— We set it up in the yard for a week to watch it and see how it handled the elements. I got the call one morning saying the burg had collapsed. This was after it had accumulated 5-7 inches of wet heavy snow. One staff got in the middle, shoveled off the fabric, popped a few poles back in place and the burg self inflated so to speak (popped back up). Damage was one broken pole and one damaged hub. — If the dome is cold shaking lightly and gentle poking from inside will shed most snow easily. shake at the window triangles works best.
— We used 10″ square plywood with perlon rope to make deadmans for anchoring in the snow. One for each pvc touching the ground.
— We bought used astro turf for 60cents a sq. ft from a company in Texas and cut it to fit then cut it again for hauling. Heavy but it worked. Were looking into other alternatives.
— Putting the stove pipe through the door works but the door is 62″x 62″ so one piece of plywood does not do it. We used a piece 48″ x 62″ and then rolled down the door flap and tied it off. We then used a piece of fire wrap insulation to protect the pvc and the door fabric doing a drape and weave kinda thing. Worked well.
— We had an elbow out of the stove then a straight section inside and another straight piece outside, then an elbow going up. We stabilized the unit by sinking a ten foot piece of conduit into the snow pack and using hose clamps ( get the size right first) and bailing wire to secure it. The mesh spark arrestor needs cleaning every two days or get a dunce cap style top to the stove pipe.
— The area around the stove needs to be insulated or else the snow will melt out and the stove will drop, screwing up all your rigging.
— The dome heats up quickly to be very warm and cools down even faster when the stove goes out. condensation was pretty heavy and froze on the inside wall but knocked off and dried out quickly in the morning sun.
— We used parachute cord for clothes line for drying socks etc… We reached through the fabric flaps and tied it off to the hubs. This seemed most secure.
— The doors were hard to keep sealed even with bigger clamps once the fabric was cold and iced up a bit the clamps just want to pumpkin seed off.
— The dome did well in some pretty good stiff wind gusts and held 3-4 inches of light snow with out a problem. If the dome collapses the legs are what take the weight. We are goping to try 450 psi / pvc pipe for the leg sections.
— The material is incredibly strong. We tested a scrap piece with a hole in it. We could not get it to tear any further and we tried. I also tried burning it to see what would happen. It melts but does not burn.
— Replacing a hub was easy. I’m not looking forward to a grip clip replacement. Should practice before its necessary. The local hardware store had all the PVC I needed but none in the lighter 200 psi stock. Also, 10 footers come with a flared end so there is some waste when it comes to cutting spare parts.
— Were looking forward to what we can use the Hindinburg for next. It is a beautiful structure that gives off good vibes. Hope these notes help some one.