I thought I'd try a different approach to keeping the Minnesota snow and ice off my P21 this year.
Last year I had draped a poly tarp over my horizontal mast for weather protection. Despite ropes and bungee cords I encountered a lot of sagging areas in the tarp which restricted the snow and rain from draining off.
This year I spent about $130.00 on a Harbor Freight free standing fabric carport that measures 10 x 20 ft.
The tubing appeared to be a little light (1 3/8" steel) so I reinforced things a bit. I lashed a 2" PVC pipe to the ridge pole using Zip ties.
I also purchased some inexpensive ratchet straps to place between the supplied tubes which run from the ridge to the eaves. That reduced the unsupported roof fabric considerably.
The 1 3/8" supplied vertical support posts happened to fit nicely inside my larger diameter steel "boat dock" posts. This really firmed up and strengthened the vertical posts. I bolted the bottom plates of the vertical posts to some scrap plywood and then placed a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand on the plywood pieces.
So far we haven't had any large snowfalls, but several smaller snow falls and some pretty strong winds—35mph—and all is hanging together!
Sounds like a great solution Gary, even if you had to "further engineer" it a bit! Glad it's working out for you.
I have taken a couple photos of my "Sailboat" carport that I attempted to post.
I get the message the"file is too large".
I don't remember how to modify the photo(file) in order to post it?
HELP!!
I have taken a couple photos of my Sailboat carport that I have tried to post.
I get the message that the "file" is too large. Exceeds one Mb?
I don't recall how to modify the photo in order to post it?
HELP!
Quote from: gary-s on Jan 21, 2024, 08:21 PMI don't recall how to modify the photo in order to post it?
HELP!
Use a photo editor to reduce the size of the image(s) you wish to post. Make each image smaller than 1MB. Then you can upload the smaller image(s).
Gary, Here is one for you that I use a lot.
https://www.fotosizer.com/Download
Called Fotosizer.
You can specify how much to downsize the pics and you can do several pics in a batch.
My 4 and 5 Mega Byte pics typically reduce to 100 Kilo Bytes, or so.
I like that much downsizing, because they load faster when viewing.
Fotosizer_1.jpg
I also arrange the pics into folders (e.g. BEER Cruise, FL120, CDCR, Boat Shows etc.)
Then in each of those folders, I make a sub-folder titled: Tiny Pics.
Fotosizer_2.jpg
Then I run Fotosizer so I can take all the pics in the main folder and have the program route the results into the tiny folder.
Then I upload to TSBB from the Tiny Pics folder, leaving my original pics intact.
Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan
Thank you soo much for your responses.
I will work on downsizing the photos this evening then (hopefully) post the results!
Since I take all my photos these days on my phone, I always downsize them just by sending them to myself on the instant messenger app I prefer using (Telegram). Has the side effect of reducing resolution and compressing to around 300kB. And then I can easily access them on whatever device I am using when making the forum post.
Quote from: Charles Brennan on Jan 22, 2024, 10:27 AMGary, Here is one for you that I use a lot.
https://www.fotosizer.com/Download
Called Fotosizer.
You can specify how much to downsize the pics and you can do several pics in a batch.
My 4 and 5 Mega Byte pics typically reduce to 100 Kilo Bytes, or so.
I like that much downsizing, because they load faster when viewing.
Fotosizer_1.jpg
I also arrange the pics into folders (e.g. BEER Cruise, FL120, CDCR, Boat Shows etc.)
Then in each of those folders, I make a sub-folder titled: Tiny Pics.
Fotosizer_2.jpg
Then I run Fotosizer so I can take all the pics in the main folder and have the program route the results into the tiny folder.
Then I upload to TSBB from the Tiny Pics folder, leaving my original pics intact.
Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan