About Yurts

Materials

Features

To Consider

Pricing

  Click any picture for a larger gallery
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yurts are our specialty! The tents we camp in ourselves are yurts and we highly recommend the experience! Camping in a yurt is tough to beat insofar as living and storage space, protection against the elements, and an all around "home away from home" feeling. Living and working in a circular space is a unique experience and gives many people a peaceful sense. Many people use their yurts as workshops, citing the creative inspiration a yurt gives them, and indeed yurts can serve many functions!

About   Back to Top

Yurts are the traditional tent homes of the nomadic peoples of central Asia and have served as such for many centuries. They were the primary dwelling for the nomadic Mongols who once controlled large parts of central Asia. Thus the yurt has many cultural variations in lands that are now known as China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and other countries. Yurts can be found in many of these areas to this day! Yurt is actually the Russian word for these structures; the Kazakh's who use them call them Kigizui and the Mongolians call them Ger. Yurt is the best known word however, which we will use here for purposes of easy recognition.

Yurts differ markedly from European notions of a tent in many ways since they were originally meant to be semi-permanent homes and not temporary shelters. A yurt consists of thin wooden rafters atop a circular, collapsible lattice wall (sometimes called a khana). These rafters converge at a roof ring in the center (sometimes called a tono.) There are tension bands or belly bands along the outside of the lattice wall, to keep the rafters from pushing out the wall. The rafters and curtains are supported by a rope woven around the top X ‘s of the wall. These elements make the entire structure free standing, without the need of stakes, guy lines, or even the tautness of fabric to keep the structure up.

Materials   Back to Top

Our yurts use the same time tested designs as the plains dwellers, but with a slight update of materials.

Walls and roof structure- Yurt walls were first made of flexible saplings, laced together with leather strips. Wood is still the primary material in existing yurts, and our yurts use hand picked pine lathes and rafters for our structure. A yurt is strong because of the redundancy and flexibility of its structure, and we find pine has a good blend of flexibility/elasticity and strength. If you would prefer a different wood, let us know and we will do our best to accommodate.

Lattice joinery - Instead of leather strips, stainless steel bolts hold our walls together, for increased durability and to serve as convenient hangers. Each bolt protrudes about a half an inch into the yurt to serve as 100+ coat hooks, pegs, shelf holders, etc. and there is a nut on the end of each bolt to keep any hanging items from slipping off. They have rounded heads so they wont scratch your canvas, and the ends on the inside are flat, not pointed. The bolts are not visible from the outside when the canvas is on the frame, so it still maintains a quite authentic look. If you prefer to have your bolts a different size, let us know we can shorten some or all of the bolts, or make them not stick out at all. Want only the first two rows of bolts to be "coat hook" size? Let us know!

Tension band and ropes - Historically woven cloth, sinew, or leather was used for bands and rope. We use 1 inch white nylon webbing with a break strength of 4200 lbs. We prefer this to rope for the tension bands since the wider surface of the webbing lies flat against the lattice, avoiding tangles.

Walls and roof fabric - We use top of the line Sunforger canvas for the best in water repellency and mildew resistance. This comes in a 10oz or 13oz variety, and both are a natural off white color. For more information on our canvas, click here

Dome and Door - The dome/cover over the roof ring and door are where most people personalize their yurt. The possibilities range from modern skylights, and doors, to wood or bamboo doors, tiered domes, and more. All our yurts come with a double thick rain fly that can be lashed over the hole in the roof ring during inclement weather, and a canvas flap door. We can also custom make wood domes and doors, and hope to offer a stock dome and door soon.

Features of a Yurt   Back to Top

Stability – Every point where the yurt meets the ground acts as an anchor to set it firmly in place, rather than the few poles and ropes that hold a traditional marquee tent down. The design of a yurt is excellent at distributing weight evenly around the structure, naturally dispersing any stress it receives down to the ground. See the picture to the right, where one of our craftsmen is hanging by the roof ring, which easily supports the weight. Keep in mind this is more stress than the yurt will ever come under in its lifetime during normal conditions,yet it handles it well. Also, the structure of a yurt is totally freestanding, and in no way dependant on the taughtness of canvas or guy ropes to stay up. This means less day-to-day maintenance than a marquee or wall tent, as there are no stakes or guy ropes to adjust.

Strength – A yurt's greatest strength is the redundancy built into its design, and the flexibility of its individual parts Even if you removed every third lathe along your wall, the structure would still hold itself up. Should you so choose, the yurt is strong enough to be stable even with fewer than half of the roof rafters inserted. The remainder of the structure picks up the slack from the open spots to ensure that the yurt remains standing.

Wind Resistance – Yurts are without a doubt, the high wind masters when it comes to tents. Yurts developed in areas of flat land with plains and valleys as far as the eye could see. Needless to say the winds in this kind of territory could get very harsh. The round shape of the yurt means that the wind will go around and above it rather than blowing it over, even in high winds. As such the yurt requires no additional structure, ropes, or supports in high winds.

Footprint – A marquee tent can have a footprint of anywhere between 2 and 5 feet beyond its usable inside space, due to support poles, ropes, and stakes. A yurt needs no poles, guy lines, stakes, or external ropes. This makes it the most space efficient tent around, because every inch of footprint it takes up on the land is usable interior space.

Floor Space – Like the outside, the inside is just as space efficient. Since the roof ring needs no center pole, the full interior is uninterrupted useable floor space. Traditionally, a fire was kept directly underneath the center roof ring so that the smoke could go right out the top. Feel free to put your bed, cook stove, or whatever else you'd like right in the center of your yurt, there's no pole to stop you.

Storage Space – Each bolt that joins the walls protrudes about a half inch into the interior of the yurt. Every single one of these can be used as a convenient hanging point for all types of items, from pots and pans, clothing, weapons, tapestries, shelves, and much more. The space this frees up on the floor cannot be underestimated and is one of the best features of a yurt. In addition, our rafters have holes at alternating ends on the inside edge specifically for hanging items of all types. A common tip is to take a rope and thread it through the topmost hole. Tie a light source to one end and pull it up to the roof, then wind it around the top of a lathe to tie it off. When you want to access the light source, untie it from the lathe and gently lower it to the ground.

Climate Control – In warm weather open the dome flap and raise up the walls a bit to allow a nice cross breeze as well as a sort of natural air conditioning. Warm air in the yurt will rise up through the roof ring, drawing cooler air from the ground into the yurt. In cold weather, simply keep the walls down and the door and roof flap shut, and even a few candles can raise the ambient temperature.

Doorway and Doors – You can put a hinged door on a yurt; in fact this is quite common among nomadic yurt dwellers even to this day. Your door can be anything as simple as a wooden sheet, to a thick carved double door. Not only does this contribute to the look of your yurt and offer you a great opportunity to customize, but allows you to lock your tent! What other type of tent can claim to do that?

Versatility– Yurts are at their best when used as semi-permanent structures. It's strong and versatile enough to be used in many ways for long periods of time. We often use our yurts as an outdoor dining area, shed/storage, workshop, gazebo or overall relaxation space. We encourage you to use your yurt beyond a camping space, as an extension of your home.

Things to Consider   Back to Top

Ease of transport - A yurt uses more wood than most standard tents, because of its free-standing structure. Though this structure lends the yurt greater strength, it does add some bulk. A collapsed yurt can still be transported on most cars with a roof rack or long cargo compartment,but be sure you have sufficent space in advance.

Set up time - Set up of a yurt can be tricky to some at first, particularly those used to European style tents, but as you put up and take down the yurt, the process will become easier. Also, once a yurt is up it requires little if any day to day maintenance or tightening. Keep in mind all our tents come with complete set up instructions, or we are happy offer an in-person demo if possible. Still, setup is easiest with at least two people.

Pricing and Policies   Back to Top

Deposit - We require a 30% non-refundable deposit to begin work on tent orders, the buttons below will add that deposit to your cart. The balance (plus tax if applicable) will be billed to you once your tent is complete and is due before your tent will ship. You may pay this balance earlier, should you so choose. Any options must be paid for along with your initial order, unless otherwise noted.

Shipping -
Shipping cost will also be included in the above mentioned bill and will be calculated based on your address, whether an in person pickup or event delivery can be scheduled, and final weight of your tent. We attend many events in the NJ/ East PA Area and are happy to schedule a delivery if possible. In-person pickups are also welcome, if you are near the central NJ area.

Build time - Please allow 4-6 weeks for the construction of your tent. This time can vary depending on how many orders we are working on at the time (Late spring / early summer tends to be the busiest time), the size of your tent, and other factors. If there is a specific date you would like to have your tent, we encourage you to order early! As we build, we will keep you updated via e-mails and/or pictures on the status of your tent, and an estimated completion date. We will notify you ASAP once it is ready to ship.

Warranty – All tents are covered under a 3 year warrantee, guaranteeing that they are free of manufacturing defects or faulty materials. See this link for more information.

The yurt - This contains everything you need to camp in comfort and style. Includes lattice wall, rafters, door frame, roof ring, and dome, canvas (wall/door panel, roof with integrated drawstring and dome flap), tension bands and full setup instructions.

A note on size: Due to variances in how level or sloped the ground is your diameter can vary slightly from setup to setup. In fact, you can purposely set the walls up a few inches taller or shorter to suit your tastes. Shallower diameter will result in a taller roof, wider diameter, a more shallow roof.

Diameter Interior Space Price Add to Cart

~10.5 feet

86.5 sq. ft. $1800
~12 feet 113 sq.ft. $2000
~14 feet 153 sq.ft. $2200
~16 feet 200 sq.ft. $2400
~18 feet 254 sq.ft. $2800
~20 feet 314 sq.ft. $3100
~24 feet 452 sq.ft. $3400
~28 feet 615 sq.ft. $3700
~30 feet 706 sq.ft. $4500

Options - A variety of options to customize your yurt

13 oz. Sunforger canvas- add 20% of base price- For the absolute best in weather resistance, we offer 13oz Sunforger canvas. This may be more than you need for the occasional camper but for those who anticipate extremely harsh conditions or set ups of a month or more, we recommend it. For more info on our canvas click here. (Please indicate in the "Optional Instructions" section as you check out if you would like 13oz canvas. Due to the limitations of paypal, we must bill separately for this option)

Flame retardant canvas - add $100 - If regulations require a flame retardant fabric where you camp, or if your own specifications call for such, Sunforger is also available with a flame retardant treatment that meets CPAI-84 regulations

Color

Stained structure (for yurts up to 18') - add $200 - We can stain all the wood of your structure for a more unique look to your structure. These colors range from traditional to exotic and look beautiful in day or night. The stain is applied to the walls, door frame, rafters and roof ring for a finish that contrasts nicely with the canvas. Finishes are available in a variety of colors.



Copyright © 2006 Traders of Tamerlane. Contact the webmaster