Machinemart Tent garage thingy

[JeffR]

Has anyone got/used  one of the machine mart pop up garage thingies?  If so, are they worth the money. Having just got drenched in a downpour I've had enough of trying to work on the 110 outside exposed to the elements. Guess I'm getting old and soft.

[FridgeFreezer]

Worth asking what the difference is between that and a standard cheapy gazebo or similar?

Or just stretching a tarp out from the truck roof to the nearest tree or fence post etc...

[Exmoor Beast]

a mate bought a clarke one for his boat over winter. good bit of kit, much sturdier than a cheap gazebo. well worth £500

Will

[Anderzander]

I pass two of them near me - chap is having building work done so has moved two posh(ish) project cars into them.

They look very good, big too.

[bushwhacker]

Tarp worked for me. Eyelets down the drive side of the house and bunngees to the fence if it is just for working under.

[Anderzander]

The ones I saw were freestanding.

[smallfry]

I have got a little one  That I keep the mini digger in. 2.4 x 2.4. It has been up three years and is OK at the moment, but I suspect the cover is starting to degrade.

Does try to blow away when windy if not pegged or weighed down.

Ex boss has a couple too but much bigger. On one the cover went brittle, and tore over the frame after not even a year. All these including mine are green. Near neighbour has a much older grey one, which was made of far better material.

Costco did some a while back, dont know if they still do, but the colour is off white and are MUCH better quality.

Overall, I would not rush to buy another one, and feel they are a bit overpriced. When mine gives up, I have a canvas tarpaulin to put over the frame.

[muddy]

How about some scaffolding and a pair of wagon curtains, sturdier possibly cheaper and most importantly far more scope for personal injury!

[Retroanaconda]

Where you live Jeff I imagine it would not last the first winter. 

[Ed Poore]

14 hours ago, muddy said:

How about some scaffolding and a pair of wagon curtains, sturdier possibly cheaper and most importantly far more scope for personal injury!

Well I know a few years ago (2020?) I bought a load of aluminium scaffold tubes and clamps for £2k, it's enough to do four 5 lifts on the side of our 12m tall, 20m wide west wall of the house. I suspect you'd have a lot of change for building a carport out of that stuff.

[FridgeFreezer]

I'd look for people nearby on eBay selling off scaffolding bits or pallet racking, often it can be picked up for near scrap price and the great thing is when you don't need it anymore you can sell it on again for not far off what you paid for it.

A garage constructed from pallet racking would have awesome storage too!

[Anderzander]

I wonder what Mrs Jeff will think about the structure we’ve just described…😃 I know I wouldn’t get a lot of support for it 😂

[Ed Poore]

Actually @JeffR what @FridgeFreezer has said reminded me... I've got most of this lot going spare

Caveat is that I don't have any of the shelves left - it was waaay cheaper for me to buy this lot (60 bays I think) second hand from an old movie prop studio than it was to buy the half dozen or so bays new I actually wanted. They are the proper heavy duty Dexion racking (comfortably taking a couple of tonnes per shelf), bays were 24ft tall and ~1m deep I think (basically designed to take a euro pallet).

You're welcome to help yourself to what you want free of charge if you collect as I doubt I'm going to use any more of it*. You could easily cut them down to half height and bolt them together and then bolt more over the top then do what @muddy suggests and find a place that overhauls lorries and buy some of the old curtain sides to put over the top.

* unless I find some compatible shelves in which case I might keep a few.

[JeffR]

4 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

Where you live Jeff I imagine it would not last the first winter. 

I suspect you are correct, but needs must...

 

1 hour ago, Anderzander said:

I wonder what Mrs Jeff will think about the structure we’ve just described…😃 I know I wouldn’t get a lot of support for it 😂

She has put up with quite a bit over the years, a motley collection of scaffold and tarps may be a construction too far.  She teaches Judo for a hobby and I'm a coward......Hence something that will look goodish.  Also has to be temporary due to neighbours constant whinging.........

[elbekko]

You can get lightly damaged metal roof panels for very cheap. Screw those onto a wooden frame that you tie down with pegs and cables (or other suitably heavy things).

[smallfry]

9 hours ago, Anderzander said:

I wonder what Mrs Jeff will think about the structure we’ve just described…😃 I know I wouldn’t get a lot of support for it 😂

I bet the neighbours would love it.

[fmmv]

I'm worried about in Jeff vs scaffolding who would come off worse. Fingers caught in a clamp, or blunt instrument trauma from a pole, maybe choked by a tarp, endless possibilities.

[Snagger]

19 hours ago, Ed Poore said:

Actually @JeffR what @FridgeFreezer has said reminded me... I've got most of this lot going spare

Caveat is that I don't have any of the shelves left - it was waaay cheaper for me to buy this lot (60 bays I think) second hand from an old movie prop studio than it was to buy the half dozen or so bays new I actually wanted. They are the proper heavy duty Dexion racking (comfortably taking a couple of tonnes per shelf), bays were 24ft tall and ~1m deep I think (basically designed to take a euro pallet).

You're welcome to help yourself to what you want free of charge if you collect as I doubt I'm going to use any more of it*. You could easily cut them down to half height and bolt them together and then bolt more over the top then do what @muddy suggests and find a place that overhauls lorries and buy some of the old curtain sides to put over the top.

* unless I find some compatible shelves in which case I might keep a few.

I used to build those installations during school holidays many years ago.  I remember refurbishing the Boots depot in Aldershot - the uprights were spliced, so it was over 30’ tall, and we had to replace a lot of the front pillars in-situ as they had been buckled by careless forklift drivers.  We had to disconnect the beams and the diagonals, lift out the bent pillars and reassemble while climbing on them.  It was made even more treacherous by the black slime that had settled on the top of all the components, presumably a mixture of forklift exhaust and dust.  Not a nice job, and there was nothing to attach harnesses to, so it was all “freestyle”.  wouldn’t be allowed now!

[miketomcat]

@JeffR look up Dan cover. We've had several at work, they last ok. The woven plastic style covers last about two years before they tear due to UV. The heavy duty plasticised canvas style do much better around 5 years, there is an even heavier type that does about 10 year but all fail due to UV in the end and the price increases a lot with the quality.

Mike

[mickeyw]

I have one of the Clarke garage tents. It's definitely been very worthwhile and worth the money. I'd have preferred a decent garage sized shed, but aside from the substantial cost and time saving (erected by myself over 1 weekend while juggling obstacles that were already on the same patch of ground), I'd never have got permission for a garage 4" from my boundary, and in front of the building line. 

I opted for the slightly taller version, my RRC passes under the rolled up door comfortably and has resided in there now for a couple of years. I expect a 110 could be eased under there with a little care if you lift the canvas up a bit. One issue is ventilation, I get a lot of condensation in there in the winter, and it gets mega hot in the summer. In the USA they sell similar 'tents' with solar powered vent fans that fix into the end panels. I've been considering just adding a of louvred grille into each end.

The frame is a robust bolt-together tube construction that is chem-fixed to the existing concrete. The whole thing has stood up well to a couple of hurricanes so far.

[JeffR]

25 minutes ago, mickeyw said:

I have one of the Clarke garage tents. It's definitely been very worthwhile and worth the money. I'd have preferred a decent garage sized shed, but aside from the substantial cost and time saving (erected by myself over 1 weekend while juggling obstacles that were already on the same patch of ground), I'd never have got permission for a garage 4" from my boundary, and in front of the building line. 

I opted for the slightly taller version, my RRC passes under the rolled up door comfortably and has resided in there now for a couple of years. I expect a 110 could be eased under there with a little care if you lift the canvas up a bit. One issue is ventilation, I get a lot of condensation in there in the winter, and it gets mega hot in the summer. In the USA they sell similar 'tents' with solar powered vent fans that fix into the end panels. I've been considering just adding a of louvred grille into each end.

The frame is a robust bolt-together tube construction that is chem-fixed to the existing concrete. The whole thing has stood up well to a couple of hurricanes so far.

Summer in Northumberland can be very interesting, soooooo many LBB's (Little biting bar stewards), really ne something that is hermetically sealed to prevent exsanguination. Useful to know it can put up with high winds too.

Cheers Mickey

[mickeyw]

9 minutes ago, JeffR said:

Summer in Northumberland can be very interesting, soooooo many LBB's (Little biting bar stewards), really ne something that is hermetically sealed to prevent exsanguination. Useful to know it can put up with high winds too.

Cheers Mickey

Jeff I don't know if you have come across 'Smidge' LBB repellent? Apparently it's one of the few products that work on the Scottish variety, which they claim have much bigger teeth. It's been very effective for us down south too. You can buy it on that jungle website.

[JeffR]

12 minutes ago, mickeyw said:

Jeff I don't know if you have come across 'Smidge' LBB repellent? Apparently it's one of the few products that work on the Scottish variety, which they claim have much bigger teeth. It's been very effective for us down south too. You can buy it on that jungle website.

As a freshwater biologist, by employment, I have tried just about every repellent available ...  I now accept that I will continue  feeding the little buggers, although a few years back I ended up covered in old, used EP90, that actually worked in that it kept everything away, animal or vegetable. May well try Smidge though.

[HoSS]

On 9/14/2023 at 3:09 PM, JeffR said:

As a freshwater biologist, by employment, I have tried just about every repellent available ...  I now accept that I will continue  feeding the little buggers, although a few years back I ended up covered in old, used EP90, that actually worked in that it kept everything away, animal or vegetable. May well try Smidge though.

The advantage of EP90 is that it also keeps the missus away

[Ed Poore]

On 9/14/2023 at 3:09 PM, JeffR said:

As a freshwater biologist, by employment, I have tried just about every repellent available ...  I now accept that I will continue  feeding the little buggers, although a few years back I ended up covered in old, used EP90, that actually worked in that it kept everything away, animal or vegetable. May well try Smidge though.

With doing a fair bit of stalking and offroading in the Highlands I've found Smidge to be the only thing (apart from smoke) that works at all. It just doesn't last as long as they say, I'm sure one bottle I've had said 24h protection but I found it needed reapplying every couple of hours.