- Dec 4, 2014
- 1,372
- 4,148
- Funster No
- 34,422
- MH
- Van Conversion
- Exp
- Been around the block a few times
We never managed to tick all the boxes with the ones for sale, they were either too heavy or too bulky. In the end we decided on making one.
After a look around on the internet Ripstop fabrics seemed to fit the bill; waterproof, lightweight,
strong and compact.
Couldn't find any poles which fitted our requirements - brush stales too bulky, telescopic didn't seem to last long etc.
Looking at various poles none seemed strong enough but hollow plastic-coated, metal, garden poles were cheap, very lightweight and easy to wipe clean.
After deciding the height of the windbreak we required, the poles were cut to length with a pipe slice. To make the poles more rigid I cut lengths of timber approximately 12mm square which was slightly less than the inside diameter. Then the hollow pole was partially filled with neutral curing silicone & the timber pushed down to the bottom, twisting it at the same time (bit messy this bit).
Next I bought some rubber walking stick ends with steel washer inserts; the idea being that the washers would stop the pole cutting into the rubber as they were hit with a rubber mallet. These ends were also stuck on with the silicone.
The Ripstop fabric was easily machined (so I'm told) with pockets for each pole depending on which configuration we require plus tie backs to fasten the windbreak to the van and to the poles.
An easy solution for fixing the tie backs to the poles was to use an elastic hair bobble in a figure eight allowing it to be tied at different heights. Loops were also put at the bottom to peg down if required.
The windbreak is 6m x 1.1m packs up really small and the 7 poles pack into a fishing rod size bag.
Used it about 12 times now with no problems with noise although I did put a couple of guy ropes on one windy night.