More and more often beach volleyball events are being run in city centres or tennis stadiums or other locations where sand is trucked in to make a temporary court. Many times the sand is barely at the international standard depth of 40cm and sometimes can be as low as 30cm. And if the surface you are building on isn't level you may find one side is deeper than the other. For the safety of the players I would consider anything less than 25cm as dangerous (for elite level anything less than 30cm). However even at 40cm you will still be lucky if your posts will stay upright and not lean inwards when tension is applied to the net. Obviously the critical factor is the weight of the sand holding the posts in place and the deeper the sand the more weight. At 50cm you are probably going to be able to install normally and put full tension on and be ok but for an international event I would still want an extra guarantee. Remember posts should never lean inwards--this is an incorrect installation and may cause problems later on in your event when extra tension may need to be added and the post begins to lean even more or perhaps even begin to lift out. Some installations in shallower sand have used sandbags or other weights (even large bricks and concrete pavers) as extra weight on the feet of the post base. This doesn't really offer much extra solid support and can also be dangerous as the weights are often close to the surface.
Funtec posts in any location should always be installed with a slight outwards lean on the post. The newer Funtec post bases come with the correct angle built into the base which makes this very easy for you especially if you are building on a flat hard surface under the sand. This lean outwards is to allow for slight movement when tension is applied to the net and the posts should then pull into a vertical position and remain vertical indefinitely (depending on sand type and weather and usage etc)
The post bases for both Senoh and Funtec are basically the same below sand level - both are a T-shaped base with lengths of timber protruding in 3 directions.
The key to a firm post is the weight of the sand on top of the legs to stop them from moving. So the best solution is to increase the surface area of the base and legs and therefore increase the weight of the sand holding it in place. To do this get a standard sheet of plywood (or similar but treated plywood will last for many uses) and cut it in half so you have 2 pieces at 1200mm x 1200mm. Sit each piece underneath the funtec or senoh base and flip it up on its side so you can screw the plywood from underneath through into the 3 lengths of timber. 4 screws (3 inch or 75mm approx) per leg will be sufficient. If using the older funtec bases without the angle built in you will want to ensure you get the slight backward lean by putting an extra piece of timber under the front leg before you screw it together. Next you have to dig a large square hole to put the post base in along with its attached sheet of plywood. With the surface area gained and the weight of all that sand this post will not move even in 25cm of sand depth. A fairly cheap and easy solution to ensure your posts stay perfect for your event!
The photo above is of a court I built in a city square using the above method with 35-40cm of sand depth and the newer Funtec post bases. We could put as much tension as we wanted with zero movement from the post bases all week.
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