Safety at the shows for ourselves, our work and our displays is paramount. This is part one of my project, Holding Down the Booth, photos from various art fairs.
1. The basic:
2. The stake:
3. The ubiquitous pvc filled with concrete:
4. Two choices, not sure what that is on the left, but how did they fasten that concrete block to the tent?
5. The tractor weight, hooked to a bungee?
6. Serious about PVC!
7. Big tent, making sure with backup:
Any pros or cons about any of these systems? What do you use?
Comments
I hope that they work well for you, too.
I'm on my third set of weights…the first was sand filled bags made by ez-up. What a mess. Second set was a standard set of PVC/concrete weights, with the handle retroactively installed using a masonry bit. My current set is PVC also, but I made these out of square tubing (used to sheath fence posts, I think), with a handle and a cap. The shape makes them a bit more stable when standing in my garage, and they don't roll around my car! I have always wondered what the best placement for the weights is-hanging high or touching the ground-so I appreciate hearing from others.
I was gifted PVC Concrete weights that are about 25lb each maybe. -- Well they did save my tent from totally blowing away once but didn't stop it from drifting and nearly collapsing. It was all by itself in a wind tunnel. I moved my tent in to a different group of tents -- much safer. I'm getting mesh paneling this year, too, so hopefully those kinds of things won't be -AS- risky as they were with my old carpet panels!!!
Another factor that plays some factor is the type of tent used. When I did the Festival Acadiens year before last there was a big rain and wind storm on Saturday night. When we went there Sunday morning there were 27 tents that had blown over, filled with water on the top, collapsed and got destroyed. All tents had the required weights. My tent is a Trimline and it was standing and dry. Not all pop up tents in the show were destroyed but all that were destroyed were popups.
I've found that one of my 25-20 lb weights per leg work well in sustained breezes up to 15 mph. Wind speeds above that need two wts/leb and have been tested up to 35 mph. At 35 mph and above I get very concerned and when gusts get in the 40+ range the canopy starts leaning and wants to travel. That was was with sides on when it wanted to travel.
thanks Kathleen.. I really was interested because of the weight my cement ones add to my car when I have to drive long distances... I'll go look now.
Hi Lynnea,
I just looked and they are available at getundercover.com. We bought our canopy from them, and that's how we found the weights. At present they have a set for $59. (It's a set that was floor model or some such). They come with a set of webbing straps to attach to the tent. They sit on the ground. Once the water is emptied they fit in a small duffle with their straps. You can control how heavy they are by how full you fill them. We had a leak in one within the 2nd time we had used them and they replaced the weight with no questions asked.
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