1. Pick a level area on a slight rise. Assume it will rain at some point and you don't want water flowing through your tepee. 

2. For the initial set-up, tie a long rope (supplied) to the bottom grommet of each smoke flap. The other two ropes can be tied to the bottom grommets on the door flap.
   

3. A 16 foot tepee (4.9 meters) has an 8 foot radius. Tie a rope to one of the tent pegs and measure off 8 feet (2.44 meters). Place the peg in the center of the area where you will place the tepee.

4. You will need another rope 13.9 feet ( 4.2 meters) long to measure the distance between the feet of the main tripod

5. .Lay out all the poles in their extended position. The two thinner poles are used for the smoke flaps and are installed last.

6. Select the three 3/4" poles that are marked for the tripod. With these poles lying parallel on the ground, Insert the tripod connector fitting through the hole in each pipe and tighten the wingnuts.

7. A tripod is a very strong and stable shape. You will erect the connected tripod first and then lay loose poles on the join/apex, with the base of the poles 8' from the center of the circle.
    
8. Place the base of the tripod poles beside the peg at the center of where the tepee will stand. Lift the top of the three poles to a vertical position. Carefully "walk" each leg of the tripod outward, a few feet at a time for each pole, keeping the center of the tripod over the peg in the center of the circle. Keep the "legs" of the tripod at about 60° to each other. In other words, keep the legs an equal distance from each other.

9. Extend the legs until they are 8 feet from the center of the circle, as measured by the rope tied to the center peg.

10. The second rope (13.9 feet) measures the final distance between the base of pole of the tripod. Once the tripod is up, each pole should be 8 feet from the center of the circle and 13.9 feet from each of the other poles.

11. Choose where you want the door to face. Do not place a pole exactly opposite to the doorway. That final pole will attach to the tepee cover and raise the cover into place.
     
12. Now lay one of the remaining poles on top of the apex of the tripod. The base should be placed 8 feet from the center peg. Continue adding poles on the apex around the circle, keeping them as tighly woven together as possible. Leave a space for the final pole opposite the doorway.

13. Tie a 25 foot rope about 3 feet from the top of the second last pole. Place that pole and, holding the end of the rope, walk around the poles several times, pulling the rope tight around the apex of the poles. Tie the end of the rope securely to a pole. This lashes the bundle of poles together and adds stability to the tepee. .
     
14. Each pole base should be 8 feet from the center peg and they should be relatively equally spaced apart, except for the space for the final pole.

15. Place the pully and rope assembly in the top of the "cover pole" and tie one end of the rope through the grommet at the peak of the cover.

16. Lift the pole into place and raise the cover as you would a sail. Be sure the gray webbing at the cover peak is facing toward the doorway. This will assure that the smoke flap pole pouches are facing the right way.

17. Pull the cover up until it just passes the pole apex. Wrap the rope around a pole, tie it off and use one of the pegs to anchor it to the ground.
     
18. Pull the cover around the poles until the sides join at the doorway. Keep the smoke flaps flipped back so they don't fall between the poles.
     
19. Insert a lace pin through the top grommets above the doorway, just below the smoke flap opening. Add the remaining lace pins above the doorway.

20. Place a peg at the center of the doorway and attach the base of the cover to that peg, making sure the door flap completely closes.
     
21. For the initial set-up, loop the white rope loops through the bottom hem grommets.

22. Install the pegs around the base of the tepee, drawing the cover tight. The cover pully rope can be adjusted to keep the base close to the ground (spring, fall, winter) or several inches above the ground (summer). This adjusts the drafts for air conditioning.

23. Insert each of the final thin poles into its smoke flap pouch and place the base of the pole behind the tepee. You adjust the position of the poles from fully open on a nice day to fully closed (overlapped) in rough weather. You can also adjust the position to take advantage of wind direction to draw smoke from the interior.

24. In the cooler months, you may want to add a liner to the interior of the tepee to eliminate drafts but still providing ventilation for the fireplace. The liner is tied in sections to the poles.
     
25. After a couple of times, the whole process can be done in about 20 minutes.

Rainy Days

On rainy days, overlap the smoke flaps to eliminate virtually all rain. There will still be a small area open at the apex of the poles to let smoke from the campfire escape. The heat from the fire should evaporate the rain before it reaches the ground.

For extremely heavy rains or several days of rain, you can tie a bull boat or rain cap over the top of the poles. Smoke can still escape and the heavy rain will be kept out.