Teepee-style tent — what’s a good size/height

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog_silnylon_floorless_2-person_tent.html#.VgVma9JVikp may have useful info 60 inches is the minimum to me, for getting on knees or crouching. Sitting up in bed without touching inside of tent. You could have a party with 84 inches. Nice in bad weather. I'm 6'2". I need an extra foot for my sleeping bag to overflow at top and bottom. Then at both edges of the tent I need a foot for the walls to slant up and provide a decent headroom for my sleeping bag to not touch, so that would be 110 inches. All of your sizes are generous as long as you don't lay your bag in the 104 inch direction – that might be tight.

Jerry, Thanks for the info. I'm not too worried about being cramped unless I have to sleep more than 2 of us. Trying to fit 3 may work but I doubt 4 would be possible without touching the tarp (not a concern for my needs but I did like that your 4-sided mid can squeeze 4). One of my bigger concerns is that with an 84" height vs 64" is the ability for the tarp to shed wind easily…it could certainly shed water/snow better but the wind is more of a concern in the midwest and I'm a 3-season camper so snow won't apply. The other issue I'm trying to figure out is what the pole options would be like for that height…I haven't found much for retail poles (there are options for <70" but I'm finding little for longer than that). I'm not quite sure how stable trekking poles would be. At 130mm, I'd be left with only 9" of overlap to stabilize with something like this https://uloutdoors.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/p1010005.jpg Any thoughts on these two concerns? Maybe I just need to drop it down about a foot and that would solve the pole issue.

Roger did an article that talked about how wind speed increases as you get further off the ground. You're better off with shorter tent. 60 inches is pretty good. Lower is better, but then it gets too cramped for me. Taller sticks up into the wind more, where the wind speed is greater. I get poles from http://tentpoletechnologies.com/?page_id=17 or questoutfitters.com Several sections. They have inserts on one end so you can put several sections together. I use 0.433 inch diameter for a 60 inch pole height (4 ounce weight), but that's pretty flimsy. Sometimes I use a 0.625 inch (7.5 ounce weight). Carbon fiber poles are lighter but more expensive. A 108 inch square mid is pretty small for 4 people. 2 people is pretty good. Some room for gear. 4 people is like sardines.

Check out Seek Outside's tipi tents: http://seekoutside.com/tipi-tents/ Maybe they can help you with sizing and weather performance (search for reviews), and also show you some pole options. Wind speed increases as you get further off the ground, but the amount of material for a pyramid/tipi tent decreases as you get further off the ground. There's not a lot of fabric for the top 1-2 ft of most pyramid tarps

"There's not a lot of fabric for the top 1-2 ft of most pyramid tarps" Yeah, that's an advantage of pyramids – it narrows at the top where the wind speed is larger But, if you raise the peak height, then it will be higher as well all the other parts of the tent, so the wind speed striking every place on the tent will be higher, so it will do less well. And raising from 60 inches to 80 inches is worse than making it 1/3 worse.

Just wanted to give a sneak peek on the finished tipi I made. I went with the 6' height and a 2" cat curve. I'm still working on a wood burning stove to complete my hot tent setup and then I'll make a separate post to share the whole project.

Looks good Nice reinforcement at top You may need a taller center pole. When you pitch it on uneven ground, all the panels won't be taught. You could find a rock or piece of wood to put under the pole to make it taller.

Great job. That looks like it pitches really well

@Jerry I've actually pitched with some adjustable trekking poles in the picture. It's worked out better than I'd hoped as I can raise/lower the height with the adjustable twist-locks but flip locks would be ideal. Poles can extend at least 6" higher than the tipi without much compromise to stability. Here's the "trekking sleeve" (I've seen someone else with one before but I can't recall what they called it) I made: @John Thanks, I put in a 2" cat curve which helps a lot. The zippered door uses a straight cut and it doesn't pitch quiet as tight there but I think it's more due to my yard being uneven than the cut. One downside I found to the cat cut is that I can't guy out the sides to give more space. I put in loops at 22" that will end up going to waste now (at least they're reflective and will make finding the tipi in the dark easy)

No vent at the top?

"… adjustable trekking poles…" That should work If the fabric loosens and the tent sags, you could raise it an inch or so from the inside

No vent yet but I'll be adding at least one though. I'm adding a stove boot in a about a week so I've been putting off vents until then so that I can figure out where I want to put it (probably right over the I've done vents in the past and I prefer sewing them right into the seams (at the time I'm sewing fly panels together). It's much cleaner as well as stronger. This is more of a prototype and I plan on making another tipi that's a bit larger (or with the center pole offset) to allow my wife and I to sleep side-by-side.

You and wife could sleep on one side of pole. Maybe shift base of pole slightly. Other side of tent to store gear and be an entry that gets wet if it's raining. I've tried vents but I think there's not enough cross section area to produce enough air flow to make much difference. If it's not raining, I leave door open. A couple velcro strips. That's enough of a "vent" to help but there's still sometimes condensation.

Jordo— Your "lodge" looks excellent and well made. It's obviously one of my favorite shelter designs and I spent many months in 1987 in a nylon tipi tent made by Chouinard called the Pyramid—See these pics— http://popupbackpacker.com/backpacking/vintage-gear/vintage-tents/1980s-chouinard-pyramid-tent/ But tipi tents like yours and Kifaru etc have changed radically since 1985. Though as Nick says in his blog— "Condensation in cold weather—A pole in the middle that forced me to sleep on either side." These negatories would also apply to the modern tipi designs, hence the need for a larger footprint (the danged center pole) and a liner for condensation (unless of course you have a stove). From just looking at your tipi I perceive that on a winter trip with condensation the foot of your sleeping bag may very well touch the fabric wall. From my experience the best place to sleep to avoid touching the wall was right in the middle, and I often moved the center pole 15 to 20 inches over at a cant to get more room. But if you go with a larger footprint like a 6 or 8 man tipi then finding a small spot in the woods can be a challenge. Modern nylon tipis hug the ground much better than the Chouinard; in fact the Chouinard was designed as a mountain tent with a layer of snow placed around the bottom edge perimeter, otherwise in a windstorm it wanted to leave the ground like an umbrella or get blown-in spindrift.

@Jerry My plan is to add vents, opposite each other, to allow a cross-breeze to cut through the tent at 48" high. Opening the door is also an option and I plan on adding a mesh door (possibly removable) to help fight off the bugs we have here anyway. @Tipi Thanks for the info and kind words regarding the tipi. I still plan to make a larger version but I only anticipate going from around 10' diameter to a 12' diameter. Height has been the biggest concern with keeping the size small; I hadn't considered the tipi being big to find a suitable campsite (I've always been using small 2p tents so I've never had this issue) so that's an interesting point.