Sliding Door Gateway

This gateway was designed by the Patrol Leader who designed the portcullis gateway featured as one of the first projects on this blog.

The theme for Kontiki this year was 007, and the gateway was intended to be the door to a James Bond-style villain's lair. The three panels are made from corrugated plastic sheeting stitched onto a pioneered framework. A pair of guide poles at the(the drawing on the left shows how the two guide poles are placed on either side of the upright column), and another pair of guide poles sits at the bottom, guide the central panel, which is the door. We had originally planned to use a castor discarded from a remote controlled model aeroplane but were unable to fasten the wheel to the frame properly. A steel bench with the legs folded away proved to be a good flat surface for the door to slide along.

To be able to slide smoothly, the door needed to have no pole butts projecting out the bottom. The designer eventually arrived at a very tidy solution to the problem: A 'bent' or '7' tent peg (these are standard tent pegs for guylines in South Africa) is used in the corner, and the two poles that meet are round lashed to the tentpeg with sisal. If you don't have this type of tent peg available, then a length of quarter inch (8mm) steel rebar with a right angle bent in it is a good substitute.