Under Shelter

csonni

Finished erecting our 12x20 RoundTop shelter last weekend and got our T@G into it today. Had to remove the roof rack to clear the door but a very nice fit once inside. With our heavy snows, we may figure out how to erect a ridge pole under the centre of the ribs for extra support.

Bob297

Getting it out of the suns uv—two thumbs up!

LuckyJ

They are great, but trust me, you will have to remove the snow from it at every snow fall. On light accumulation, just use a broom from under and shake the tarp. On heavy accumulation, remove stge snow from the outside, working your way a section a tge time on each side so one side do not get all the remaining load. And try to clear tge side about two feet from tge wall to keep space to remove the snow. Keeping some snow at tge base will help support the shelter.

And make sure to stake it realy really good in the ground, they fly really easy if wind get under them, specially if front door is open and back wall is closed. 😎

csonni

@LuckyJ said:
They are great, but trust me, you will have to remove the snow from it at every snow fall. On light accumulation, just use a broom from under and shake the tarp. On heavy accumulation, remove stge snow from the outside, working your way a section a tge time on each side so one side do not get all the remaining load. And try to clear tge side about two feet from tge wall to keep space to remove the snow. Keeping some snow at tge base will help support the shelter.

And make sure to stake it realy really good in the ground, they fly really easy if wind get under them, specially if front door is open and back wall is closed. 😎

Thanks for that advice. And as you know, we do get the snow here. We have each leg cabled to a 16 inch auger stake. Not really looking forward to the additional work of snow clearing as we have so much already but, hey, to be expected I guess. Clearing the snow in sections make sense, LuckyJ, do you have one? Have you done anything to add extra support to the upper ribs? We were thinking of attaching 1x3 strapping to distribute the snow load during the times we’re unable to clear.

csonni

I was thinking of possibly running (2) 16 ft beams down the the middle ribs at each join supported by 4x4 posts front and back. Should add a good amount of support for the ribs at least/

LuckyJ

Sorry for tge delay to answer, I am actualy more the the north than you are. I am in Iqaluit NU. Been roving with the CCGS Des Groseillers for 3 weeks between Quebec city, the hudson bay, and Iqaluit on Ice escort and other duties, so it was back in snow country for me! 😊

Any how, over time, I got 3. Never new ones, always given, but they were all finaly crush by ice. I was keepi g them up all year round, but it was always tge structures that gave up under load, for all different reason. One gave after 3 in of very wet snow, 1 gave after a 20 in heavy snow in one single day, while I was away, it gave tge next day I lifted it up, but it was not on level plane, so it kind of went side ways, and tge third one received a pack of snow the slid from a side roof of my house, the night before i was due to clean tge snow from that foor section.

But we have stories of peoples getting crush under them cause they waited so long and when they began pushing the snow from under, the thing simply colapsed on them.

csonni

Some might think we’re crazy but we might pay to store our T@G this coming winter and see how snow clearing goes rather than have our T@G damaged from collapse. We do like having the shelter for protection from sun.

JamesDow

Maybe I am out of touch living in San Diego, but why would not a basic cover work for winter protection?

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csonni

@JamesDow said:
Maybe I am out of touch living in San Diego, but why would not a basic cover work for winter protection?

It actually came to mind yesterday but, with our snow here, that's a lot of weight. I don't really want to be clearing snow off the stargazer window and roof vent (even with a cover). We get 15 ft plus of snow. For summer time, it's easier to back into a shelter that pull a cover on. We also like to tinker with the T@G while it's sheltered. Couldn't do that with the cover.

LuckyJ

Just for info, in time, it will get a hard cover, shed roof style, but until then, we us a cover and we get about 25 feet average. With a plastic shovle and a long handle car broom, it works pretty well.