Helsport Kongsvold 8-10 Lavvu

[Jinsin456]

Hi guys does anyone have any experience of this Lavvu? Barn Owl and I are looking for a good size Lavvu for a family camping holiday and have found that we can get these delivered from outdoorfair.de for just a shade over £280 each which seems a really good price

Cant really find any reviews so if anyone knows if that is a good buy or a reputable company could you please let us know as it seems to be a really good buy

Heres the link

https://www.outdoorfair.de/p-en-2949-kongsvold-8-10-outer-tent-poles-save-35-.aspx#5571

 

[Karl82]

I have one its a great bit of kit only mode I found I wanted and have done is put 3 more tie down loops on the top hat between the existing tie down loops to give better control of the top hat in wind with use of a stove. I had the very kind help of Sally AKA turbogirl.

Mine is the lavvu in post 2 by Martin the one in in the first post with the porch is the Kongsvold 8-10 with porch.

i have no experience with the company so i cant comment.


Sent from my Baobab Tree.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

I have the kong 8-10 and it rocks my world. The porch makes a huge difference in internal space. If you want a true family Lavvu then i would be looking at a 10-12 size.

Edit: your link is the one without the porch which i assume is the newer model of mine as they have now put porches on the Varanger range

Karl forgot the link

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102844

 

[Karl82]

Hahahaha so i did cheers Paul.

 

[Bumbler]

I don't know anything about their tents and "Lavvu", but here in Norway Helsport have a good reputation for making decent, sollid kit. There is no reason why these Lavvu style tents shold be different. But calling these tents a lavvu in the first place is simply wrong. But good tent-lavvu look alikes they are. But I would rather be in a real lavvu if I should sleep in one in winter.

 

[Karl82]

they are toasty with a stove in them and lighter than as you put it a real lavvu/tipi

 

[Bumbler]

they are toasty with a stove in them and lighter than as you put it a real lavvu/tipi

Yup, but with that construction, most of the heat will not be on the ground where you are sleeping. In the army we used similar tents, but much lower.

The reason was to keep more of the heat as it would be a smaller space to heat up. But then we are talking about sleeping in a tent in minus 30 celcius, whicj is a completely differnet scenario than the OP is facing. So this one will be fine. The only quarrel I have is really with the marketting people that call these tents a lavvu, when clearly they are a large bell tent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_tent

The construction of a Lavvu is completely different.

 

[Karl82]

ahh i thought you meant some thing like this http://www.hessdalen.org/pict/H-lavvu2-big.jpg

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Heat at lower levels can be a problem. the Helsport finnmark allows you to collapse the roof area down to create a smaller area. Im currently working on a reflector which can be suspended from the drying rack to bounce heat back down to the sleep area

 

[Bumbler]

ahh i thought you meant some thing like this

Now that is a lavvu.

 

[Bumbler]

Heat at lower levels can be a problem. the Helsport finnmark allows you to collapse the roof area down to create a smaller area. Im currently working on a reflector which can be suspended from the drying rack to bounce heat back down to the sleep area

That should help some. The army squad tents slept 8. But often we where just 2-3 in one. Then we used to divide it up inside with our ponchos to make a smaller room to make it hotter.

 

[rik_uk3]

Its about the same size as my Juno 800. In terms of family camping your looking at sleeping four in comfort using cot beds which also help you catch the heat from a stove more than sleeping on mats on the floor.

 

[Andy BB]

THe cot thing is interesting. Wiggy, for example, is very categorical that sleeping on cots is much less warm than sleeping on the floor on a good insulated mat, as with a cot you get cold air underneath you. And the simple fact is that, with a stove, the hot air rises towards the top of a tipi/laavu - the temp differential is very significant. However, thats sorta expected anyway, and plays to the great strength of such a set-up - the ability to dry clothes quickly in very low temps in the upper areas of such a tent. Secondly, with the ultra-lightweight stoves and stove-pipes of steel/titanium, they give off a huge amount of heat quickly, so even the lower areas of a tipi warm up fast. Downside of course is that they don't retain heat for as long as a thick iron stove, but thems the trade-offs!

THe ultra-lightweight silnylon tipis - Seekoutside/Kifaru/TIGoat etc - were designed to be used by hunters in the USA who have to backpack their stuff into the countryside on their Moose-hunting trips, which tends to coincide with higher altitude, strong winds and serious sub-zero temps. THe fact that there are now so many competitors in this field - despite the price premium for such gear - tends to indicate that it is fit for purpose.

 

[Jinsin456]

Looks like we've made the right choice then

Will be using 2 tents for 4 people but will most likely be spending over a week in them moving from place to place so having the extra room would probably be nice as I know for a fact we won't get good weather for that length of time and I hate being confined to small spaces where you can't even stand up or get changed for that duration.

Does anyone have any pictures of any setups inside the lavvu as I have a few ideas in my head where everything would go but not too sure yet.

I plan to be using a Frontier Stove in this btw

 

[MartinK9]

Karlin his:

 

[Skaukraft]

You can't go wrong with any HelSport equipment.
Best there is.

 

[Karl82]

sleeping on a cot bed with a stove going is warm i sleep on my cot bed with just a 3 season bag no sort of insulation on the cot bed. by sleeping on the cot bed it raises you into the warmer air and the air below the cot is like a cold sink witch keeps the cold air away from you. I know you like Wiggy Andy but seriously try sleeping on a cot bed with the stove going then form you own opinion.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Another thing to bear in mind is the size of lavvu you are heating. My varanger 4-6 is pretty much warm in all areas using the helsport stove but my kong definitely feels cooler at lower levels. Its easy to see the stoves heating area when there is dew on the outer. you will notice the bottom 1.5ft retains the dew a lot longer than the upper area but i agree with Karl that a cot would put you above this. I ground sleep though. The frontier stove sits a lot higher than the helsport one so the heat column effect will be magnified to an extent.

One stove i did notice a really substantial difference with is the russian stove. it sits very low and the heat output is huge. I regret getting rid of it (Twodogs now has it)

http://poshehon-star.ru/shop/index.php?productID=124

For getting an idea of size i would create the lavvu in string. the pole heights and measurements are available on the helsport site or on tamarackoutdoors.

 

[snowy21]

Just come back from camping in the Lakes in my Varanger this weekend when it was down to about minus 5. There was five of us in the tent 2 on camp beds and three on mats, the two on camp beds were cold all night with cold air underneath them. We did have the stove going but only for a few hours. I know I have had the same issue when sleeping in a hammock and being warm on top but cold underneath so from now on its mats for us all. I bought a great ex army mat, dutch I think that is almost like a futon mattress with a rubberished back. Small or Light it isn't but its very comfy.

 

[drliamski]

Did you have foam mattresses between you and the camp beds? I'm up to Scotland tomorrow and was planning on beds and foam sleep mats.... But worried about the cold

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