Nothing but net
October 5, 2013 9:08 AM Subscribe
Help me find netting to partly enclose a basketball court.
I need a barrier to stop a basketball from tumbling down a hill beside by driveway. Right now I use a couple of tennis nets, sans cables, strung one above the other between two poles. It’s 6 feet high, and it works, but it’s heavy and a pain to put up and down (a flexibility I prefer, but don’t absolutely require).
What I want is something lighter and less dense – I’m trying to stop a slow basketball, not a fast tennis ball. I think 9- or 10-inch squares of light twine would work perfectly. Bonus for large (~10 x 50), but I can easily string two smaller ones. And bonus for cheap.
Any ideas?
I need a barrier to stop a basketball from tumbling down a hill beside by driveway. Right now I use a couple of tennis nets, sans cables, strung one above the other between two poles. It’s 6 feet high, and it works, but it’s heavy and a pain to put up and down (a flexibility I prefer, but don’t absolutely require).
What I want is something lighter and less dense – I’m trying to stop a slow basketball, not a fast tennis ball. I think 9- or 10-inch squares of light twine would work perfectly. Bonus for large (~10 x 50), but I can easily string two smaller ones. And bonus for cheap.
Any ideas?
How about a military surplus store? You can buy custom panels from On Deck Sports. A 5' x 10' pc of netting costs $34.50 w/ shipping ($20). Or make your own.
posted by dtp at 9:21 AM on October 5, 2013
posted by dtp at 9:21 AM on October 5, 2013
How about chicken wire, or as Home Depot amusingly calls that class of wire barrier, poultry wire. It can stand most of its height, but you'll want to add some stakes to support it.
Or, for $30/100 ft, how about this gaudy orange mesh barrier? It'll stop a fast tennis ball, and it's falling-kid safe, at least on its own-- how you mount it may change that. Bright orange, though, so you might want to take it down when not in use; it'll look a bit construction-in-progress-y and neighboring homeowners could object.
The military surplus angle is good-- camo netting would be just fine for this application.
You could use screen mesh, the vinyl (?) stuff for making cheap screen panels for doors, decks, etc.; it comes in rolls that can be cheap-- I see $20/25'x48" as the cheapest in my homedepot.com search. Staple it to some stakes, and cable the stakes in place, and then roll the whole thing up when you're done playing.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:02 PM on October 5, 2013
Or, for $30/100 ft, how about this gaudy orange mesh barrier? It'll stop a fast tennis ball, and it's falling-kid safe, at least on its own-- how you mount it may change that. Bright orange, though, so you might want to take it down when not in use; it'll look a bit construction-in-progress-y and neighboring homeowners could object.
The military surplus angle is good-- camo netting would be just fine for this application.
You could use screen mesh, the vinyl (?) stuff for making cheap screen panels for doors, decks, etc.; it comes in rolls that can be cheap-- I see $20/25'x48" as the cheapest in my homedepot.com search. Staple it to some stakes, and cable the stakes in place, and then roll the whole thing up when you're done playing.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:02 PM on October 5, 2013
If you were to go the chicken wire route, don't look for chicken wire at Home Depot. Instead, look for the same thing in a bigger roll sold as stucco mesh. $45 gets you a really big roll of that stuff.
posted by azpenguin at 9:36 PM on October 5, 2013
posted by azpenguin at 9:36 PM on October 5, 2013
My god what you need is a fisherman! Or a connection to a fishing community. In salmon country the dumps have entire bins designated solely for nets. You'd have access to free nets of various kinds. Locals use them to enclose their chicken pens and gardens and such.
Seriously, if you can come up with any connection to a fishing boat, or anyone in or near maritime Alaska, Pacific Northwest or New England, explore that!
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 4:12 AM on October 6, 2013
Seriously, if you can come up with any connection to a fishing boat, or anyone in or near maritime Alaska, Pacific Northwest or New England, explore that!
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 4:12 AM on October 6, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
There's plenty available online for around $125 up, so I may have wasted my question. Still, if anybody has a source to recommend, or a supercheap, easy-to-find alternative, I'm all ears.
posted by LonnieK at 9:19 AM on October 5, 2013