I have had the chance to take a much closer look at the lavvu now and I am pretty pleased. The quality is so good that I wonder how much better the equivalent Tentipi can be for another £600, I have heard they are fantastic, although I have never seen one... but I do wonder!
I have taken a pile of detail shots as I had real trouble finding decent photographs when I was researching this purchase. Double click on any of them for a good size image.
There are not many Tundra 8's in the country at the moment and apparently they take an age to come from Norway. I purchased it from Point Bar Wilderness and had to order the Bison wood burning stove and groundsheet from Mad Bear (40 day wait). The stove means I'll be able to take the boys camping later in the year too.
Point Bar Wilderness have been great, offering lots of after sales advice and hints and tips, and Mad Bear have been incredibly helpful too. They are both active on BCUK.
A couple of things pissed me off a bit, I had to re-tie all of the guys as they must have been hanked and then tied to the tent in the factory and were badly twisted. The other thing was the guy runners were plastic, not alloy/metal. No excuse on a tent of this price point and quality. I don't want one of those breaking on me on a windy night, because this thing could easily turn into a full sized parachute.
Oh yeah, I have to waterproof it too, but that is to be expected on a cotton tent.
It is a great tent to sleep in, not a drop of condensation even though we didn't use a full groundsheet and it was cool and comfortable all night. I am really pleased and looking forward to our first weekend in it :)
The door opens to two panels...
...or just a single panel.
Everything is very well put together.
The horrible hanked guys and those plastic runners.
Double mosquito doors.
Storm flaps all around.
Looking up with the top cap in place. This comes off if you use a firebox or the chimney of a stove slots through a special slit.
Decent chunky zippers.
Good quality tensioning straps all around.
Simple door tie backs.
Logo screen printed, not a sewn on patch.
Those straps again.
The roof cap. The guys at Point Bar suggested removing half of these and tying them to the guys to make them stand away from the tent (and stop contact leakage points).
Huge, solid un-bendable pegs (but no spares - shame)
View from inside.
Drying time.
Drying time.
I am assuming these loops are for drying/airing?
The tension strap buckles are just the right size. Have I got this wrong?
Cap off, light pouring in (and rain too if you are not careful).
Hope this is useful to someone :) Let me know if it is.
Chris
Posts
14 comments:
Chris, I take it this is all part of your anti-lightweight campaign?!
Certainly a fantastic tent... all 13Kg of it! Hang on, I've just checked again and that's actually 18Kgs. Yes!! And you got the stove too. Heck.
The pictures that really caught my eye were those of the tent drying, like some alien object hovering there.
Hah! You are right Baz, not the tent to use if you are having a sneaky wild camp behind a dry stone wall. The tent alone weighs more than my whole pack for the Cambrian Way.
At least with the stove you don't have to carry fuel ;)
Thanks for the laugh!
Chris
I thought it looked like a UFO in your garden, thought you had been up to some photoshoperry !
Hello Chris. Thanks for the pictures... Have you taken ownership of the stove yet? Do you have any pictures or comments about how it has worked?
Thanks from a Yank!
-Bo
Hi Bo,
I'm afraid that I don't have photos or comments on it's use yet. I gave it a couple of coats of BBQ paint and put it in my attic ready for some winter camping - and that didn't happen!
The stove is very well put together - solid steel sheet and pretty heavy. The flue is in several sections and slides together - not sure if the joints are going to leak smoke.
Sorry, that's not much help!
Chris
Chris, those loops are for hooking the bottom of the tent up. same as on the bell tents, it's to allow air to blow through on the hot days.
Pete
Thanks Pete, appreciate that.
Hi Chris, Pete here again. I keep coming back to look at these pictures. I have a 5m bell tent for our large family trips (6 of us) and have just ordered a Tundra 4 for trips where it might just be a couple or 3 of us. Looking foreward to it arriving. Bought from LittleBareFoot.ie for £200 less than what MadBearOutdoors are charging - so I couldn't resist.
If you're interested in aluminium guy runners for yours, let me know as I have loads here from a UK manufacturer. I've got them listed on ebay under MillisPerformance in packs of 10, but can adjust number and price to suit!
Pete
Hi Pete,
Good choice! I'll take a look at those runners too!
Are you Pete Millis from Brighton? If so, I bought a brilliant air filter for my Delica from you a couple of years ago via MDOC.
What a small world!
Cheers
Chris
Bloomin' 'eck Chris - yep, that's me! A very very small world :)
I'm still driving around in a Delica - great for camping with the family of 6, but still end up using a trailer as well for most of the gear. Mrs M used to sleep in it when we were camping as didn't like my tent. But I got hold of a lovely 5 metre canvas bell tent, and made it all comfortable with the inner and a big Indian coir rug, and she loves it.
Do you still have a Delica, or something else now?
My Bison Lavvu 4 arrived yesterday from LittleBareFoot.ie . Brilliant it is. Your pictures here helped gretly with choice making. Can't wait to pitch it, but better let Mrs M know I bought it first....I'm probably in for a bollocking.
Pete Millis from Brighton
Still have the Deli! Perfect for my lifestyle (and three kids!)
Enjoy the Bison. When you get it, make a cross out of two 18" lengths of 2x1 and lash it to the centre pole. Great for hanging coats, lamps, naughty sons, etc.
Chris
Hi Chris, thank you for the great photo's and review. It helped me and my wife in choosing a lavvu. We bought the same one!
I have a question though, did you use your stove in it already? if so, how did you protect the tent from the hot stovepipe? We bought a Kni-Co Alaskan stove for it and it's a great stove but we have yet to use it in the tent. Again, thanks for the review, it helped us a lot!
Barry
Hi Barry,
Ashamed to say that I haven't used the stove yet, but the flue is double walled at the exit point.
SoulPad.co.uk do a silicon collar that can be sewn in - that looks like a neat option to look at:
http://soulpad.co.uk/sanctuary/component/page,shop.browse/category_id,17/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,1/
Glad this was useful. I am really looking forward to getting out in the Lavvu this year. had an Easter trip planned - but it doesn't look like that will happen now!
Cheers
Chris
Very belated comments here! We have the same tent, also bought from PBW, and we absolutely love it - we've been camping in it every summer for the last three years. We thought your pictures of the tent hooked up on the inside looked very comical though... as far as we have always understood, the loops are intended for an inner tent to hook onto - we remember that at the time we bought the tent, there was an option to buy an inner which hooked inside. Your idea looks ingenious though! We actually use the loops to hang inspection lamps on when we are camping - though for preference we hang a lantern from a wrench clamped near the top of the pole!
Post a Comment