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1. I will be available on the coast from now until the end of the month, with the exception of August 29 and 30, to oversee your group coming to get tents.

Please email me when you would like to meet at the Long Beach site to get the tents, and I’ll be happy to meet you there at your specified time.

2. The break down and movement of these tents is no simple task. Please read below and arrive with an appropriate group of people and appropriate tools. I will ask that an authorized signature be given onsite for two documents: a user agreement and a liability waiver.

3. The tents are yours to use for as long as you need. When you are finished with them, we ask that the tents be returned to MCVS. The wood is yours to utilize as you see fit.

I should point out that these tents were really never built to be moved. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be moved, but it will be the work of multiple people and several hours per tent to break them down, and then the same to reconstruct them. It is also possible to erect the tents using poles (which have not been provided). I can give you the ordering information for those poles, but they are not cheap, and I suspect that for most of you ordering poles would be cost-prohibitive. Additionally, about half of the tents have air-conditioning units in them. The rest do not. Air-conditioners will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. I don’t know any other way to do it. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me on my mobile phone (see below). I look forward to working with all of you on this project.

Robert S. Renfroe

Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service

Special Projects Coordinator

Mobile #: 601.214.9653
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Erin Potter [mailto:erin.potter@restorationpoint.org]
> Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 10:25 PM
> To: robert@mcvs.org
> Subject: Tents in Long Beach
>
>
>
> Robert,
>
>
>
> Here is the e-mail as promised. Attached are a few photos to show you the steps to breaking
> down the tents. Here are some of our observations.
>
>
>
> Tools Needed: 8' ladder, hammers, drills, crowbar, philips head screwdrivers, sledge hammer,
> and a saw to free up the air conditioners
>
>
>
> Steps needed to take down the tents for a team of 6-8 people:
>
> 1) Untie ropes from posts (~5 min)
>
> 2) Roll the outer skin up to the peak (~5-10 min). The tent snags/gets stuck on the peak, so
> you need at least one on the roof.
>
> 3) Roll back the white underside of tent just as the outer layer was peeled off. (~5-10 min)
>
>
>
> This is where the teams when about it two different ways.
>
> Safer way:
>
> 4) Remove lights and smoke detectors
>
> 5) Take out luan from the ceiling section of tent.
>
> 6) Take the roof bracing down in an alternating pattern until you get down to the two ends
> bracing the roof skeleton.
>
> 7) Remove braces from one end and pull the roof down to the floor.
>
> 8) Pull other end down and remove braces.
>
> 9) Take doors out and remove panel box.
>
> 10) Remove luan and plywood with hammers and crowbar.
>
> 11) Walls can be removed as two sub-units or taken apart piece by piece (depends on the
> stability of the way when you get to this stage of deconstruction).
>
>
>
> Not as safe way:
>
> 4) Remove lights and smoke detectors.
>
> 5) Take out all luan and plywood sheets on walls.
>
> 6) Take out panel box and doors.
>
> 7) Have four people stand on one side of skeleton structure and push to one side. Building will
> collapse.
>
>
>
> Both of the ways took roughly the same amount of time (60-65 min) and resulted in the same
> amount of salvageable material.
>
>
>
> We did not touch the platforms because we felt it would take anther 30-45 minutes which we chose
> to invest in another test of removal of the skins and folding of the tents. Jim and the other
> guys taking down the tents did not see any way to save the platform. The width of the platform
> (16') is too wide to move in one piece and cutting it to a movable width could make it unusable.
> You could pry up the 3/4" plywood, but the nails present problems as they bend you hit them so
> you can't back them out. Jim and I do plan to go take another look at them and look at it from
> a different prospective when we do not have the time pressure we were facing with our teams.
>
>
>
> Like I mentioned to you this weekend, we are going to look into the pole system to reconstruct
> the tents. The tents are in relatively great shape. We did not attempt any of the canvas tents
> as there was a fair amount of dew on the ground that morning and those tents were damp.
>
>
>
> Let us know what else we can do to be of assistance in this process. Thanks Robert!
>
>
>
> Erin

Also, note: Kathleen Johnson has some experience with these tents. Her contact info is in the facility list under "Kathleen Johnson".