!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

Hans Quistorff wrote:Tensioning the canvas on the frame?   [...] the ends put into mortises in the frame made a bow that held the center of the tarp tight.

I think that's a million-and-a-half dollar suggestion. Thank you...!

BEL #841

I have a brief update, both on Boot tasks as well as my own personal projects.

First: the box grader. There's a fancy attachment that goes on the back of the tractor, connected with the three-point-hitch. It's called a box grader, because it's shaped like a box, and it evens-out road surfaces.

There are two phases I've learned about when it comes to grading a newly-cut road (in our case, we had a 32-ton excavator that roughed-out the pathway for an access road we want to develop over at Basecamp). So the first phase of using the box grader is with what I call the "ripper hooks," which dig into the earth, and catch on the biggest rocks so they can be removed. The second phase is with the "grader blades," which fill in the ruts dug with the ripper hooks, and flatten the peaks of the furrows on either side of the ruts.

I've become better at using the box grader, and am learning more each time I use it. For this access road, here's what we started with. The dotted line marks where our "backyard" fence crosses the access road. It'll later be replaced with a gate.



Here's how it looked after a few passes with the ripper hooks. Apologies if the photo really doesn't show things clearly:



I still have some grader blades to use, but right now I think it's much improved. The pot-holes, the center "peak," and the biggest of the rocks are gone.

Over at the stewardship acre, I did more work to connect the roof frame supports together. They're still lashed together and haven't had final fasteners installed to connect them. I'm thinking bolts, but if I go with wooden fasteners (which, at least for the roof, is unlikely right now) then I'll use dowels and pins.

The roof frame is roughly 11ft x 11ft, and currently looks like this (leaned up against the frame):



I cleaned the "nubbins" from these supports, which will be affixed to the roof frame. They'll be placed about 7ft apart, and will attach to the tops of the walls running east-west. I plan on notching them so that the roof frame sits inside them, and then I'll notch the walls so that these supports will sit inside the tops of the walls.



I was puzzling over the way I would attach canvas over the roof frame and provide adequate support. Thanks to Hans Quistorff's suggestion on having bowed supports that run underneath the canvas. I think once the roof frame is complete, I'll fell some junk-pole sized supports and attach them at the positions shown in this mock-up:



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

I recently took in a live demonstration on auto camping from a century ago and chatted with the fellow afterward.  He said that it is the weave of old canvas being so tight that makes it waterproof, yet many people have put on "stuff" to seal or waterproof the canvas.  In many cases, that caused issues for the canvas (whether cracking or degradation in some other form) that ultimately led to it becoming less waterproof.

I have been granted stewardship of an early auto tent, so was keen to learn from this gentleman.  His demonstration included a 1927 trailer that was an early tent trailer (including Model T axle and wheels for running gear) and a number of camp items like folding chairs and similar.  I found it fascinating being an old car guy and former boy scout.

BEL #842

More progress to report on the roof structure. I am taking Hans' suggestion for a bowed roof to heart, and realized after thinking on it a while that the bowed sections will likely need a perpendicular support so everything stays in place. So that's what I started with once the full square was completed.

In most places where the two roundwood pieces connect together, I've notched out where the joints would go. This will also help for when I tighten the bolts that will connect the frame pieces together.



Here's the start of the first bow-frame piece: the "spine." Several other bowed pieces of wood will run perpendicular to this.



Next came the attachment of the skinnier end of the spine to the square frame. My first attempt broke. I think I was just trying to bend the skinny part too much, plus the drill bit I have is a 1/2" diameter and there's not much more to the wood than that. It might be 1" in diameter.



I bolted down both ends, then wrapped up my day with felling a couple junk-pole sized pieces to use as the perpendicular "ribs" across this spine. I'll see what I can finish before the weekend begins.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

For the "Speckled Longhaus" I just completed, all of the upper joinery was between round poles around 1-2 inches with lashings using twine. It was a $5 roll from Home Depot, 9lb breaking strength, of unspecified "natural fibers". I used the whole roll, and can place my full body weight on any of the arches or main spine with the frame being held together by this stuff. The knots were the square lashing at intersections and the sheer lashing (without frapping) to complete the arches.

I cut the ends of the arch poles with my 1" tenon maker and stuck them into deadman(?) logs in a gravel trench. Those tenons however were the weak point of many arches that broke on me when completing the arches. If I do something like this over, I would simply anchor the frame with holes and "gravel socks", expecting only a few years use out of them.

On the canvas, the 12oz "duck" cotton canvas I bought for the yurt and used on the Longhaus has kept water from leaking through the main sections, but does wick through where the support poles (uni rafters) touch the fabric, resulting in drips here and there. The site I bought from, bigduck.com, has 3 or 4 types of untreated cotton canvas and I am still trying to decipher exactly what each one specifically entails. Regular duck is described as having HD yarn used in one direction, but lighter yarn in the other. "Army Duck" is described as having HD yarn in both directions so is tighter of a weave and gives better water resistance. I'm still not sure how to compare the 10.5oz Army duck they sell with the 18, 21, or 24oz regular duck weaves as far as overall performance in a tent situation, looking to pool Permie knowledge on this one...