Thoughts on a $35 Yurt
OK, I have had numerous people in the last month or so express a lot of interest in my mini yurt. I have promised I would make a post on just how I managed to build the cute little thing for so little (inflation may have inflated the cost a bit). So Here it is.
Mini Yurt
Having had many conversations with a guy from work on the world of scouting, I was not surprised when he asked me for ideas on how to make unique tents the scouts could build themselves. They had to be cheap, compact for storage, and build-able by scouts. Nothing like a building challenge to get me moving.
I had previously read an online manual on yurt building over at Woodland Yurts.
Woodlands Yurts Build a yurt online guide
I am not going to re-cover what is on his site. His manual tells how to make yurts for 8′ to 16′. I recommend reading it completely, and then reading the rest of this post.
For size and cost I went with 8′ yurt.
Materials Used.
The walls were made out of Cedar lathing. They come in 4′ lengths and are often found packed together with strapping in packages of 20. (mark the top lathe and drill through them all at the same time)
The roof beams were made out of Cedar 1″x6″x4′ fence posts (Could cut with any saw, but I figured jigsaw would be fastish, but scouts couldn’t kill them selves with it) I used a band saw.
The rope was braided nylon (melting the frayed ends of nylon to finish them)
The covers are out of brown tarpaulin (for scouters), and Canvas (painters drop cloths) for me.
Roof ring is out of recycled skids, or scrap plywood (scrounged),
Nails (recycled skid)
Door hole (recycled skids)
Tools for Scouts (minimum collateral damage)
Drill & drill bits
Jig Saw
Knife
Lighter
Hammer
wire snips
Difference in construction from the manual.
The main difference I had in mind for the scouters version was the use of nails hammered into the ends of the roof beams. Getting all the holes drilled at the right angles in the roof ring required jigs and stuff (or a drill press with a tilting deck). Hammering the nails into the roof beams only need to have the ends snipped off and then they could be bent to the right angle.
I also to keep cost down went with brown plastic tarps for the outer fabric. Canvas drop cloths add a bit to the cost but can be gotten for nothing (keep reading)
Secret to low price.
Canadian Tire Money! The ropes, and covers can be bought at Canadian tire using nothing but Canadian tire money. Yes its alot of money, but if you ask around you’d be surprised at just how many people are willing to hand over large stacks of the cash. I have collected hundreds of dollars over the years from the generosity of people I hardly now. I figured a scout troop of 20 kids would bring in mountains of cash in no time.
Canadian tires are everywhere in Canada. I have no idea if there is an equivalent store stateside that prints its own money… If it exists then awesome sauce.
Other thoughts
The 8′ round yurt is a nice size for a single person with a whole bunch of stuff. I fit in a 2.5′x6.3′ rope bed, aumbry cupboard, chest, archery equipment, coolers, rubbermaid totes. The low profile and round shape make it excellent in high winds. The hole unit packs up nice and small with everything but the roof ring and door panel fitting inside the rolled up lattice. I even had enough tarp left to sew up a bag that the unit fits into. The only thing that isn’t great about it is the interior height. I am 5′10″ and when I stand up straight I am looking out the smoke hole.
I chose to make my own style door out of recycled plywood, but the scouters version was just going to be the door frame and cloth door.
Nyaah, nyaah, my shelter’s smaller than your shelter!
Indeed, I find, for most needs, that sitting up is sufficient.
But if you _must_ stand, I’d think that longer wall laths would suffice; or, longer roof beams (do they really need to be so much heavier lumber than the wall laths?), that would make a steeper pitch, and a place to stand at dead centre.
Hey Dr. Carus, I too don’t really mind not standing up in the yurt. The problem with using lathe for the roof beams, is its only ~1/4″ thick. With a roof beam over 4′ long there would be way to much flex. It works really well for the walls as its all lashed together it diamond shapes. Triangular shapes have a lot of strength, long thin slats…not so much. Longer roof beams would mean the collapsed size would be longer than 4′ making transport in a hatchback much more difficult. Comprimised height for size and cost.
Coill Mhor wants to know if you can build us a castle. we have 50 bucks.
Hey Coill Mhor, I was just talking about you guys to a possible new recruit up there. I need more info on what requirements you have in a castle. Portable, wall and battlements (like Clinton outer wall), Inner platform, weight limits, breakdown wall sizes (truck bed?. In otherwords, Yes I can build a castle for $50, but it might be a dinky little thang.
So… how much would it have been without the Canadian Tire money? Down here in the states we don’t really have an equivalent… that I know of.
okay, 60 bucks, but we want murder holes for boiling oil, and a dungeon. Oh, and Finleach and his man at arms want a harem.
although, there is something to be said for a portable siegeable castle.. hmmm…
recruit? who?
$60 and you’d get a modular system that would wingnut together. I’d have to do a drawing design to figure out exact size, but it could be big enough to have a number of fighters behind it. Possibly a raised archers platform could be worked. Archery slots yes, murder holes no. You get to dig the dugeon yourself. The Haraam room would be a simple beduoin style tent out of tarps. Haraam girls cost extra. I am serious, you could build a usable breakdownable castle for very little. Ask people for house paint (white… then add carbon black to get greys) to paint the rockwork. Used skids are fairly easy to scavange. I can get skinply for free/very little. The biggest cost would be carriage bolts and wing nuts.
something like that would be ideal for demos… minus the harem. Although that would be quite a demo too..
I was thinking about something like that many moons ago before they built the current clinton castle. Something that would be siege able, but could be disassembled and taken away so noone could vandalize it. Maybe we’ll brainstorm it at clinton over rum.
The $35.00 was with no Canadian tire money. This gave you a tarp covers. If you wanted Canvas, I’d add another $40-50.cdn to buy two 8×12 painters drop cloths. You may not have a Canadian tire, but you might have a local hardware/general store that has decent sales. The 8 foot cloths have a center seem down the middle. These can be picked apart to get two peices of tarp that equal 4×24feet long. Enough to do the entire sidewall. The roof is one solid tarp carefully laid on the frame to make a cone. Make one cut up the cone then lay the excess over the first layer. leaving a seam allowance, cut off the left over canvas.
Thank you for the information.