Weight needed to hold down canopy

R

Rob Albach

Guest
Hi All,

Going to Vegas this weekend with a standard 10' x 10' pop-up, will set up in paved parking lot...In your experience what is the ideal weight on each corner to keep it from blowing away. I was thinking 4 two gallon containers(80 lbs) per corner....what do you think too much or too little.
 
I use one cider block per leg and have seen people use a 5 gallon bucket filled with water per leg - both seem to work well out here with the Midwest winds. Your idea of using 80 pounds per corner may be a little over-kill, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Good luck in Vegas!
 
I use 5 gallon buckets as well. They travel light, pack well, can be useful and are easily filled and empty when needed. Get lids and some rope to tie them to the canopy and you are good to go. No need to carry extra weight around from home to contest and back again IMO.
 
Saw a guy at a contest this weekend using 25lb workout weights, one on each pole. The buckets with water have always served us well, tho...

Lynn H.
 
Another vote for 5 gallon buckets filled with water if on pavement. If water is easily available then when the wind picks up you can add buckets as necessarily. Good luck!
 
yup buckets. dont like hauling extra weight when you can get water at the comp. just got nailed by weather at Lexington, MA a few weekends ago, and buckets (supplied by Lowes for the teams!) worked great.
 
Buckets here as well when on asphalt - aren't the prettiest but do work well and very portable. Heavy duty stakes when on grass or gravel.
 
Rob Albach said:
Hi All,

Going to Vegas this weekend with a standard 10' x 10' pop-up, will set up in paved parking lot...In your experience what is the ideal weight on each corner to keep it from blowing away. I was thinking 4 two gallon containers(80 lbs) per corner....what do you think too much or too little.
Click to expand...


I use the 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot as well.

because I had to carry it on my back for many years, a Gallon of water is 8lbs and some change. you could probably drop that to 2 2gallon containers per corner and be fine.

Good luck in Vegas!
 
This weekend I saw 6 big guys and a lady all holding onto a canopy that was tied to the trailer on one side. Took all of them to keep it from flying. The guys from Sonny's BBQ had a 10x20 that they were doing promotion stuff under and it went flyinh and was a twisted piece of trash when it landed. They had staked all 6 legs to the ground.

We barely got our awnings donw before it got crazy. Horizontal rain and one person thought they saw rotation. 3:30 pm and that was the end of the festival just like that.

For your average storm those 5 gallon pails work. 2 per leg. Just remember it's better to use water than concrete or sand. When those 75 mph winds hit and the canopy takes off at least the buckets will dump once in the air and are not additional projectiles heading to somebodies truck or at a person. An 80 lb concrete pail can make a mess of a truck window, door, hood, etc.
 
Couple other ideas. I've seen some people use Hilti guns, but I don't know how the organizer feels about that....

If your coolers are big and heavy, use those as a tie down in addition to the buckets, weights, etc. Sometimes its good to have a center tie down in heavy winds rather than just the corners.

If you can have your truck in the space, I've used ratchet straps and the truck tie downs before.

If all that fails, have an extra canopy not setup for when the weather passes.
 
Ford said:
This weekend I saw 6 big guys and a lady all holding onto a canopy that was tied to the trailer on one side. Took all of them to keep it from flying. The guys from Sonny's BBQ had a 10x20 that they were doing promotion stuff under and it went flyinh and was a twisted piece of trash when it landed. They had staked all 6 legs to the ground.

We barely got our awnings donw before it got crazy. Horizontal rain and one person thought they saw rotation. 3:30 pm and that was the end of the festival just like that.

For your average storm those 5 gallon pails work. 2 per leg. Just remember it's better to use water than concrete or sand. When those 75 mph winds hit and the canopy takes off at least the buckets will dump once in the air and are not additional projectiles heading to somebodies truck or at a person. An 80 lb concrete pail can make a mess of a truck window, door, hood, etc.
Click to expand...

That was a wild one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard that Whiskey Bend lost 3 canopys ????
I saw several "flying by"..

BOT--the best thing we ever found was the water buckets for all the reasons given.
Just gotta take those suckers down when winds go over 50 or so!!!!

TIM
 
Based on the last contest I was at, 600 lbs of sandbags, 1 truck, 3 coolers and 3 200lb humans.

That will keep it mostly down.

We put 2 50 lb sandbags on each corner. Carry two extra two put on the bottom of any sides we strap on.
 
Thanks all for the many replies...Looks like I'm going with 3 2.5 gallon containers(75lbs)(duct taped together) per corner... I like the 5 gallon bucket idea but not too keen on trying to track down a water source...(or haul it too far) I have a bum knee just bareley gettin around as it is. Between my truck and trailer I have enough space for the containers. Thanks again...:)
 
Might I suggest you put your name and address on the canopy so whom ever finds it, can mail it back :wink:
 
Yeah, that was the wildest I've seen yet. Whiskey Bent lost 3 canopies, I know of at least 3 other teams that lost canopies. I got mine down about 15 minutes before it hit.

I will be buying 4 five gallon buckets this week but I agree with Tim, get them down if at all possible before the really bad stuff rolls in.

Russ
 
At salisbury this year we used four buckets and a heavy gust picked the entire thing up and moved it several feet. The landing bent one of the legs and we were just 2 minutes from taking it down. :sad:

Definitely take them down when it gets crazy!
 
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