<grin> I couldn't get a hexayurt of that size to work with 2" tape - I'm just not that precise a builder!
Nice work, and I agree that the tape is becoming a weak link. We've specified "hexayurt tape" before - six inches wide, different glues, foil surface and when there was a company that was working with us to do a commercial edition I thought we would be able to get a run produced. That was a few years back, and there's no ongoing commercial development of tape right now that I'm aware of. But, yes, it's clearly an issue. I don't know what the smart answer is. Velcro? Vinay On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 2:00 AM, Zippy <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Y'all, > > We had an amazingly successful 2010 on the Playa with our first > Hexayurt. It really made a difference to our experience. Thanks to > everyone for sharing all of their great ideas, tips and tricks. > > One lesson among many that I came away with and want to share was > related to tape. I was lucky enough to bump into a veteran hexa- > yurter this past summer at a local Burn, and he warned me about the > disadvantages of the 6" bi-filament tape. The fact that it is hard to > handle, breaks down quickly due to heat, dryness and UV and is very > expensive, not to mention ugly in terms of its appearance and carbon > footprint. This drove me to find an alternative. > > I began by purchasing a 2" metallic tape, intending only to do my > panel edges with it, rather than using the bi-filament, which is too > wide for this purpose anyway. The product was: > > Nashua Tape Products - FlexFix Metallic Tape > 1.89 In. x 120.3 Yd. (48 mm x 110 m) > ~$11.00/Roll > > (Trust me, I don't work for or have affiliations with Nashua!!! I am > an anti-corporate leftist Burner freak) > > It is a very thin, strong, shiny, metallic coated plastic tape that is > more akin to regular packing tape than duct tape. It has a bit of > stretch and is very sticky, thus adheres well to a variety of > surfaces. To give an example of just how durable it is, today I was > stripping some off my post-Playa yurt, and finished the day with an > hour long soak in a very hot bath. After my bath, my wife spotted a > small scrap of tape (1 cm2) that was still adhered to my elbow! > > As I became more familiar with the product, I debated whether it could > be used for the structural joints. I did some test fitting beforehand > and the joints felt strong so I decided to take the chance, but took > the 6" bi-filament along as backup, just in case. I did use the 6" bi- > filament tape for the main final roof joint only, due to the ease at > which it can be strung over the structure with two people. > > We had early arrival, and set up the yurt only moments before the rain > storm hit at noon on Saturday. I put a guy-line at each of the 6 > corners, and had only taped the exterior seams. We were at 5:30 and C > and the wind was very strong. I watched the poor yurt from a distance > while I helped rescue our neighbors who had been caught mid-stride > erecting their carport, not knowing whether it would hold up to the > blast or not. Well, it did hold up, and after about a 45 minutes of > pretty intense winds and rain, I realized one vertical wall joint > hadn't even been taped. My wife had been inside the entire time and > she said it was pretty scary, as the walls and roof panels had been > flexing considerably under the wind load (1" R-MAX). > > After that I decided to tape all of the seams on the interior as well, > and once done, I never looked back. The yurt was solid as a rock with > two inch tape! No messy degraded 6" tape to deal with, and super easy > to cut apart at the end of the week with a blade. The only difficult > joint on the whole structure was the center roof joint that we taped > with bi-filament tape, which was peeling and bubbling due to the heat > and dryness. > > I am motivated to share the experience and encourage more people to > consider going this route. Now, obviously there is risk, as the shear > strength and strength of adhesion (due to smaller surface area) is > unlikely to be as high as the 6" bi-filament tape. However, although > there is no reasonable way to analyze such things on paper, and one > success story does not mean anything, I was very impressed with this > material. And, another thing I confirmed is that this material can > stand up to rain with no trouble. > > In the past 8 years on the Playa, I have experienced larger storms, > but Saturday's storm was formidable, and I feel confident my yurt > could have handled much, much more than it did once I taped both > sides. I'm a civil engineer in the default world, and I'll be > returning to the Playa with this 2" tape (yeah okay ... I'll bring the > 6", just in case ;)) > > CAVEAT! > > I beveled all of my joints and created a very tight, well-fitting, > structure. This takes time and diligence and using 2" tape absolutely > depends on this kind of accurate construction. If you have squared > panel edges and rough construction skills, I'd stick with 6" Tape! > > Advantages: > > Much cheaper > Much thinner, thus less buildup on yurt and long term maintenance > Much prettier > Much easier to cut during installation and teardown > Much easier to handle, to avoid wrinkles and folds > Much less material expended, therefore more environmentally friendly > Holds up much better under UV, heat and the dryness of the Playa > > Disadvantages: > > Can not be used to span errors in construction > Probably has lower strength of adhesion due to smaller surface area > VERY probably has lower shear strength than bi-filament tape. > > Hope this helps someone! > > -- > 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]<hexayurt%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/hexayurt?hl=en. > > -- Vinay Gupta Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest http://hexayurt.com - free/open next generation human sheltering http://hexayurt.com/plan - the whole systems, big picture vision "In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer" - Albert Camus Twitter/Skype/Gizmo/Gtalk/AIM: hexayurt UK Cell : +44 (0) 7500 895568 / USA VOIP (+1) 775-743-1851 -- 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.
