"Now is the winter of our discount tent.."

[Seagreen]

\"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

Ok, yes it was a tagline of an article in PBO a while back, but its that time of year and I'm sourcing tarpaulins..

So, I cover Cleone in a homemade wood frame, tarps and timber with carpet chafe patches. This lot costs about £150 and is a semi permanent workshop.

Does anyone use scaffolding? What are he likely costs for a 36' boat. The solution has to be cheap, white light translucent and gale proof. Ground to apex about 16 feet, 36 feet long.

Any other ideas?

 

[asj1]

Re: \"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

Those tarpaulins/ plastic sheets seen on the outside of scoffolding covered buildings certainly look strong enough and I never see them torn. they might be ideal - but I wonder what the cost would be.

 

[sarabande]

Re: \"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

Try MONARFLEX, they have a good technical team and will be able to advise you on how to fix their traps to standard scaffolding.

http://monarflex.icopal.co.uk/productsubmenu.asp?id=145

 

[alan006]

Re: \"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

The best system I've seen ( I wish I could say it was my idea) was a frame the base and sides of which were formed by scaffolding and the centre ridge pole was made up of 4inch plastic pipe (This is round black downpipe). This was connected to the square scaffolding by 2inch white plastic pipe which made semi-circular roof beams which went through the 4inch pipe and back down the other side. The genius of this is there are no sharp edges to rub the covering and in a strong wind the top can flex slightly to reduce the strains. He also put ropes over the whole structure at about 6 foot intervals so the cover can't be pulled upwards. This structure lasted 3 years whilst the chap was doing a major rebuild. I've never seen a better solution and always wished it had been my idea.

 

[Seagreen]

Re: \"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

So the top was a curve formed by the two inch pipe? Nice one/
I'm trying to work out a way to get enough height to move about the deck (re-seaming) yet be flexible enough to "give" to big winds.

Last winter's cheap BQ tarps did a very good job, but being in a blue tent is just too depressing!
Does anyone know of long bendy stuff thats cheap? I want long lengths of bamboo or similar but it isn't readily found in Devon.

 

[2Tizwoz]

Re: \"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

Have you considered a polytunnel?

Remarkably the unreinforced polythene sheet typically lasts five years and is somewhat cheaper than a tarpaulin. Presumably it would last longer if you only erect it for the winter.

First Tunnels sell parts so you could purchase just what you need for a frame

 

[Seagreen]

Re: \"Now is the winter of our discount tent..\"

Thanks I'll investigate that one!

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