Anchoring Inflatables

[Nodent]

Hello all,

In addition to me Pixel show I want inflatables for day time ambiance.

I am in a sometimes windy area.

Any suggestions from the pro's on securing?

Nodent

[tucsonlights]

Here in Arizona with the winds and ground is like cement I use either rebar or huge 12" nails( you can get at home depot) my inflatables never move.

[Nodent]

I use these,
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But was worried about tearing, do they tear easy?

[Roterhead]

+1, depending upon your soil.

If rocky, hard to get these in.
If really sandy soil, may pull out so you may want to double up.

But these work great...

I use these,
$T2eC16NHJHIE9nyseGtBBQ1EDINbz!~~60_35.JPG

But was worried about tearing, do they tear easy?

[mikeh65]

I'm in Illinois. For me I make sure I put the four little hooks in the blower base and I make sure to use at least four guide lines per blowup. To put the guide wires in the ground I use 8 to 10 inch galvanized nails. The main reason I using the nails is that they come out of the ground easier than the spiral hooks do and they don't break like the plastic tent stakes. Especially when the ground is frozen. For added fun, I cut the power cord on the inside that powers the lights. I then add a female plug end coming from the motor and a male plug end to the lights. This way I can put them back together if I want, but I then plug an extension cord in to the lights and connect them to a controller. This way I can control the lights in the blowup but leave the motor on and the blowup inflated. My blowups are part of the show, they sing the songs and talk to the audience.

[Hunter310]

I tried them for several years, and finally gave up on them. My problem was/is I get almost a wind tunnel up my street that causes them to blow over. Mine were setup with LED sticks inside to give them light and blinky flashy (they were part of the show too) but it became too much hassle to stand the internal PVC pipe stands up every night/few hours because the winds blew them over. I didn't want to glue the pipe, because of storage needs. Ended up putting a bolt and nut through each piece to keep it from spinning, but the winds still caused issue. Eventually gave up on the idea and am looking for cutouts or nice blowmolds to use instead.

But to answer your question, I used tent stakes to hold down the corners and sides, but couldn't keep them from falling over all the time due to the winds coming up my street.

[timpwk]

I use 1/2 inch dowels. I use them on all anchor points of the motor and also for all of the tether lines. I also have found that the spirals either freeze so solid you can not get them out, or if it rains and the ground gets soft they pull right out. I have also learned to attach the tethers using stainless steel wire as I have hat the tethers freeze to the steaks making removal very difficult at tear down.

[Wolfie]

For mine, I use large plastic T cross sectioned stakes from WM, Target or other sports store that sells camping supplies. I attached a paracord loop to them with a dog leash catch. Then I clip the loops from the blowups' guy lines. That allows my tautline hitch to work to adjust the guy length and allows for easy teardown. Come takedown time, I simply un-clip the stakes and I can ball up the inflatables. The stakes stay in-ground until it thaws in spring (Wisconsin). Then I pull them up for a cleaning and throw them in a bin for the next holiday. I use the same stakes for Halloween and Christmas blowups (different places in the yeard, same stakes) so thats why the separate box.

[coldsolderjoint]

Hi, I'm new here, but I have been anchoring to plywood or a pallet. I use plastic pipe strapping through the loops on the bottom of the inflatable, and put 2 to 4 drywall screws into the plywood. 3/4 inch plywood for me usually needs no weighing down, I usually put some pavers or sandbags on the 1/2 inch plywood. Looks a little messy during the day, but at night, nobody notices. I also don't have to use many guy lines, just on the really big ones.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B26...ZyNjBScnc/view

[kenoman742]

Here in Arizona with the winds and ground is like cement I use either rebar or huge 12" nails( you can get at home depot) my inflatables never move.

Here in Nevada I use the 12" nails from Lowe's for the same reasons.