Set-Backs for Set-Ups

There were a number of set-backs with the set-up of the yurts--the canvas walls needed grommets, the rafters needed to be cut to size & drilled, the drilled holes needed the leather lacing to be tied to the khana, the tono cover needed to be grommeted, and then there were cables and ropes to hold it all together.  Besides all the work that needed to be done, we hadn't set them up in the dark before--which proved difficult, especially trying to feed small metal sticks into 1/4" holes 10 feet in the air--and there were structural issues with the rafter lengths and angles that needed to be resolved.  We abandoned setting up ours just an hour or so after we started.  It was getting cold and I wanted to quit before I broke anything, and pick it up in the morning.

A short while later, Avelyn and Michael arrived with their brood and we began setting up their tents.  It took all night (well, from the time they arrived at about 9:00 until we gave up around midnight) to get the frame of the yurt set up, with the help of one of our neighbors at the campsite, but it looked really wrong.  The tono was too high, which meant the rafters were too long.  We decided to get some sleep since it was getting VERY cold, their kids desperately needed sleep.  One had fallen asleep in my bed, but they scooped him up and they retired to the car to sleep with the three kids.  It was a long, cold, uncomfortable night, but we continued through most of Saturday with construction, and we finished enough of it for the yurt to be erected by dark (probably 10:00 or 11:00) and used for sleeping for Saturday and Sunday nights. 

Saturday night we had the opportunity to teach a little Yurt 101 to our volunteer assistants in the late afternoon, who offered the help and were all fascinated and curious about how the structures went together.  I ended up teaching the impromptu class and about ten people were there to either help and/or watch. 



Avelyn's yurt



Here is the finished 18' yurt!  There are some minor modifications to be made--the canvas walls are too long around, and we should have started lacing them on over the door and then folded them back into the structure.  Their door had a very clever locking system that Michael designed that, unfortunately, was broken by the older children within a few hours (they opted for a solid door to keep their youngest, who is not yet 2, from escaping and wandering the neighborhood in the middle of the night).  We mocked up a rope alternative that is too high for the kids to unlock, which caused them to want to--literally--climb the walls.  We must have scolded them ten times each to stop or the walls would crack--they're cedar, so they're very brittle.  We already discussed that if they break, we'll replace them with hem-fir or pine, or if we have it available or can find it cheap, oak, maple or some other hardwood.  Also in need of replacement/repair, the roof.  Note that it doesn't quite reach the edge of the yurt when it should extend 10" or more down the side.  It created a bit of a peek-a-boo for anyone over 5' 4"...I couldn't see into it unless I was on tip-toe... You can't see it, but the hole cut for the tono is too big.  It's really not a structural issue, but it's supposed to be smaller than the tono, not larger.  It works just fine for now, so she may opt to just add a foot or so around the outside of the canvas and call it good.  The last thing that will be modified is possibly adding some kind of anchoring mechanism in the door frame to hold the khana in place.  I lashed mine on in such a way that it only went so far into the door, and they may consider using that method, or putting something like pegs or blocks into it.  I think the lashing will be easier, personally.

This is my yurt!  It's a 12' diameter, which will be big enough to sleep 2-3 people (the kids).  It wasn't assembled the first night, as I said, but on Saturday we put rivets in the canvas walls, and put the thing together in the daylight with less fuss than the night before.  Part of the problem was that we needed to adjust the tension cable and we didn't have the tools to do that, but the next day we were able to borrow something from former shire members who were camped across the road from us.  It was great to see them again, and to see the little girl I used to nanny who is now all grown up and in college!  The tono cover wasn't done when the girls went to bed, but we were able to put it on before we went to bed.  We don't have a wooden door on this yurt; the walls overlap in the front forming a door. 

Of course, this means that I'm going to have to design a class for credit on Yurt Construction.  Probably subtitled "What we did wrong and how to avoid our mistakes." 

K.