It has been easy over the years to say "i'm sheltered from the big winds and all is ok" and we have survived some big storms over the years.
My megatrees have always been sunk about 1M into the ground with a solid concrete in place tube for the pole that is broader at the base than at ground level
The poles are one piece 60mm x 3mm wall Aluminium 6.5M long that have the star attached above that.
On Monday 3rd 2022 the local region got hit by a massive storm with high winds, rain and hail.
The wind was blow directly up the street "left to right" in the photo below, this is from the south though most high wind stuff doesn't come directly up the street.
We have family members about 4k away that are still without power due to fallen trees and are likely to be 6 days without power.
Looking out my front door.... the large (300yr old) gum tree to the left lost a few big branches and was lucky not to go through a roof.
The Megatree was not in a good shape, however it did remain standing.
The ring at the bottom is 25mm Gal steel pipe anchored star pickets at six point in the ground.
you can see the pickets on the wind side got lifted out of the ground but i'm convinced the three on the other side being pushed down helped things.
The main 60mm pipe bent above the control boxes.
One of the welds snapped on the star and the whole thing was distorted.
It did not fall on the cars.
Pulled all the strings off and was left with a lovely bent pole
The topper was fine and survived the storm but didn't fair so well when we took the pole out of the ground and let it fall the ground.
We did end up with a large new skylight in the back patio..... lucky none of us were under it when it collapsed from the weight of the hail and water.
The Megatree was at least built with storms in mind and didn't break or fully fall.
Cheers
Phil
My megatrees have always been sunk about 1M into the ground with a solid concrete in place tube for the pole that is broader at the base than at ground level
The poles are one piece 60mm x 3mm wall Aluminium 6.5M long that have the star attached above that.
On Monday 3rd 2022 the local region got hit by a massive storm with high winds, rain and hail.
The wind was blow directly up the street "left to right" in the photo below, this is from the south though most high wind stuff doesn't come directly up the street.
We have family members about 4k away that are still without power due to fallen trees and are likely to be 6 days without power.
Looking out my front door.... the large (300yr old) gum tree to the left lost a few big branches and was lucky not to go through a roof.
The Megatree was not in a good shape, however it did remain standing.
The ring at the bottom is 25mm Gal steel pipe anchored star pickets at six point in the ground.
you can see the pickets on the wind side got lifted out of the ground but i'm convinced the three on the other side being pushed down helped things.
The main 60mm pipe bent above the control boxes.
One of the welds snapped on the star and the whole thing was distorted.
It did not fall on the cars.
Pulled all the strings off and was left with a lovely bent pole
The topper was fine and survived the storm but didn't fair so well when we took the pole out of the ground and let it fall the ground.
We did end up with a large new skylight in the back patio..... lucky none of us were under it when it collapsed from the weight of the hail and water.
The Megatree was at least built with storms in mind and didn't break or fully fall.
Cheers
Phil
