Choosing a Yurt in NZ

[Delores]

Me too! Currently living in a boring box but never quite forsaking the dream of a triple concentric.

[Bob Rowlands]

Without any doubt whatsoever yurts are THE best tent ever invented. By a LARGE margin. No other tent is even kinda slightly close.

[Bob Rowlands]

Small wall tents are OK. But even those SUCK in any kind of wind. The unsupported panels catch the wind like a sail. Yurts have PHENOMENAL support for the canvas. You actually are very nicely protected by the wall lattice and roof rafters. Critters can rip through other tents where they can't in a yurt. If you have a solid locked door some jerk that wants in is gonna have to really work at it to get in.

[Scrubby]

My dad setup a basic camping tent to live in intermittently over the summer; my sister setup a tipi at the same time which she lives in full time. The storms we've had have ripped and torn through my dad's tent, knocked it down repeatedly as well as broken poles. My sisters tipi has withstood the same storms with only one snapped guy rope.

Question on platforms and decking. Initially I though to just have decking out the front of the yurt with some of it covered but then I thought, in the winter or rain when its wet and muddy, would we be better to have decking around the whole yurt so when we need to open/close windows we can do so a little easier? Anyone have thoughts on this?

[Jafo]

If you can do that, it will be easier for sure. However if you get a lot of snow, you may have to shovel more with a deck that extends beyond the yurt.

[Bob Rowlands]

Wall tents suck in the wind. The panels act as sails. A tipi sheds the wind incredibly well. Yurts also shed the wind very well.

As for perimeter decks, normally an 'Americanized' yurt is erected on a circular platform that is the actual yurt diameter. The wall cover laps the perimeter deck band. That keeps water from coming inside.

If you want to walk around on a deck surrounding the yurt, build an elevated circular platform that is yurt diameter, on top of your deck, with the perimeter band, and attach the cover to that. That solves water coming inside.

Alternatively, do a 'bath tub' floor inside the yurt with a tarp. Roll out a tarp bigger than your yurt diameter. Erect the yurt. Fold the tarp up on the outside of the lattice, UNDER the yurt cover. Snug the tarp and the wall cover to the lattice with the low rope band.

That's a good cheap system to keep water and bugs out, that can be installed on any deck or the ground. This gives you the option of doing whatever you want around the perimeter without spending a lot of money.

[Bob Rowlands]

Just for reference, my current yurt is 12'6" in diameter and sits atop my 16' platform. The top of the 16' platform is 2x6s. I caulked all the gaps to keep drafts and bugs out of my 16' yurt. Now that I have a 21" band of platform exposed to elements outside the wall, that is caulked and doesn't drain between the boards, water comes into the yurt at the bottom of the wall. Not much but it does come in.

As for walking around on the platform outside the yurt, for sure 21" around the perimeter is slightly too small for walking on, setting ladder on, etc. 3' and wider would be ideal for walk around and lean on rail. For lounging around and service work 4' would be a minimum.