Polish Lavvu - how do you know what size you have?

[tent peg]

Ey up Hope you're all well,

Had my Lavvu years now - never knew they had different sizes! how do I know which I have? (if there's a bigger version I'll keep my eyes open)

TP

 

[crosslandkelly]

Check how many grommets are at the bottom where you button the halves together.
1 grommet = size1
2 grommets = size 2
3 grommets - size 3

 

[tent peg]

Brilliant thank you so much crosslandkelly!!

 

[Kav]

YOUTUBER Mat Bigmonster (I believe he is a member here) posted the ultimate primer on Polish Palatkas and it's well worth viewing. He's a Pole in the UK so might just know what he's talking about.

 

[crosslandkelly]

 

[tent peg]

Thank you it's one of those pieces of kit I've always had so never questioned! That video looks just the ticket ta!

 

[Kav]

The one thing I haven't mastered is that Polish Nobleman swagger with the cape Matt does. I've been watching old Zorro episodes, Superman and Dracula movies and just can't manage it. I think Matt should hold classes there.

 

[BigMonster]

The one thing I haven't mastered is that Polish Nobleman swagger with the cape Matt does. I've been watching old Zorro episodes, Superman and Dracula movies and just can't manage it. I think Matt should hold classes there.

Maybe at the Moot

 

[Laurentius]

Interesting video, but I had kind of figured most of it out for myself. What came up next when I viewed that on YouTube was a face off between a US pup tent and the lavvu. My pup tent has got to be well old now, as I got it from a local army surplus stores back in the 1970s and it was not new then.

 

[Kav]

The surplus market and especially tents is a subject itself. I bought one of the popular French F 1 tents 20 years ago IN CANVAS. I know a few have shown up with the latest lots but many people disbelieve me until it gets set up. My nephew has it now. The canvas is good but fading from light that eventually turns to thread failure. I remember when the Swedish Trangia cooksets came out and for some reason never bought one. You find one available and it's a 3 figure pricetag and lots of competition to buy.
The Russian and Polish Palatkas are apparently nearing exhaustion. I love mine so much a second set was acquired and promptly went into my Chinese camphorwood chest underneath a Zen robe, woolens and tea service. It's just to good an item to risk loss and people will be fighting over any available in a few years.

 

[tent peg]

The Russian and Polish Palatkas are apparently nearing exhaustion. I love mine so much a second set was acquired and promptly went into my Chinese camphorwood chest underneath a Zen robe, woolens and tea service. It's just to good an item to risk loss and people will be fighting over any available in a few years.

Can't believe the prices of the Swedish Trangia sets now... I paid no more than a fiver for mine, I think and remember them being sold in multiples for about a tenner! I even gave a few away they were so cheap - I had a spare lavvu too that I traded thinking they would always be cheap!

Can't believe how prices have changed over the past few years!

 

[MikeeMiracle]

Size 3 Lavvu you can sell for around £150 now, most people would pay that though I have seen them for up to £300. Very high demand and almost impossible to find. I got mine last year for £80 off ebay not necessarily because I really wanted one, more to see what the hype was about and I knew I could easily sell it for more than I paid for it.

 

[Kav]

A unspoken attraction to surplus and ethnic gear is being different from the mob of campers who walk into a store, plunk down money and walk out looking like a National Geographic correspondent photographing penguins mating with lots of squawking and flailing of flippers. Sometimes it's wonderful kit or you appreciate why a veteran takes one look and groans with bad memories or a blade made for chopping grasses in a Conrad novel snaps on oak. I bought some Russian Palatkas. I had to walk to a medical appointment not to be missed. Our public transport system is a joke, no rides available. It was raining and no brolly or slicker.
So I donned palatka and set out for the 80 minute walk each way. Wind came up and I was not a happy camper. Still, I was damned glad to have that thing over a wooly pully, mittens and a Basque Boina. I'm walking back, the pressure point on my shoulder was developing a wet wick the size of a pre decimal shilling and it's leaking into the sleeve. My legs are getting wet below the knee. People passing by look at me sadly ' another homeless person from substance abuse.' Finally a car pulls over and a Yemeni Imam I knew slightly pulls over smiling and drives me home.
I buy the Polish Palatka; a # 2. Set it up and my 6'2" frame says Um, I don't think so except in a emergency bivouac. I go out with my GF on a State Park guided night stroll watching owls, bats, a supermoon ( kiss kiss kiss) and I lecture on the Chumash Indians. We are 'snug as a bug' in the Polish capes. People ask if we belong to a religious order? No, we bushcraft. They smile even more confused and change the subject.
I approach my Argentine tailor about making a set even larger. He admires the pattern, smiles and suggests I spend the money on more tango lessons and a new sportsjacket in a nice tweed. I go online, buy a second #2. I can now make a 3 piece shelter with a vestibule. I look on EBAY for a swedish cookset. 12 people are battling over an original for $150 USD latest bid. It ends in 5 hours at $201.50 with a computer generated last second bid. 11 people are not happy. I check my 4 dog titanium cook set. it's still there.

 

[tent peg]

Amazing

 

[Laurence Milton]

Size 3 Lavvu you can sell for around £150 now, most people would pay that though I have seen them for up to £300. Very high demand and almost impossible to find. I got mine last year for £80 off ebay not necessarily because I really wanted one, more to see what the hype was about and I knew I could easily sell it for more than I paid for it.

I have a couple, love them and use them, but there's absolutely no way I'd pay anything close to that!
MM have them currently for £45 and that's enough?

 

[MikeeMiracle]

I was specifically speaking about the Size 3's which I see even MM has put upto £99.99 (used to be £59.99) and they hardly ever get stock. When they do they normally sell out in minutes due to the e-mail waiting list.

 

[Kav]

I was specifically speaking about the Size 3's which I see even MM has put upto £99.99 (used to be £59.99) and they hardly ever get stock. When they do they normally sell out in minutes due to the e-mail waiting list.

A #3 has exactly an additional 4" in length from a #2. I can set mine at a lower angle and squeeze that out. I have all that added expense in my pocket to spend on another knife not needed.

 

[Laurence Milton]

I was specifically speaking about the Size 3's which I see even MM has put upto £99.99 (used to be £59.99) and they hardly ever get stock. When they do they normally sell out in minutes due to the e-mail waiting list.

Bloody 'ell!!! ................I thought it was just Covid or Bovine Spogiform Encephalopathy that made the world mad!!!!

 

[tent peg]

So, forgot to say, after all that, mines a size 1 Always seemed roomy enough for me on my own though! I've never known any difference so it'll do me fine (especially at current prices)

 

[crosslandkelly]

So, forgot to say, after all that, mines a size 1 Always seemed roomy enough for me on my own though! I've never known any difference so it'll do me fine (especially at current prices)

I use an internal or external bipod/tripod instead of the pole, frees up a lot of extra space.