Rainwater Harvesting for Yurts

[Marshall Eppley]

I buy all my bolts at tractor supply by the pound. i use 5/16 i also get a few longer ones and put them near the top to hang coats on.

[Bob Rowlands]

Now that's a good idea.

[someshds]

The cane wont support bolts as it isnt that strong. It is a possibility for the Eucalyptus poles though. Isnt rope better though to join the wood? I watched a video with someone who used rope because the bolts kept on coming loose. Maybe he wasnt using washers?

[Knecht]

That, or use good old rawhide, like I did Plus screws to connect the four parts of the khana.

[someshds]

Can you explain how you use screws? which part is the 'four parts of khana'. sorry i'm a bit of a novice.

[Knecht]

You can check out my thread here in the yurt building session to see photos. My khana is made of four separate sections, to make it easier to operate and transport. Each of the sections is tied together using rawhide straps, like the Mongolians do. However, the four sections are connected together using screws instead of the rawhide; resulting in one continuous lattice (traditional Mongolian way to connect the khana sections is to overlap them and lace them together with woolen straps).
Aside of being traditional and looking better, the rawhide is way cheaper than screws, BTW.
I really recommend checking my thread, as it's one of the few here using metric measures and european materials. And since I was a total yurt novice couple months ago, I might have dealt with the same problems you will, so it may save you some troubles.

[hierony]

For lathe joints:

My yurt, from Adorjan Yurts outside Budapest, uses what has been called Binding posts (or Axle bolts or Sex Bolts or Chicago screw), steel ones, for the khana. It fits a little loose and gives some play (not too tight) and seems to work very well (no loose bolts, no broken bolts, no tight lathes). I've taken down/setup my yurt three or so times already and it's down well.

On some khana that I made myself, I used paracord--I got a spool, cut ~2 m lengths and melted a point onto each length. Tied a knot in each end, threaded it through, tied another knot on the opposite side and cut it. Repeat, ad infinitum :P I think it probably took around 4 man hours for threading & tying each khana section (5 sections for a 6 m yurt). Invite some friends over for a yurt-making party to make it go faster

[Bob Rowlands]

If you use bolts on the khana, use nylok nuts. They stay put without being snugged. Also, do not use washers. They rattle big time when the wind blows. Why not snug them, you ask? Well, then you can't expand and contract the khana. How do i know all this? Well...lets just say, anyone wanna buy 300 1/4" washers?

[someshds]

Just so its clear, I understand that when you refer to Khana you are referring to the wood that is used to build the wall section. Is it then a technical term in the yurting community?

In portugal we have cane which locally is called Cana.

My Check friend Joseph has build his yurt frame using this material tying together the crosses with rubbr, cut from old car inner tube

Can you please upload a picture of the connectors, much appreciated friends. :-)

[someshds]

Great idea to add longer bolts at the top of the Khana Wall Marshall.

Knecht, I'm reading your thread, but its gonna take me a bit as im in between tasks.

Thanks everyone for your input.