Building on Tomic’s 10′x 20′ Quonset hut design and designs gleaned from the interwebs we’ve Built a larger 20′x 60′PVC quonset. If you are looking for a solid affordable way to build a large shade structure this is an excellent design and has proven itself over the years at Burning Man. It’s open ended design allows good airflow and it’s ground to ground covering also make it an excellent shelter from sun and other elements. A very good description of this type of structure is provided on http://www.toad.com/gnu/clifs-shade-structure.html
The first ribs are bent and slipped over rebar stakes pounded into the ground at an interval matching the grommets in the tarp that makes the floor.
Dan and David assemble a rib. Ribs are made from 3 pieces of 10'X 1"3/4"grey PVC. Not shown here are the short sections of PVC that slip over the joints.
The quonset is about 20'across at the base and 10'-12'at the zenith. We didn't have enough PVC at the time to make the whole thing this is a little more than half the length.
We have not yet tested this new structure on playa
We placed a 20'X 15'over the top and stretched it tight with ratchetting tie-downs.
The Final size will be as long as the ground tarp which we see extending well beyond the section we built.
Temperatures were what you might find at burning man when we built this. It was quite bearable under the shelter.
We found these tarp clips worked great until it got hot. We found a work around using wire. These hold much better than the grommets that come with the tarp.
David,Robert and Mary Lynn inspect the final product.
Zsa Zsa and Xugar were on hand to help.