Kifaru 4 man tipi

[westcoastwill]

Long ago, there was a topic about single wall tents, i mentioned the Kifaru tipis back then.

In the meantime, my 4 man tipi has arrived, i ordered a complete kit with snow pins and a small stove.

Last week, my friends and hiking partners Rob & Tina went into the mointains for the first winter camping trip.

The tipi is great stuff, very light and very easy to pitch. The stove assembles in minutes, only the stove pipe gave us a hard nut to crack with the cold fingers. But that was forgotten as soon as we had a fire roaring!

Just as we where comfortable in the tipi, a blizzard hit us with full force and dumped allmost half a meter snow on us during the nite.



Check out the full story here:

http://forums.kifaru.net/ubbthreads.php ... #Post97112

The only downside as far as i could see was the condensation, bad when the gusting wind hit the tent walls and it started allmost to rain inside the tipi. But that can be helped with a liner, which i have allready ordered.

Here is the link to the tipis:

http://www.kifaru.net/TIPI.HTM

Cant wait for the first kayak trip with the tipi!

h

servus,

Willi

[nohoval_turrets]

Nice, thanks for the report. One of these I still might get one of these. What size is the tipi when it's folded down?

Nohoval

[Christov_Tenn]

The whole floorless thing trips me out. As one who's got extremely little practical experience camping, I'd expect to find my gear, sleeping bag, and self prey to curious bugs, ants, etc. Maybe less so in wintertime.

I did enjoy your report and photos, as well as the Kifaru website & forum. Thanks for posting the link and putting the work into your write-up.

Chris

[chrstjrn]

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I LOVE my RayWay tarp. You won't see me using it in the winter-- definitely not, but I've been in a couple of violent storms, including snow, and it's just amazing how confortable and, even, warm it is. Chris, I was very sceptical about the whole bugs and twigs issue-- I think most people would be-- but it really rarely ends up being an issue. Use of a sleeping pad is mandatory, but it usually is anyway (I also LOVE my RayWay quilt, which is a sleeping bag without the bottom). And, with the tarp (I don't know whether this applies to the teepee or not), the creepy-factor goes way down because you can see out all around! In a tent I'm aware of every crack of a twig nearby, but in a tarp I just look over and reassure myself.

[westcoastwill]

@ Nohoval:

Here is a photo of the packed tipi, the big brown bag is the tipi, the small brown bag contains the pole, the white bag the pegs and the blue the mosquito net

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This is the complete stove, you can see the dimensions on the 1 liter Sigg bottle.



@ Christov:

The tipi as mosquito nettings on both doors, but i am using a pyramide shaped mosquito net with a ground sheet sewn to it (coleman) to keep the nasty gritters at bay.


@ Christjrn:

When i am travelling ultalight, i am also using a tarp ( from MEC, Canada) with a bivy bag (Tilak) worked out very well several times on the Westcoast Trail and on folding kayak trips in Barkley and Clayoquot Sounds.

Thank you very much for your comments, guys,



Willi

[chrstjrn]

Finally got around to reading your trip report-- nicely done!

You seem to use your bivy bag constantly. Which one do you have?

[Paul]

Will,

Is the liner made out of mesh? It's not quite clear on the website.

I thought the stove would be a factor in creating condensation, but the website said it helps to minimize it. What's your take?

The whole tipi w/ stove is a pretty cool idea.

Paul

[nohoval_turrets]

One more question Willi if I may- is it easy to clean the stove. I assume it gets sooted up in use, and needs to be cleaned before packing. It's probably easy to do with snow, but if there was none, do you think it would be difficult?

Nohoval

[westcoastwill]

@ Paul:

The liner is made out of the same fabric like the tipi, only the colour is different, the liner is white. Some of the Kifaru forum members mentioned in their posts, that the liner makes a huge differents, a lot dryer and some more insulation.

We had a lot of condensation, the themperature differents from inside to tipi to outside was enorm, it would have been not much of a problem tough, usually it just dripps down on the inside of the tipi.

In our case, however, the gusting wind blew the condensation right across the tipi and in times of really hard gusts, it was like sitting in the rain for seconds, thats why i really recommend getting the liner too.

@ Nohoval:

Its pretty easy to clean the stove, we just dumped some snow into the stove to cool down the ashes and embers, took the stove apart and wiped the remains out with a branch of a spruce tree and packed the wohle thing into its bag.

The rest was cleand out with some soap, water and a soft brush. The steel of the stove changed the colour quite a bit.

The stove pipe is a different matter, there is a lot of residue from the smoke (we had only soft wood supply) and i still look forward for the job of cleaning the pipe.

I have to figure out a way to clean the pipe before rolling down the next time to prevent looking like chimmney sweepers.

At the moment, i am in the stage of planning a new trip for the end of Jannuary, this time with the liner and will post a new trip report later.

servus,



Willi

[Paul]

Will,

Did you look at Tentipi before you chose the Kifaru?

[nohoval_turrets]

Willi, thanks for all the information. I'd filed the tipi and stove idea at the back of my head in the "maybe one day" section, but you've set me thinking again. A tipi would be great for get-togethers in foul weather - a real group space. Hmmm... I think my credit card is looking for a place to hide.

Thanks again!
Nohoval

[westcoastwill]

Paul:

I have seen a trip report on a kayak trip in Greenland, the kayakers camped in tentipis, what i could gather from their website, the basic idea is the same, very good tents with stoves, lots of different tipis in different fabrics are avaliable.

To me - as a minimalist kayaker and hiker - Kifaru tipis seemed to be the ideal choice. I had the feeling, the Kifaru stuff packs smaller and is less heavy and bulky.

But i would be very interested to see one and check out the differents between the two brands.

Nohoval:

Usually, there is a 6 to 8 weeks wait after you order, Kifaru makes their stuff only on demand. Beware, once you got bitten by the Kifaru bug, your creditcard has to be hidden really well!

Chrstjrn:

I have a hooped bivy tent from the czech company Tilak, 7 years old, but never let me down.

Deer Group Islands, Barkley Sound, Westcoast Vancouver Island:







servus,

Willi

[George30]

hi westcoastwill..
the picture you shared was great...
can you give some info about that place..
it is safe to camp that place??
thanks a lot and have a nice day..Make Money Online

[westcoastwill]

hi george,

it is studd islet in the deer group in barkley sound, westcoast vancouver island, b.c canada.

my favorite camp so far, very safe place well above the high tide line, but dont go there on the weekend!

to get to studd, you can catch the steamer from port alberni to bamfield and paddle over, the deer group is a great place to kayak, not nearly as crowded as the near by broken group island.

hopt this helps,

servus

willi