Tipi!! | Squat the Planet

Tipi!!

eskimo

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Anyone ever made a tipi before? I feel like it would be a pretty kick ass shelter. There are some pretty simple designs. A bunch of long relatively straight branches and a tarp. You can have a small fire in them if you're careful too, so why not? I have some ideas, but if anyone has made them in the past, I wanna hear some tips and what not.
 

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warlo

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I have written an article about a Lavvu (Tipi) I made and how its done. Its a centerpole version, weights less than 2kg and its very compact for traveling. Its also tall and wide, many people fit in and you can stand inside. Not even mention you can have a fire for cooking, heating, relaxing, etc.

http://www.bonsai.cf/a/Lávvu

I think its a great design, but now i moved into some greater ideas, still with lavvu in mind but better, soon I'll get some of it online.
 

eskimo

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Very very nice. That's got to be the best center pole design I've seen yet. I'm going to have to steal your design and try to make it quite a bit bigger. Do you think a really big one would be sturdy enough with a center pole?


I have written an article about a Lavvu (Tipi) I made and how its done. Its a centerpole version, weights less than 2kg and its very compact for traveling. Its also tall and wide, many people fit in and you can stand inside. Not even mention you can have a fire for cooking, heating, relaxing, etc.

http://www.bonsai.cf/a/Lávvu

I think its a great design, but now i moved into some greater ideas, still with lavvu in mind but better, soon I'll get some of it online.
 
D

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I stayed in a tipi at a commune in Washington last year. They made it with canvas and about a dozen young pines. There was a fire pit inside, though the ventilation was pretty bad even with the top open. If you have a fire keep the door flap up, even if its really cold. ventilation is important for small ones too. I have dreads and smelled like fire for weeks haha
11072496_415227188658788_6339024832343540763_n.jpg
 

1lostnate

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I have written an article about a Lavvu (Tipi) I made and how its done. Its a centerpole version, weights less than 2kg and its very compact for traveling. Its also tall and wide, many people fit in and you can stand inside. Not even mention you can have a fire for cooking, heating, relaxing, etc.

http://www.bonsai.cf/a/Lávvu

I think its a great design, but now i moved into some greater ideas, still with lavvu in mind but better, soon I'll get some of it online.

That's awesome. I had never thought about having a small portable tipi. I'm gonna have to use that one. the tyvek Is a good idea but would be real noisy. I'll have to do some more research on this. Thank you.
 

warlo

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Very very nice. That's got to be the best center pole design I've seen yet. I'm going to have to steal your design and try to make it quite a bit bigger. Do you think a really big one would be sturdy enough with a center pole?

No stealing, the article is meant to inspire others to do the same or improve the design.

I did this one about a year ago, now im doing something similar but smaller and more lightweight (as well as multifuncion). Something I've learnd in the process of making my new design, is that the pizza slices are a bit unnecessary. I did that because you always get fabric in 1,50m by as much as you want (in that case was 10 meters long) and I thought at the time that making this pizza slices look alikes was the best option. Now I would just overlap the fabric and then cut it. something like this:

(EDIT, I did some ascci art here and when publishing it it got broken all the time, sorry, no visual example, will come up with something if you dont understand what i mean by reading.)

Of course this is a very limited example, hope it helps anyways.
The other way is tested and works wonders, but its a lot of work (unless you have a sewing machine) so if you can, try this other method out and let me know how it goes!

About stability, I think that the centerpole and 8 spikes design is very stable. if the fabric can take pressure, you can adjust it very tight and the stuff wont move even on the hardest winds as its quite aerodinamic and the design itself pulls the structure's weight to the ground trough the centerpole (that shit gets really stiff when its properly set up)
 

warlo

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I stayed in a tipi at a commune in Washington last year. They made it with canvas and about a dozen young pines. There was a fire pit inside, though the ventilation was pretty bad even with the top open. If you have a fire keep the door flap up, even if its really cold. ventilation is important for small ones too. I have dreads and smelled like fire for weeks haha View attachment 28789

One of the main points of the tipi design is that it encourages ventilation in a way that smoke spirals its way up straight from the fire. If you have experience lots of smoke on the inside, it means that the tipi was not properly set up or that the smoke flaps were not being properly used. The thing should work wonders when you know how to use it.

Also, when close to a fire, you'll smell like it no matter what. and its very good!
 

iamwhatiam

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Maybe they were using wood that wasn't completely dry as well? that can cause it to smoke more.

I've built many a lean to and wickiup style huts before but they take longer to gather the materials to build and are not so good for having fires in. I like the portability aspect of a teepee and being able to cook inside. Must try my hand at them next time
 

warlo

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That's awesome. I had never thought about having a small portable tipi. I'm gonna have to use that one. the tyvek Is a good idea but would be real noisy. I'll have to do some more research on this. Thank you.

Yeah, the tyvek thing is noisy, I guess similar to plastic tarps (which was the first material I was using and gave me such a bad feeling that I quit it for normal fabric)

Also, the point of using cotton or fabrics in general, is that I want to be able to make big fires inside without worrying about it.

Since you said "Small portable tipi", I want to add that the dimensions of the tipi in the article ended up being more than I needed. Of course its nice and has enough space to make dinner parties and stuff, when traveled with it I would have been better of with something half as big, mainly on the tall side, as the diameter will always have to be kept around 2 meters to allow at least two people to sleep without touching the sides. A shorter version would make it even more compact and lightweight.
 
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OutsideYourWorld

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I have dreads and smelled like fire for weeks haha View attachment 28789

Not that that's a bad thing ;D

I never tried the tipi thing myself,but i'm having a new tarp shipped to me for my next trip coming up next week. It's big enough that I should be able to do this with it and have a nice amount of room. Not quite a tipi but a bit more practical for my uses:
 

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Nice I've spent some time in a tarp tipi. It still stands just in lowly neglect on some family land. If the day comes I have the money or can spend it I'd like a kifaru hot tent. Woodstove and all.
 

kecleon

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I have written an article about a Lavvu (Tipi) I made and how its done. Its a centerpole version, weights less than 2kg and its very compact for traveling. Its also tall and wide, many people fit in and you can stand inside. Not even mention you can have a fire for cooking, heating, relaxing, etc.

http://www.bonsai.cf/a/Lávvu

I think its a great design, but now i moved into some greater ideas, still with lavvu in mind but better, soon I'll get some of it online.

Such a smart use of rope and pegs to use a centre pole -- awesome design.
 

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