I'm building a ger. You may know it as a yurt, or you may not know it at all. It's a type of Mongolian tent, the design of which has not changed for centuries. It's round, with no center pole, and withstands the winds of the steppe like no other style of tent. I've written a precis of my plans and procedures below.
Note: the author assumes the the reader has a basic knowledge of shop safety and safe use of power tools, and accepts no responsibility for any accidents that may occur to individuals using these plans.
khana • toono • rafters • canvas cover
start with: 155' of 60" wide boatshrunk Sunforger marine canvas
- Cut four 20' panels. Using a heavy duty sewing machine (ask around; you may know someone with an industrial machine and not know it), sew them together at the selvedge using flat fell seams. Instructions for a flat fell seam can be found here. Hem the ends.
- Cut a 47' length for the wall. Hem the ends.
- Put grommets into the top edge of the wall piece, 2' apart. You may also want to put grommets into the ends, so you can fasten them to the door frame.
- If you want a canvas door, cut a piece larger than your door opening by a couple of inches. Hem the raw edges. Put in grommets at the top and bottom to fasten it to the door frame and stake it down.
- Use the rest for a smoke hole cover. Hem edges and add grommets at the corners. You'll want to tie ropes to the corners to use in positioning the cover and staking it down.
That's it. Technically, this is the easiest part of making the ger. There will be some tweaking required; you will probably want to tailor the roof somewhat. We ended up cutting the corners off of our roof, creating an octagon. You will want to put grommets into edge of the roof so you can stake it down. We stake ours so it looks like a drumhead (see the page on setting up your ger).
khana • toono • rafters • canvas cover