[Elfsea] Big Blue

[Armand Dragonetti]

After speaking with Ameline, who has facilitated some of the past repairs, she seems to feel what we have may still be salvageable. Past attempts to reinforce the seams have done so, but the process of stitching in the reinforcement, in and of itself, weakens the integrity of the surrounding material...so, the seam holds, but the area immediately adjacent to the repair tends to rip out next. It seems to me that rather than trying to patch little isolated areas, we could adhere a heavy duty liner (of sorts) to the four "corners" where the bulk of the stress gets concentrated. Not just the seams and grommets, but a much larger panel. Another possibility might be to construct a custom support frame for the high stress areas. Say a pole or strut that connects an outer center pole, down to the top of a regular wall-side pole (at the four corner points). Or perhaps even something a more substantial, but with the goal of allowing the top to be thrown over it all, with little or no tension on the top itself. (sort of like a cover for a cooler)
 
Ameline also brought up the fact that most really large tents, (circus tents and the like) are sectional, with the sections in effect getting laced together. (I think Ramone had a BFT like that). Sliced into three sections, the top would be easier to handle (though it might be more tedious getting it all together) If done with care, we could end up with a versatile pavilion that could be scaled down to use subsets of the pieces, like taking out a leaf in a table.
 
Not sure how practical any of that might be, but ....hey....at least I'm not afraid of sounding like an idiot. :-)
 
 
-=A=-   (The A is for anonymous)
 


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From: Betsy Marshall


I feel compelled to point out that the poles, ropes and stakes are all great- most of the walls are still in excellent condition- (maybe a few nibble holes hither and yon?) so what we really need is just a new top; in white or white and yellow would still go with the baronial color scheme, and I wonder if might it be possible to incorporate the "porch roof" section into a new top? Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.. Pyro.

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Greetings!

Well to get the ball rolling, these are the first things that popped into my pea brain....I'm not advocating anything in particular though.

1. What did we originally pay for it (approximately) and how much (approximately) have we spent repairing it so far? Roughly speaking, how many times have we used it? 

With those questions answered, what has it cost us per use? Have we gotten our money's worth, and if not, is it reasonable to think we ever will? Especially if we continue to need repairs after each use?

(I suggest also considering the less tangible costs of dealing with Big Blue, it takes time from "someone's" schedule to either do minor repairs or transport it to a place that can do them, the hassle of setup/teardown, loading and unloading, etc. some of which will exist with any pavilion, but the size sometimes makes it onerous if there are too few folks to help.)

2. What are the benefits that might justify the "costs"?  It may be a source of pride for some, as it is fairly impressive looking. Does it help attract prospects and other folks at demos and events? Does it help us appear more credible at say "Highland Games" than a series of small pavilions would?

3. With cost per use established, we have a benchmark to compare the cost/benefit or return-on-investment of any proposed replacement.

4. If we choose to retire it, what will replace it? And what is our budget for such? Does it "need" to be replaced?

5. If retired, could we make use of it for other purposes? (ie, cut up into banners, signage, mundanity covers for use by the populace, maybe use the walls to mask/hide parking areas at events, etc.)

6. Would it be more cost effective to simply try and sell it "as-is"?

I'm sure there are lots of ways to approach this, but that's all I've got time for at the moment. I'm very pleased to see the leadership in addressing the situation. EVERYONE should be able to contribute to some degree and be part of this process. NOW is the time to help out by speaking up.

Just my initial thoughts.

-=Armand=-

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