Im considering doing more bicy style camping, rucksack waterproofed up and carrying a synthetic sleeping bag (incase it gets wet) with a bicy bag.
Any suggestions on good 3season sleeping bags and bivy bags?
Prefer it to be cheaper but if it costs more then so be it. And would prefer not to sweat my tits off too!
Any additional advice on Bivying would be good too, dos and donts, how to stay dry but be cool if it's warmer than expected, will I need a well rated sleeping bag if I'm in a bivy as I'd expect it to be warmer seeing as you're practically seeing in a plastic sack?
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 read The Book of the Bivvy by Ronald Turnbull
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 The MOS surplus goretex bags are good value, the Alpkit Hunka is a good
buy too.
For some reason I can't stop thinking about this ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmD2Y6WxpIw
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| Edited: 18/01/12 11:03 |
 I can recommend the Alpkit bivvy bag, the MOD ones are heavier. One tip is to put your thermarest inside the bivvy bag, that way you don't roll off it in the night. I'd also take a basha (or tarp) to get out of the very worst of the weather or to shelter your kit under.
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The hunks looks goo, but it also looks like your face is always exposed, leaving a gap for rain to get in and you with a very cold face!
Is this correct or does it have a flap of some sort to seal you in from rain?
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Use it upside down!! Works. I used a tarp with my Rab survival zone (hunka is a bit of a copy of this but shorter). Can get a micro tarp weighing about 115g from some guy calls himself unsponsored if he is still making them. He's on here or the bikeandbivvy forum. Keep meaning to get one myself since BPL-UK stopped selling their micro tarp. That would solve it for you as you cover your upper body and it can protect your gear too under the tarp. A bit more comfort than a simple bivvy. BTW bivvying without a tarp and you are more likely to get wet than with a small and light tarp. Or just get yourself a MLD trailstar in cuben and cut out the stages from tent to trailstar!! That is all the bivvy and tarp is IMHO.
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 I nearly always use a bivy because if I'm sleeping out I like to see the sky, and I feel much less vulnerable in a bivy than a tent. On the other hand, a really light tent, such a s a Laser (which I also have), weighs little more than a decent hooped bivy, and frankly, if it rains steadily for three or four days, sleeping in a bivy can become very 'challenging', as they say. (ie = 'bad')
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| Edited: 18/01/12 13:53 |
 >the Alpkit Hunka is a good buy too
>I can recommend the Alpkit divvy bag
I got to see an Alpkit Hunka just before Christmas and I know its very cheap BUT it seemed to me to be nothing more than a basic sack with a drawstring closure. How would you keep (no doubt) your Alpkit Pipedream dry in a downpour or come to think of it a steady continuous drizzle or stop bugs etc eating you alive on a summers night.
Completely honest question!
I know its a big investment but after 3? years usage I don't think you'll beat the Terra Nova Jupiter if your looking to stick with biviying. If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them.
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| Edited: 18/01/12 18:51 |
 I know what Bedders means - I have a trekmate bivy quite the same as a hunka, it's not for me. I think the MLD side entry ones seem a really good idea to be honest, expensive but in event would work very well.
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 read The Book of the Bivvy by Ronald Turnbull
Yup, read it, it's good 
Bivvying is different to camping, once you decide to go without certain comforts you start to look at going without others and before you know it you can end up taking next to nothing. But if it's a tent you are after, there are tents available that are roomier and more practical than a bivvy. If you add a tarp,pegs, a walking pole to add protection to a bivvy there is no weight saving.....but.....it will be a totally different experience.
My first walking bivvy was just beyond Haystacks watching the sun set and then rise, it's one of my fondest outdoor memories. The set up was probably 700g for a militrary bivvy (open ended like a hunka) 500g for a tarp 600g for 2 cheap walking poles. So there are tents that would have been lighter but I wouldn't have swapped the experience.
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 I got to see an Alpkit Hunka just before Christmas and I know its very cheap BUT it seemed to me to be nothing more than a basic sack with a drawstring closure. How would you keep (no doubt) your Alpkit Pipedream dry in a downpour or come to think of it a steady continuous drizzle or stop bugs etc eating you alive on a summers night. Completely honest question!
The wet: 1) Use a small tarp over the head end of the bag, or 2) Get in as quick as possible (push the sleeping bag further down away from the entrance while you do), pull the drawstring, and then roll over so the remaining opening is beneath your head and sheltered. This assumes your mat is outside the bivvy. You could also place the bivvy face down to begin with and just tilt the hood up while you get in. Bugs: 1) Bivvy somewhere where there aren't any if possible 2) Use a mozi head-net either over the head of the bag or over your own head inside the bag. I'm not claiming these solutions are necessarily great, or better than something like the Jupiter, but if for reasons of cost, weight, or only bivvying occasionally, you choose to use a simple drawstring bivvy bag, then these techniques help to an extent.
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i bought a DD poncho that can be set up as a tarp/shelter..was £20?.. http://www.ddhammocks.com/product/poncho if i had more cash i would be v tempted by this (although heavy?)
http://www.furtech.co.uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=71
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Old style rab SZ weighing about 230g, CCF mat at 130g, trekking poles that are used anyway so 0g effective added kit weight, micro tarp over head area at 115g and 4-6 Ti pegs at 6g each is at worst 35g. If my maths work out it makes it 510g total weight. That is lighter even than the TN ultra published weight!! A weight saving and you get a closer feeling of connection with the outside. Bugs?? Well I think you can get a mesh net from bear paw or another similar maker for 93g on top of that. So far I need to get the micro tarp and possibly the bug net. I seriously haven't had an issue with bugs so far. I do use nordic summer repellent. It's a natural pine tar based product that despite looking like shoe polish in the tin it doesn't leave marks on your face or hands. Does smell like a wood fire though. Quite strong smell though.
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Ok, I've decided I'm gunnar get my self a custom made tarp from that unsponsored guy, and a bivvy bag something along the lines of the mountain equipment ion, or rab survival zone, or hunka or something, havent quite decided.
What about a synthetic bag, any good recommendations?
Another question, if I was under a good tarp, maybe in a bivvy bag, and it's decided to hammer it down, lots of moisture, some what's the likely hood that my down bag will get cocked up by the weather? I mean how much moisture are we talking about to cock up a Down bag?
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I have camped quite aa few times in bivvies under tarps with a down bag (well quilt) without an issue of damping out the quilt. The rab SZ and the rab storm breathe a bit but you keep them open and you make sure you breathe outside the bivvy to minimize condensation from that source. It hasn't been a problem for me so far.
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.JPG) In cool dewy but not freezing weather I always got issues with dampness around the chest of my down bag when using Rab survival zone (old style and previously a Mountain Range Bivi of similar fabric). Bearable but wouldn't like to do it more than an overnighter. I got a bargain Rab Alpine bivi in the summer (eVent fabric) - slept in a few times in my down bag, even with the fabric over mnmy face I've had no condensation issues. Not used in rain yet though.... Synthetic Bags - I'd go for one of the Mountain Hardwear Lamina series
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Or if budget isn't the marmot wave series supposed to be ok.
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