Black Rock Yurt Storage Trailer (BRYST)

[Jay Batson]

Hi, fellow yurt-fans -

I’m inquiring how many people would be interested in an organized, large-scale yurt storage solution, with on-playa pickup/drop-off, for year-to-year storage at Burning Man. After reading this email, RSVP with answers to these three questions if interested. If enough people want this, I'll go do it.

Questions:

1. How many yurts would you want to store as described here?
   
2. Would you be ok that the trailer contents are NOT insured?
3. Do you need transport to/from your camp on-Playa? And would you be ok with one of the transport choices below?

Background:

I suspect a large number of yurts sit unused between burns. They take up valuable space in sheds / garages, or sit on (& kill) lawns. Some owners pay for storage near home. Yurts transported to/from the Playa get beat up (by other camp gear or ropes), and reduce gas mileage for people hauling them on cars. Plus, they're just a pain in the neck to plan for & transport.

This seems silly. Lots of big BM camps put stuff in semi-trailers, haul them on/off playa & store them in Gerlach between burns. Why not do that with trailers full of Yurts?

Plan:

Here's my goals. (Read "GOALS"; this is an in-process plan, and is not yet a firm offer. ;-)

• 1+ dry, enclosed semi-trailers 100% devoted to and optimized for yurt storage. No camp gear. Period. (# trailers depends on demand. I'm currently targeting 50-55 yurts / trailer.)
  
• Random access. A key planning goal is that nobody should have to wait for the trailer to be unloaded to get their yurt. Show up, pull your yurt, go to your camp.
• I’ve been using a 3D CAD package and have identified a loading scheme that enables this.
  
• Available readily on-Playa for yurt pick-up & drop-off. Hopefully:
• Placed somewhere between 5:30-6:30 and F-H.
• Arrives at least Thursday before gate open (if not earlier), and leaves Tuesday or Wednesday after the burn.
• Unattended, locked trailers. Those with yurts in storage would be given the combination to a lock on the trailer doors. Burners GOTTA LOCK THE DOOR behind them as they leave. :-)
• Dependability & quality. Your shelter matters.

Other details:

• Wrapping. Yurts must be package-wrapped in a tarp (use your floor tarp), with straps to keep it tight enough to be dragged along the trailer floor ON EDGE. Maximum 1/4” ply sandwich; prefer 1/8” ply.
  
• It'd be best if every yurt wrap also had the owners name stenciled on the tarp. No matter what, there will be string tags that attach to every yurt along the edge visible when stored.
• If practical, there'll be a chart showing where every owner's yurt is packed once the trailer is fully packed.
• All fees paid pre-burn.
• Contents insured? TBD. I have no cost quotes yet; but I'm betting trailer contents insurance will cost $thousands/year, which drives up costs a LOT - maybe by $50/yurt.
  

Target cost: $200 / yurt / year for H12 with 1” foam (14" thick allowance).  Other yurt sizes TBD, but proportionate. E.g. 1-1/2” foam is a 50% price premium. This price is still WILDLY subject to change.

On-Playa transport: Early discussions with people have revealed a need for a way to haul yurts between the trailer & camps. I’m VERY early in thinking about this. Single yurts can be transported from the trailer to your camp on the roof of whatever car you came in - even without a rack. But camps with many yurts may need bulk transport. I've started looking for flatbed trailers that can hold 10 (or so) yurts, towed behind a pickup. Like the semi-trailer, this needs purchased, and it's costly enough that transport needs to be an incremental charge. Here's my early thoughts on that:

• Bulk transport at pre-arranged times. ($20/yurt 1-way, $40/yurt round trip). Camps with lots of yurts would pre-arrange for pickup (pre-burn!).
  
• Transport on fixed, scheduled route. ($25/yurt 1-way, $50/yurt RT). Designed for people with one, or a couple of yurts, but no car, who have friends. Use friends to carry your yurt a couple streets, and wait for the flatbed, which runs all the way around the Playa on one ring street - e.g. H street. Runs Saturday-Monday (both weekends), from 2:00(street) &H and running clockwise to 10:00/H. Runs 2x/day (starts at 11am & 4pm).
  
• Single yurt transport on demand. ($30/yurt, $60 RT). This is the biggest waste of resources, so comes at a premium cost. It should be discouraged.
• Requires volunteers to drive the truck / trailer! Like pickup/dropoff, nobody wants to spend their entire burn handling yurts.
• (Note: I'm looking at various cart ideas that can be pushed / pulled. I don't want to complicate this thread with a discussion on that. Start another thread. ;-)

RSVP by replying to this email. Please delete all the text other than the questions / answers, to keep the thread readable.

Thanks

-jb

PS - Here's some other after-notes:

• I’m coordinating with Hal Muskat on this, since he’s been doing some storage to-date. My aim is to dramatically grow the size / capabilities in order to drive down costs & increase availability.
  
• I'm working on balancing this being a for-fee service in the presence of a gifting economy. I'm comfortable with this proposal as-is for two reasons:

1. Widespread precedent. There are already many vendors who charge for transport on/off playa, and provide storage off-site. Lots of camps already use such services. The concept is already a fact of life in Burning Man. BRYST becomes merely one more of those vendors, happily focused on yurt owners.
2. I intend to set this up as a "public benefit corporation". (Google that if needed, or see here.) I want an operating form that gives me the ability to operate quickly and independently; lots of last-minute stuff needs to get done at Burning Man, and I frankly don't want to have to track down a bunch of burners on-playa to because some expenditure needs a majority decision.
   
   BUT, my goal is NOT profit; I don't need money. My goal is to benefit burners. The public benefit corporation structure works perfect for this. I'll make the corp's stated purpose be to benefit burners who own yurts, and will issue an annual report on how well it is doing. (Using, e.g. NPS score, transparency in financial costs, etc. It needs to be lightweight, but accurate & transparent.)
   
   I'll aim to operate at roughly break-even. (Actually, I'll aim to be slightly cash-positive to create reserves for unexpected future costs like trailer repair, etc.)
   
   I believe this to be consistent with Burning Man ethos; I welcome discussion on this topic.

[Steve Upstill]

Questions:

1. How many yurts would you want to store as described here?
   

one or two, though that number could greatly increase

2. Would you be ok that the trailer contents are NOT insured?

Yes.

3. Do you need transport to/from your camp on-Playa? And would you be ok with one of the transport choices below?

I could manage one or two yurts.

[Jay Batson]

UPDATE ON REPLY INSTRUCTIONS:

It'll make it a LOT easier if we track replies in a google form. If you're merely replying as requested, please use this to provide your reply: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rN8dEm3FMGWnG3aL2d47830Pc0AQyiSOLMN4sFAzkVE/viewform?usp=send_form

Use replies to this email for further discussion (only).

Thanks

-jb

[Jason Adams]

Jay you are amazing. This seems fantastic. 

I'll reply on the form.

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[Jason Adams]

Also, while I'd be okay that they aren't insured, I have a feeling the small cost on top would be worth it.  Just bringing it up.

[Jay Batson]

On Jan 3, 2015, at 2:23 PM, Jason Adams <jasonada...@gmail.com> wrote:

Also, while I'd be okay that they aren't insured, I have a feeling the small cost on top would be worth it.  Just bringing it up.

I’ll definitely investigate getting a contents insurance quote. Once I know, I’ll poll everybody with pricing. It’ll have to be all or none.

-jb

--------

Jay Batson

bats...@gmail.com

Mobile: +1-978-758-1599

Blog: http://startupdj.com

Twitter: @jab

Schedule time to meet or talk

[hal muskat]

I should have a quote on Monday from my agent for contents and trailer. 

peace, Hal

[Jay Batson]

Excellent.

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[Kevin Fischer]

Interested! Also curious what the loading scheme is...

--

[Jay Batson]

You can see two versions of the loading scheme:

- Parallel to length: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6597732/BurningMan/YurtStorageTrailer-55.jpg

- Perpendicular to length: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6597732/BurningMan/YurtStorageTrailer-perpendicular.jpg

-jb

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[Jay Batson]

Be sure to fill in the form referred to in the follow-up email.

On Jan 3, 2015, at 6:51 PM, Kevin Fischer <kfis...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Dan March]

Hi Jay, Hal & All ~

Hal & I talked about storage just off playa in various forms, including containers.  I haven't heard back from the BRC guys who do things like deliver containers to big camps, but that was part of the plan Hal & I kicked around most.  Jay - do you know anything about that option?

That particular aside, I'd be very interested in storage on a fairly substantial scale.  Last year I made and brought almost 30 H12 and H15 yurts with 1.5" thick panels and lots of extras from stakes to photovoltaics.  I plan on increasing that number this year.   I made the yurts in LA and did all deliveries, distribution and pickups using my Sprinter and an 18' flatbed trailer.  I plan to fabricate out of Vallejo this year. 

A large percentage of people buying or renting yurts from me flew in, many from abroad - so logistics support was a need, for yurts but also other equipment. 

I agree that yurts pack nicely together and non-standard bits can muck up access, efficiency, etc. but some way - perhaps another trailer or container - to serve that need might be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan

[Jay Batson]

Dan -

On Jan 4, 2015, at 9:16 PM, Dan March <dr.dan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hal & I talked about storage just off playa in various forms, including containers.  I haven't heard back from the BRC guys who do things like deliver containers to big camps, but that was part of the plan Hal & I kicked around most.  Jay - do you know anything about that option?

Hal =========

I talked to Hal for an hour on Tuesday the 30th; I _think_ we’re on the same page. (I’m presuming you talked to him before that, so I _hope_ I’m incorporating all you guys already talked about. If not, let me know and I’ll re-connect with Hal.)

Quantity ==========

Wow - that’s a a nice bunch of yurts you’re bringing; you’re the 2nd guy I’ve heard of with at 35+ yurts. If both of you, plus Hal’s yurts, all want storage, we’re already talking 2 trailers. Cool!

It wouldn’t surprise me that word of storage might “get around” on the Playa during the burn, and I bet we end up with people showing up during the Burn looking to store. I may want to plan for some excess capacity (though I won’t buy an entire spare trailer! ;-)

Non-yurt gizmos ===========

I hear you about the need to store some other “stuff”. I get it; but I want to take this part slowly.

It’s a HIGH PRIORITY for me to preserve the ability of the first-arriving burner to get their yurt out of the trailer without having to unload a bunch of yurts to get to theirs. I will make many sacrifices to assure this feature, including saying No to other “stuff”.

However, I have some ideas about ways to handle “stuff”. (Think Side Kit storage containers.)

BRC guys ==============

In re: BRC delivery folks, note that both Willy & I are are intending to connect with Willy at Courtney Rock & Transport in Gerlach, who stores & delivers stuff to lots of camps.  Neither of us know is he has capacity; but we’ll coordinate our contact. (I’m just impatient, so I tried to call him this past weekend. He didn’t call back, but that’s to be expected.)

I also started an email thread with Placement at BMorg. They replied that they’re officially “on hiatus” until June; we won’t be able to pre-arrange placement before then. Bummer.

On Friday I also sent email to Outside Services at BMorg. They didn’t reply, but hey - it was Friday after New Years. Hopefully I’ll hear back in the next day or two. I need to figure out if we - or our truckers, or both - are considered “Outside Services Vendors”. If they want to get us qualified, it adds a couple hurdles, but I don’t think they’re an issue. (Being an OSV also gets a couple of early-access passes, which will certainly be needed.)

Also, Outside Services may be able to recommend other suppliers besides Willy if he doesn’t have capacity. I also know my camp leader at Playa Bike Repair also knows other folks.

Other ============

Interestingly, I just learned today that R-Max (the company who makes the Polyiso) also has a plant in Fernley. Fancy that! I may actually reach out to them; they might be interested in what we’re doing in several ways.

Thanks

-jb

[hal muskat]

G’morn,

Some clarifications

BRC costs are comparable to Willy. https://blackrockcity-participantstorageservice.pbworks.com/w/page/37207240/About

FAQ https://blackrockcity-participantstorageservice.pbworks.com/w/page/36906087/Storage-Container-FAQ

Jus spoke with Willy who has a waiting list of 15 people ahead of us. He does NOT allow access to containers during the year. 

NOR DO BRC!!!!! (see FAQ)

One advantage of an Outside Services contract is access via Pt 1 (12 mile gate). This is not necessary for a co-op if we are not going on & off playa. An OP contract is $800 and each ticket is approx $100 more than normal ticket prices and comes with Early Access. This is an expense not required for a storage co-op with a contact with an entity who already has an OS contract. 

Willy would NOT be able to haul containers stored elsewhere as he would not have any ability to load them away from his lot. I believe there are containers at my storage facility in Empire. Just sent her email. But again, loading could be an issue. I don’t think Gay has a large fork. 

I’ve an offer from someone with land just south of the BM ranch to store on his land. I’ll be meeting with him in Gerlach later this month. But his space still leaves the need for transpo. 

Confusing? Working towards more clarity.

Yes, RMax has a facility in Fernley. They ONLY sell 2nds out of the warehouse. NO RETAIL!!! In the past year, they have increased their production efficiency considerably. In the past, 90% of their 2nds were in good enough condition to be used for our purposes. Last year, it was down to less than 50% as their 2nd were REALLY not good enough for most applications. And, they do not store the 2nds they want to sell AND you can’t pick through a stack for the better ones. Those top 50 or 20 or whatever, that’s what you get. 

Peace, Hal