How to weigh down a canopy


 

fred nevill

TVWBB Member
Howdy all, I have entered my first comp but if things work out plan on about 3-5 more this year. Since I am just starting out I bought a First-up canopy at Walmart.

I figure if the comps are somewhere where I can stake down and tie down the canopy I would be fine. However I am wondering what to do if the comps are in parking lots or somewhere I cannot stake down.

I have seen that there are sand bags that wrap around the legs I can buy but I feel they are way to expensive and I would never get them in on time anyways. But I was thinking, which is VERY dangerous, that if I bought 4 5gallon buckets and filled them with water there would be enough weight to hold down the canopy and then after each use I could just dump the water rather than hauling around that extra weight.

Am I way off on this or is there a better idea that I have not thought about?
 
That works pretty well, I know several people that use that method. I made my own weights out of 4" PVC pipe filled with concrete. They weigh about the same as a 5 gal bucket of water but they have much smaller footprint so they are not a trip hazard. They work pretty well.
 
Fred, I compete and carry 6 empty 5 gal buckets. 4 of them I use for canopy weights when filled with H2O. The other 2 I use for drain buckets. They are light weight as you mention, you can stack them inside each other and fill the final one with stuff, space savers and they are relatively CHEAP!. Keep your tie down lines taught, and you should be able to withstand a good wind.

Mark
 
I used to use those spiral augers if it was a grass field but several times the ground was so hard packed that I couldn't get them down. A few times it was so soft that they wouldn't hold. On streets or parking lot I just took my chances. My last comp in Ocala showed me how wrong I was thinking. I saw several teams get their EZ-Ups wrecked in a matter of 5 minutes.

I'm now going with the 5 gallon buckets in each corner. My thought process goes like this. Each bucket holds 5 gallons. 1 gallon of water weighs about 8.35 pounds. 5 gallons X 8.35 equals 41.75 pounds. Four corners X 41.75 pounds equals 167 pounds. If the wind is bad enough to get that much weight off the ground then I shouldn't have the canopy up in the first place. In a panic I can simply cut the lines and bring it down fast.

One little tidbit that I did hear was to put lids on the buckets even if just loosely. People will throw trash and cigarette butts in the buckets and I certainly don't want to have to clean up that mess.

I do know a couple of teams that use the cement filled PVC tubes. Good idea but I don't want to haul that weight.

Guess I went a bit long, sorry.

Russ
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I do know a couple of teams that use the cement filled PVC tubes. Good idea but I don't want to haul that weight.

Russ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought about this too, but then realized that I will still have to carry the water from the source to my area.
 
We use 5 gallon buckets and ratchet straps or bungee cords.

I haven't heard good things about all the commercially available stuff, so we go the easy route.

We took a pop-up tent to the beach 2 weeks ago because we got sun poisoning the last time because of no available shade. We took 3 buckets, some ratchet straps and some bungee cords. We got it set up and folks were impressed...

We'd take the cords/straps off in the evening, pull the tent down to 4', move it back and re-attach it to the buckets for overnight. It stayed out there for 6 nights. Well worth the effort of dragging it out there and setting it up each day.

Yes, this was a private beach, not real populated and what people are there aren't teenagers or frat fools, so we felt comfortable leaving it out each night.

But yes, 5 gallon buckets with bungees or straps is definitely the way to go. We put the PVC extensions and other crap in the buckets, so they are dual-purpose.
 
We also use 5 gal buckets w/ water for all of the above mentioned reasons. Easy, cheap, stackable and light.

If you buy the buckets at HD or Lowes, they also have the lids. These seal the bucketsup so you don't have worry about them being knocked over and spilling water everywhere.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone, I thought the 5 gallon buckets were an easy idea but then I thought to easy something has to be off in my thought process, so its nice to think I may be on the right idea. I am going to buy some today also thinking about a getting some basic $1 plastic pails for the tie downs. I am thinking I can tie the strings to the handles and fill these with water as well then my canopy shouldnt move.
 

 

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