I posted this idea here on the BM site.

I am seriously thinking about building a monkey hut to add to my yurt. It seems to me that the parachute effect of the wind getting under the hut could easily be minimized by not using one solid tarp, but a minimum of 3 tarps overlapped like very long roof shingles. So if a 20 x 10 tarp is normally used, maybe three 4 x 20 tarps stretched out length wise across the monkey hut frame, and over lapped by a foot or so. I know there are no 4 x 20 tarps, but I use that dimension to help draw the concept.

Imagine the wind blowing sideways across your camp….

1st idea: If the roof tarp goes on first, and the side tarps last, with the side tarps overlapping the roof, then air flow can exit going up through the roof from inside the hut if the edges of the sides are just a little loose. This would not allow so much lifting force. Airflow could not happen in the opposite direction so it would reduce dust ingress. But it would allow some rain to come in.

2nd idea: If the side tarps go on first, over lapped by the roof tarp, then the airflow could only move from outside the hut to the inside. I’m not sure that’s desirable. But it would keep the rain out. Hmmm. Maybe if the roof tarp was left looser with longer cords/bungees than the sides, or maybe only bungied to the end pvc loops, it would allow wind to escape by raising up some and letting the wind out. It would also keep the rain out. After thinking about it I like this idea best.

When the wind blows into the hut, it will have a route to escape through the two overlapping seams in the roof. But when wind tries to blow down onto the roof, the wind is blocked. The overlap of the 3 tarps provides a sort of one way valve for the air flow.

I thought of this because of street banners having so many crescent shaped cut outs made to allow the wind to blow through the banner, lowering the wind loading substantially. The problem with cutting crescents into a monkey hut tarp is that the wind and dust could blow into and out of the hut.

What do you think?