On May 26, 2008

Hi Bob,

I have an 18′ dome I bought from Shelter Systems in
2001. This summer, I want to install a woodstove,
venting out one of my doors. According to the website,
you sugget rolling up a door and putting a sheet of
plywood with a circle cut in it to vent the pipe. My
confusion lies in the fact that the width of the door
is wider than 4′ (plywood comes as 4′ x 8′). How do I
seal the walls of the tent to the plywood to keep
weather and insects out? What inch plywood do you
recommend for this purpose?

Best, Josh

Hi Josh

Use 1/2″plywood that is made with exterior grade glue that will hold up when wet. The plywood “door plug” should be slightly bigger than the door opening and should fit inside the dome with the sides of the door openings lapping over the outside of the plywood. The plywood needs to be widen at the bottom. This can be done with some of the scrap that you cut from top of the plywood. A small triangle can be cut to fit the gap and then attached to the larger “plug” with a 3″ wide strip of plywood on both sides of the joint. You can then screw this juncture together or alternatively it can be glued with urethane glue. Drill two small holes near the top of the “plug” so you can tie the plywood to the two clips on the inside of the door opening. You can attach the door opening sides to the plywood with 1″ by 1/4″ strips of wood nailed or stapled over the over lap of the door opening. More info at: https://shelter-systems.com/lighthouse-manual.html

Sincerely,

Bob Gillis