So, for people having trouble sourcing Thermax HD, let me suggest an alternative route: Plywood covered with Reflectix.
Reflectix is that foil-coated bubble wrap stuff. It's about 25 cents a square foot, so say a hundred dollars to cover a Hexayurt. (might be more than that, I'm going from memory.) High R-value, mirror finish shiny, excellent on the outside of a hexayurt. You'd probably hold it in place with staples or tape. Staples probably. For the plywood hexayurt, there's a few approaches. One that I'm confident of is wooden or metal brackets and screws/bolts. You need 120 degree and 150 degree pieces. If you lap the plywood, you get one effect - slightly smaller but possibly *quite* tight. If you don't lap them you'll get tiny cracks between boards. The one we did at the ecovillage in London was really just a warm up. The next one will be properly documented and I'll publish plans too. One other point: the Sleepbreeze cooler is a 12V case fan running off a solar panel with a duct. I think it'd be a good idea to make a piece that fitted at the point of the roof, perhaps that the boards slotted into, with a fan set to blow out of the Hexayurt (furnace filter!) taking hot, stale air out of the top. You could run it direct drive off a solar panel. You could also wire in some 12V lighting (might need a voltage regulator, panels kick out up to 19V) and/or batteries. In a developing world application, I'd stick on a DC-DC voltage regulator and a mini-USB port to do phone charging too, sort of like a "utility node" at the top of the hexayurt. I've been talking about that stuff for several years, since I left America in fact. One of the folks I've been discussing it with sells an *excellent* (and I've tested it) cooling device that's ideal for Burning Man: http://sleepbreeze.co.uk I'll have some video of that on the vblog later, but it's an excellent piece of kit. My friend Andy makes them, and they work as described. Anyway, Andy and I have been scheming since I left the US about doing a proper roof cone electronics package for the Hexayurt, and while the Sleepbreeze isn't all that I'd want in that top node, it's a start. If the box had mini-USB out running off the same voltage regs as handle the fans, and some LED lights, it'd be damn near perfect. Vinay -- Vinay Gupta Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest http://bit.ly/flucode - please follow the Flu Code if you are in a flu-effected area. It protects us all. http://guptaoption.com/map - social project connection map http://hexayurt.com - free/open next generation human sheltering http://hexayurt.com/plan - the whole systems, big picture vision Gizmo Project VOIP : (USA) 775-743-1851 Skype/Gizmo/Gtalk/AIM: hexayurt Twitter: @hexayurt http://twitter.com/hexayurt UK Cell : +44 (0) 0795 425 3533 / USA VOIP (+1) 775-743-1851 "If it doesn't fit, force it." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hexayurt" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hexayurt?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
