Polish army tent - Lavvu on a budget ?

[addo]

Another tip for waterproofing with either fabsil or waterseal.

Water down 1 part product to 1 part water. First stage to make it go further, and soak in better.

Then put into a hand pumped spray, I use an old mister from the garden centre. BTW the nickwax ones break very easyily, if used a second time.

Then spray onto fabic until it starts to wet out, then wipe in with a small damp kitchen sponge. Let dry for an hour or two and do again.

These stages along with the offer on at B&Q for a 1L tin for £4 ment the whole tent was done for under £3 with loads left for my canvas pack and other bits.

Badger, the insulation might stink a bit, and the outer can works great on its own. Mind you the posh flues are insulated with a type of rockwool, so someone might know if its suitable.

 

[DavidJT]

Has anyone figured out the best option for a ground sheet yet? This time of year there's a lot of moisture / dew rising out of the ground. I have normal plastic tarps but would prefer something a little more spark resistant. Would plain canvas do the job? What you you guys doing, just bivvy / survival bags, tarps or?...

 

[nolightweight]

I just used a cut down bit off an IPK kit at the last one. Mostly to just protect my bivvi bag etc.

Now I know how the tripod works out, I'll be expanding on the ideas...

Got to be good and comfy for the winter meets.

 

[Barn Owl]

Has anyone figured out the best option for a ground sheet yet? This time of year there's a lot of moisture / dew rising out of the ground. I have normal plastic tarps but would prefer something a little more spark resistant. Would plain canvas do the job? What you you guys doing, just bivvy / survival bags, tarps or?...

I use a bivi on top of an old basha or last week,the ipk cover.
On the other half of the centre pole I used one of those w/proof tartan picnic rugs.

I wasn't using fire of any kind inside though.

 

[DavidJT]

I'm not thinking fire inside either, eventually I'd like a stove in there, but for now I'm thinking entrance wide open, and a fire just out side.

 

[nolightweight]

You'll be surprised how warm these things are without any heating at all.

I used a pretty warm doss bag and a bivvi bag at the last meet and for the last couple of nights I didn't need to zip things up and still stayed toasty warm.

Warm air seems to generate in there and stay there. Entrance was only flapped over and not buttoned down. Felt no draft, breeze or anything.

 

[Bushcraftsman]

Mini Poland at Swift Valley:

Haha thats a great picture...did anyone have any problems with the mini's when you were out?

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Just a quick question......

Is anyone taking one of these to Middlemud this weekend? Would be interesting to see one in the flesh

 

[Andy2112]

Haha thats a great picture...did anyone have any problems with the mini's when you were out?

Tis a good pic mate, mine is on the far left at the top of the pic. The only problem i had, and it wasn't really a problem tbh was i did not proof mine beforehand, so it took a while to dry. There was a bit of condensation or seepage but it was minimal and not to think oh no bloody thing leaks. Tripod is the way forward imho. I would also just nick the button holes a bit because i found when it was wet they were difficult to do up. Overall a great bit of kit with loads of potential.

 

[scubapauly]

God this site is terrible. Just had to buy one too. Looking forward to playing in my local wood.

Damn you all

 

[sasquatch]

Another tip for waterproofing with either fabsil or waterseal.

Water down 1 part product to 1 part water. First stage to make it go further, and soak in better.

Then put into a hand pumped spray, I use an old mister from the garden centre. BTW the nickwax ones break very easyily, if used a second time.

Then spray onto fabic until it starts to wet out, then wipe in with a small damp kitchen sponge. Let dry for an hour or two and do again.

These stages along with the offer on at B&Q for a 1L tin for £4 ment the whole tent was done for under £3 with loads left for my canvas pack and other bits.


Great tip Addo! Just got myself a litre today, either I live too close to London or they saw me coming, I payed £8 for mine! I'm still walking funny but at least I'll have a dry lavvu...

 

[Badger74]

If I was drinking, it would be all ove rthe keyboard now

 

[tommy the cat]

God this site is terrible. Just had to buy one too. Looking forward to playing in my local wood.

Damn you all

Me toooooo! Doh!!!
Great service came in a few days ......what are you getting from B&Q for £4? Fabsil or waterseal? Haven't tried it up yet but looks like a flamin puzzle to me lol.
Will have a play when the weather is better.
Dave

 

[Improviser]

Dave[/QUOTE]......what are you getting from B&Q for £4? Fabsil or waterseal? Haven't tried it up yet but looks like a flamin puzzle to me lol.
Will have a play when the weather is better.

Exactly what im trying to sus . B+Q didnt have nowt for £4 today when i called, the Thompsons water seal was in stock ranging from £11.48 - £17.48 for 2.5 TO 5L.

A flamin puzzle indeed... probably will be if a spark from fire strayed on the Lavuu!

 

[Shewie]

......what are you getting from B&Q for £4? Fabsil or waterseal?

I don't think it's waterseal as the current stuff can't be used on fabric now apparently

 

[sasquatch]

I don't think it's waterseal as the current stuff can't be used on fabric now apparently

I didn't go to B&Q, I went to a corner DIY shop and got a 1litre tin of Thompson's for £8. Must be old stock as it states on the tin it's suitable for canvas, happy days! I haven't used Fabsil before but when I looked online it cost a small fortune...now I just need me one of them pump misters. I took my lad out so I could set mine up yesterday and it took all of 2 minutes to put up. Great bit of kit as everyone knows, thanks to Nolightweight for taking the
plunge and posting the review!

 

[tommy the cat]

ok ta guessed waterseal I can get the old stuff but only in 5l what about nixwax cotton proof?
All the good stuff !
Ta D

 

[addo]

Sorry for the confusion

It was Thompsons water seal that I got 1L for £4. They were old tins that looked past there best bit rusty on the base, but worked rearly well. They had plenty in but if nowt at your local store the own brand water seal in 5L containers worked out cheap per litre and you would have enough for many years of canvas kit use.

 

[Logit]

well what can i say, i spent this weekend in mine and i can honestly say it was fantastic. we had plenty of rain, flooding and gail force winds and it held out really well. I was well impressed.

It was noticeable, that one side was much more saturated than the other, and it was the side not facing the driving rain.

A couple of mods that im going to do:

Create some sort of lacing like old patrol tents for the entrance, i didn't even attempt to do the buttons up, i used a bit of para cord running through.

And get a decent thick ground sheet for the inside. I found that using my UCO multi candle hanging of the central pole kept the damp out.... lovely...

When it drys out, im going to play around with using one of my tarps to create a nice admin area, as getting ready and out (im a large framed guy) was a little difficult, but not impossible

 

[Shewie]

well what can i say, i spent this weekend in mine and i can honestly say it was fantastic. we had plenty of rain, flooding and gail force winds and it held out really well. I was well impressed.

It was noticeable, that one side was much more saturated than the other, and it was the side not facing the driving rain.

A couple of mods that im going to do:

Create some sort of lacing like old patrol tents for the entrance, i didn't even attempt to do the buttons up, i used a bit of para cord running through.

And get a decent thick ground sheet for the inside. I found that using my UCO multi candle hanging of the central pole kept the damp out.... lovely...

When it drys out, im going to play around with using one of my tarps to create a nice admin area, as getting ready and out (im a large framed guy) was a little difficult, but not impossible

It's good to hear folk are getting on with them, it sounds like they're standing up to the best the british weather can throw at them too.

Mine's out for it's maiden trip in a few weeks on the west coast of Scotland hopefully.