InTents August/September 2019 - 34

T

he IFAI Staking Study
and the TRD (Tent Rental
Division) Ballasting Tool
have improved the realworld practices of tent
rental companies, says Jim Reyen,
business director for Eureka! The Tent
Co., Binghamton, N.Y., and TRD chair
during the development of the ballasting
tool. "They've forced our industry to
do things better," he says, "but there
is a lot more room for improvement."

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34 intents

august-september 2019

The staking study, the ballasting tool and the IFAI
Procedural Handbook are three TRD-developed
resources that have raised industries standards
and safety. (See the sidebar on page 37.) Here, three
experts-Reyen; Michael Tharpe, TRD vice chairman
and national sales manager, Rainier Industries,
Tukwila, Wash.; and Nick Deninno, owner, PTG Event
Services, Bethpage, N.Y.-answer questions from
InTents about how to use the studies to get better
at anchoring tents. Tharpe and Reyen lead training
sessions and contributed to the development of
the ballasting study and the most recent edition of
the handbook. Deninno led an educational session
on staking and ballasting at Tent Expo 2019 and
serves on the TRD education committee.

USING THE STUDIES
How can tent rental professionals apply the
information in the staking and ballasting
studies within their own company?
Reyen: The goal of the staking study was to come up
with a user-friendly way to test soil to give you the
approximate holding power of stakes in the ield.
You could bring in an engineer to do soil testing or
use a dynamometer, but those are not user-friendly
or cost-effective ways to do it. You want to test the
soil in advance, so you know how to prepare for
an upcoming job or how to quote it. And the day
of the event, you want to retest it because things
change-the soil becomes drier or damper-and
the holding power might not be the same.
The way that a person can improve their knowledge
of how to stake correctly is to use the staking study
test, because you will ind out pretty quickly that
different soil conditions and types of soil change the
number of stakes you need. The angle of the stake and
the size of the stake changes the holding power. The
way the stake is attached and the attachment point
from the tent to the anchor matter. There are a lot of
variables that go into it, but very quickly you learn
what matters and what doesn't. With a sledgehammer,
a tape measure and a stake, you can quickly get a
good estimation of the holding power of that soil.
Tharpe: For ballasting, employees should be trained
in understanding how ballasting can be accomplished
and the factors to consider to properly ballast a
tent. Ballast can be accomplished in several ways:
InTents August/September 2019

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