Canopy cheap canopy project

[psvines]

I hope it works out for you, and I'll be pleasantly surprised if it does. But I would guess you'll be lucky to get a full season out of it.

 

[Travelover]

The OP states that he has $125 in it. That's not a lot of money and he has had fun building and documenting it. And if it fails, he'll have even more fun finding an improvement and reporting out on that, too. I think he has been creative in choosing his materials, but time will tell if the design is practical.

 

[apease]

Indeed, more bracing would be better, metal pipe would be better, 8" sleeves would be better than PVC crosses, 11-mil silver tarp would be better than 5 mil blue etc. But, the keys here for me were cost, doing it myself rather than buying a $200 carport from Costco (have one already), and not doing something permanent that would have required a permit. Harbor Freight has a silver tarp for the same price as the blue I bought at Home Depot. But it was convenient to get all the supplies at the same place, including the PVC crosses and not have to pay for shipping. I'd like to think the hoop design is fairly strong, modulo the materials used. I tried to shape it into a catenary, in which most of the forces should be in compression, with little flexion. But the proof is in how long it lasts. I'll be happy to report when and if it fails, and folks can decide for themselves whether it's worth it.

 

[Trafficman]

Apease,
I got one of these when it went on sale. - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices Been up of 4 Yrs & it has just started to need new bungees for the front door.
T-Man.

 

[radair]

I'm sorry but this fails on functionality, engineering and appearance. I doubt anyone here is going to follow your approach.

That's kind of a Richard Cranium statement, don't you think? I think you're wrong on all 3 counts but have some reservations on the durability of the PVC hoops.

 

[smilykubota]

In my case, my wife's new car stays outside the garage

She hasn't said anything about the Kubota sitting in a nice dry garage

 

[Evil the Weasel]

That's kind of a Richard Cranium statement, don't you think? I think you're wrong on all 3 counts but have some reservations on the durability of the PVC hoops.

No, I don't think so. Apparently if someone posts pictures of a half-baked, embarassingly bad structure, we're supposed to heap praise on it? I'd argue that anybody that can afford a tractor can do better than that to protect the investment. And I'm right on all 3 counts. It's poorly built, poorly thought out (not tall enough, whoopsie), and an eyesore.