Hi ECOLOG-L, I am a PhD student in plant ecology from the University of Tuebingen (Germany). I am working in a drought experiment in temperate forest and grassland systems. Currently, I am trying to set up rainout shelters for my precipitation manipulation. Unfortunately, all materials and versions I tried so far did not work out. I used aluminium pipes for the metal frame which were connected with hose clamps. I used v-shaped soft foil channels for the water runoff. I tried two different types of ropes to fix the foil channels. First I used a rather soft plastic rope. The tension of the rope was not high enough tough which made the channels sag and the water collected in the channels. After that I tried with wire rope. In this case, when the tension was high enough to strain the channels, the whole metal frame started to deform. My next step would be to use steel pipes and proper pipe connectors to build a stable frame. The overall restriction is that I have to build a low budget version. I am also open to other materials, e.g. a wooden frame or channels made of solid plastic. If you have experience in building rainout shelters of any type, please share your knowledge with me and give me some practical advice. I would be very happy about it. Thanks a lot in advance, Nicola Lechner
