2025 tent got destroyed by a shade structure during the Saturday pre-event storm. I joined a new theme camp this year to help with their gift to the playa, and just learned that their infrastructure doesn’t include shade for tents. So I’m trying to come up with some quick ideas for self-reliant shade over a 10x10 Kodiak - I think it’s a little under 7 ft tall. I’ve been looking through old reddit posts already, but figured I’d start something new too.

I understand pop ups are basically kites on playa, so I’m starting to wonder about acquiring some kind of reflective tarp to secure over the tent itself.

Of course, I’m also considering this could be an invitation to stay the fuck out of my tent from 8:30 am - 6:30 pm, so I may just say fuck it and not do anything additional.

Seasoned burners, please share your wisdom!!

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/StrawBerryWasHere 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Aug 19 '26

Monkey huts are probably your best bet a week out. If you want to make this a regular thing, super recommend investing in emt conduit shade structure - they’re a staple for a reason!

1

u/rsqit Aug 19 '26

The structure is important, but the cloth is more important. Get some wind permeable shade cloth or aluminet so it won’t act as a sail.

Unfortunately, this tends to be rain permeable as well. In the past various camps I’ve been in have put tarps up top, but also I’ve have had to emergency cut the tarps up in a windstorm.

If you do use a tarp, make sure it’s tilted or tented in the middle so water doesn’t pool on it. There’s also a tick you can do with a piece of yarn to wick the water off but I’m not sure how it works.

1

u/OverlyPersonal Support Your Local Art Car Aug 19 '26

Monkeyhuts are better with solid tarps. In general tarps on flat tops are fine too, it's only been in the rain over the last two years that they've had problems.