The Yurt's First Storm

[Scroll to the bottom to see a beautiful sunset rainbow...]

Badger pointed out to me that there are numerous ways that I can reinforce the yurt and that I could lose it all if I don't take the time to do it. So I did.

I stretched a tight line of paracord around the bottom to keep the feet from sliding out.

Here you can see three reinforcements: a "catch cord" around the lattice in case the tension band fails, a cord through the rafters to keep them from coming loose, and one of the tiedowns that will keep the whole thing from walking across the smooth deck.

Here's a closeup of those three cords.

The tiedown is bolted into one of the studs.

There's another cord through the rafters at the top to make sure that none of them can slip out of the ring.

Here's a snapshot of the first sunset rainbow that I can ever remember seeing.

It came at the end of a thunderstorm with lots of wind. I closed up shop and rushed home when it started to see how my reinforcements would hold up.

I felt a slight twinge of disappointment that there was absolutely no drama. The wind was whipping the trees outside and all I saw was a tiny ripple of the roof covering every few minutes. And then I remembered a few things...

1. I don't want drama. I want my home to be stable. Oh, right!

2. Yurts are incredibly aerodynamic. With the curved walls and a conical roof, there's no place for wind to get ahold. It glides by without pushing on the yurt at all.

So it turns out that my reinforcements were almost entirely unnecessary. But they're there now and my home is only more secure for their presence. Now to do something about the water the runs across the floor of the yurt just as it was designed to do...