ShelterLogic Temporary Hanger (Pictures)

My friend David, who is building a Weedhopper (in the pictures) and gave me the Poorboy, just bought an 18 x 20 ShelterLogic Tent from Northern Tool and put it up, and I thought I'd share some pictures he sent me for anyone who ever considered doing the same or something similar... Ebay Listings of Same

You guys have probably seen vendors setup these kind of things at air shows like Oshkosh and stuff (I haven't), but I thought I'd post some pictures of one in a backyard with a plane or two in it ;-) Lots of Youtube videos of them with other things inside, like RV's and trucks. New snow in Indiana is as of yesterday.
















More pictures in this album...


The killer to the lifetime of these type things seems to be wind, which beats the tarps to death from flutter. If you can stop the flutter with something solid behind the tarps, I would think you could extend the lifetime of them greatly.

I told him maybe put some blue foam board up under the roof, to keep small puddles from forming in the middle between rafters and sagging the fabric as they grow and grow unchecked... good idea? That's what happened to ours, you were always pushing up on these blisters with your hands or a broom to dump the water.

 

That looks like one of the real light duty ones, the better ones are gray or green, which helps the fabric last by blocking UV (to an extent). I would never buy an angled top one again (I had one once), as you say water and snow collects on top, mine eventually collapsed after a heavy snow. The round top versions are a much better idea although you do lose a bit of interior space due to the sloped walls. The round top is better in the wind, too. The other problem is moisture, if you leave the dirt floor exposed you'll have water constantly condensing inside.

I just finished setting one up to store my Starduster while I'm working on it. It's the 12x20 round top "garage in a box" sold by Tractor Supply. After putting it up, I covered the dirt floor with 6 mil black plastic, laid wood pallets over that, then screwed 7/16" OSB (chipboard) to the pallets to make a raised floor. Now it stays completely dry inside. Before putting in the floor, water was constantly dripping from everything inside. I also cut holes in the end walls above the doors and put in louvered vents. The picture below was taken when the floor was halfway done.



First snow of the year today so we'll see how it does, but I don't anticipate any problems as I've had another one in the side yard for general storage for several years now, set up the same way.

Dana

 

Every once in a while some people will put one of those up around here for the winter and as soon as the first Alberta Clipper rolls through their shelter is scattered for 1/4 mile downwind with poles sticking out of the ground and tarp wrapped around the tree trunks.

 

https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=62371

I really liked mine. Will see how it survives the winter.

 

You are much younger than I imagined you.


BJC

 

I'm partial to the round top ones too... for the same reason.

I think you could put HF blue tarps down on the ground to keep the moisture down. I've got at least 10 HF 5x7 tarps I got for free with coupons. Put those blue free tarps down on the ground first, and then lay flat old cardboard boxes down on top of that to walk on top of, which are generally able to be scavenged free, and would keep your feet off the raw ground, and make it easier to find a nut or bolt if you drop it.

Or frame up a raised plyboard floor for it on concrete blocks. Then run a painted board on the outside along the bottom edge and screw it down every foot into your plyboard floor base, with the tarp sidewall sandwiched in between a 2x3 on the outside, and a 2x4 floor board base on the inside, to keep wind from getting under it. Mount your poles to the plyboard floor.

Pallets are a third good idea, like in Dana's pic, and usually free too, on Craigslist. I've used the same method of plyboard sheets laid on free pallets in our barn to get cardboard boxed storage stuff off the ground. Had the same barn flood, and it kept the stuff dry. I've since built up the dirt around the barn so that won't happen again.

 

Tarps would work, but water could run between the tarps. The plastic I used was one piece, I bought a 16x50 roll. If you used ply on blocks you'd need some support between the blocks, the nice thing about using the skids is the complete support, plus (I know you like this part, CG) they're free.

I also ran pressure treated 2x10s the length of the walls, lag screwed the frame to them, and put cinder blocks on them to weight it down, and also drilled the 2x10s and drove rebar spikes through them.

Dana

 

Even a solid roof joint has the potential to get crushed. If heavy snow is likely, I would either be out there knocking it off every few hours, or gotta have something with load bearing potential.

CT hasn't been getting blasted lately but we still have one or two snows every year that can squash the lesser tents and the thin tin sheds.

Ask me how I know, :gig:

 

Wait till the tarp fails then go get a real tarp made at a fabric building / tent / truck tarp shop... Bring in the remnants and they'll build a new one of decent quality that'll last a few years.

Snow load shouldn't be that bad - with the good fabric it'll slide right off - as long as it's not buried in a 12' drift - snow should shed.

 

PVC: a monkey with a (hand even) miter saw, fittings, pvc pipe, maybe small can of PVC pipe glue, and rebarb stakes could make this:



Not counting fittings, off the shelf 10ft pvc pipe lengths ($3.30 each) will give you something roughly 6.36 ft high in center by 12.75 wide at base... 20x20 tarp for roof, 12x20 on ground.

Talk about instant shelter. Closing up the half circle ends might be a challenge, but the roof (and floor) could just be one big tarp for each. The one on the ground doesn't have to be in the greatest of shape either... layer cardboard boxes on top of it to walk on. Will keep the moisture down and the plants from growing up on you.

Fun when it springs back to flat on you... I'd probably tie cheap clothes line from side to side at every base joint, so they are like bowstrings under tension.

10 ft stock PVC pipe will give me a quonset shape roughly 6.36 ft high in center by 12.75 wide, make it 20 ft long

$23.79 20x20 tarp on roof
$18.79 12x20 tarp on floor (optional, other, or scrounged)
$3.30ea Quantity 14 ten foot pieces of 1" PVC pipe
$1.27ea Quantity 10 1" PVC T joints
$2.77ea Quantity 5 1" PVC Plus Cross joints
$4.75 Can o' PVC Cement (optional, other, or have)
$1.25ea Quantity 10? Rebar stakes (optional, other, or scrounged/cut equivalent)
$2.56ea Quantity 2.. 50ft nylon clothes line string (optional, other, or scrounged equivalent)
======
$150 or so... minus what you already have or can scrounge or substitute.

What makes it tempting to me, is I have some 1" pipe already. Maybe a surplus, so I could do rafters every 2ft instead of every 4 or 5 ft. And tarps for the floor. I could end up having to buy just a 20x20 roof tarp and a bucket full of fittings.

I could probably skip buying most of the expensive fittings, and just drill holes and run carriage bolts through everything.

Someone told me to get a copy of Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding, there's some cheap shelter designs in it.

 

I have mentioned it before, but the wooden bow roof sheds are easy to build and many have survived rough weather without incident. A little more work than a premade pipe and tarp shelter but stronger and prettier IMHO.

http://www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html

 

Used to be a large green house business close to me that closed down and went out of business. Maybe 20 acres of greenhouses. I found some of the steel hoops and cut them down and making a smaller greenhouse over my raised bed gardens. Have the hoops up then winter got here. Bought enough for a 22'X27' for $25. When it get warmer I need to make the plywood ends and cover with greenhouse clear plastic. Sure I could have bought more for twice that size for a few bucks more.
I might want to add to my 48'x60' hanger to park my autos so I will have more space in the hanger for another airplane. I also got a good buy on 9-- 28' trusses for $75. New, been stored and never used. I believe I can add to the rear of the hanger at least 16' to the line fence. An addition of 28'x 16' will help.

 

I have one like in CG's first post... when I first put it up the wind was blowing really hard (we have some serious wind here in the mountains of New Mexico especially in spring) and it picked up my shelter blew it high enough to take out the 100 amp line going to my shop and took off down our drive way and rested with half the remaining poles high in a Ponderosa pine tree. I thought to myself, that didn't go well. So I scaled the tree, pulled the shelter back to earth and slowing dragged it back to where it started. The next morning after the electrician left, I set it back up and this time, buried the posts in cinder blocks then filled the holes with concrete, not before drilling holes through the bottom of the posts and putting steel rods through the holes to keep the poles from ever sliding out of the concrete. So now going into the second winter with it and it has been perfect, and our REALLY high UV here hasn't damaged it at all and it's in the sun all day. I'd buy another one.

 

Those bow sheds that cluttonfred mentioned are popular here in SE Ak. Thy seem to hold up much better than the metal pole cheep tents. I lost two 10 x 20 Costco tents a couple years ago from snow. One while I was getting coffee and fixing to go clear it. Poured coffee, looked out window, drank a few swigs, tent down. A little reinforcement would go a long way as far as snow load capability and shedding vs sagging.

 

I use one of the 20x10 models for a kitchen in our camp at Pennsic ( SCA event ) and have experience in keeping them from flying away. I've seen them tumble across the ground, hopping over and through expensive tents, like a dying bug in a Godzilla movie.

Rebar vertical in the ground, sticking up & down about 2 feet, or more, ( depending on soil ) and the vertical poles ( tubing ) slid over them. This is optional, but it helps. The important part is that every bay be crisscrossed by ropes to stakes in the ground. ( weld a ring to the rebar to be just at ground level to tie ropes to if you are feeling crafty ) If you need to leave one end uncrossed for access, that's ok.

I have the "gothic arch" version that is better than the simple angled roofs for snow load, but it helps to crisscross each roof bay with rope, and additional vertical ropes over the crossing point to reduce "pocketing" of the roof tarp. Crisscross ropes in the roof also hold the frame together if the tarp rips and blows out. Otherwise it's only membrane tension holding the frame together.

When we set up camp, we position the "carport", then just move each leg over a foot and pound in the rebar/ring stakes, then set it over the rebar, and get to tying it down. After years, the tie down ropes just go in the Totes with the joints and are all cut to size and knotted for use.

The bigger, the more stress, the more it needs to be tied down, the bigger the mess after a failure.

Yurts, Domes, Quonset huts, etc. There's a reason severe weather portable shelters for thousands of years have highly sloped or curved roofs.

After watching cabin tents being destroyed, and Wearing out a top quality Dome tent, AND setting up and taking down literally every kind of tent used by humans for the last 1000 years, ( SCA.org ) And seeing many of them destroyed in storms, I sleep in one of these. http://www.pasttents.com/ ( standard round ) It's a bit fussy to set up, but not really any more ropes and far fewer poles than most designs. It's designed to be carried to war on a mule, and not be the entire load.

Since I bought it, any time I've been soaking in my shorts in the storm have been because I got up to help save other people, and was secure in having a dry bed to return to after the crisis had past. In storms that would level many t-hangers.

 

I have one also. 10x20 peaked roof style. It needed serious anchoring to keep the winds from wrecking it. The plastic tarp is as cheap as I’ve seen. One year with it, it was getting pretty frayed. I bought a extreme duty tarp (16x16 thread) and put over the top. Works well. Heavy snowfall will collapse it. After a snow, I go inside with a shop broom and push up and all the snow falls off to the sides. Then I get the snowblower and move it away from the sides. It’s a 10 minute job added on to my regular snow blowing. We get 140 inches aseason.

 

And to that I say, "Brrrrr."

 

I moved 10 inches off the driveway yesterday from the overnight snow we got on Saturday.

 

It's been 80-85 degrees F here in Los Angeles and half of everything is on fire. 140 inches of snow would be a big help to the fire crews right about now! Just another Christmas winter holiday in LA...

(sorry, off-topic)

 

That's not me, that's my motivation.....
Canoe was finished later than planed, and school had already started so we only got to take it out a few times this year.
Then it got too cold to do any epoxy work in the tent for the 17ft powerboat....... (timeline plan was, 1. Canoe, 2. 17ft powerboat, 3. Zenith 750stol, 4. Cross country family plane)

Having the best wife/mother in the world however.... She agreed to let us use her dining room and living room for the winter.
We have been rearranging furniture, and moved the living area into the loft which had been her office and tv room.
We are almost done moving stuff around and got plastic on the floor and two walls last night, hopefully have the strong-back built and hull panels (already built) installed by Christmas.
By spring we should have the hull done and perhaps the interior as well and will slide it out the double garden doors at an angle (if my math is right it will barely fit at an angle) out to the tent to be painted.