Bivy Sack

[Andrew Wolff]

Hi all, just thought I'd post some pictures of the bivy sack I recently completed. This is the first large myog project I've done, until now all I've made were stuff sacks. I guess this is similar to a meteor bivy but I sewed it from a patern of my own making. I was going for a nice fitted design.

The bottom is silnylon the top is teflon DWR and nanoseeum mesh all from Thruhiker. I used the cheaper and heavier materials for my first attempt. I'm planning on making a second one with momentum and spinnaker. I don't have a scale so I don't have a weight for this yet but it doesn't seem to be very heavy. The zipper runs all the way around the mesh and then on down the right side allowing the mesh to be folded down out of the way if not needed. which for me will be 80% of the time.

Last weekend my wife and I were out for two nights in the Nantahala National Forest and I got to test the bivy under a GG Spinntwinn tarp. We had thunderstorms with very heavy rain both nights and the bivy sack did great!

[Charles Mason]

Best report I ever saw. No waffle, to the point on all important aspects, honest and picture/word perfect. No questions.

Bivy looks good too and looking forward to compressed volume on V.2. Keep going.

[Diplomatic Mike]

That looks good Andrew. I like the high 'bathtub' floor. No chance of groundwater contacting the breathable top.

[Tim Marshall]

is there a chance that walls that high will increase interior condensation? i don't use a bivy so i wouldn't know, i just wonder.

[Skruffy McGruff]

That's quite impressive for a first attempt. So far I've been a little intimidated to begin my two project goals, a bivy and a tarp shelter. Seeing the successful projects here is giving me "umf" to try. Thanks for posting.

[Dave T]

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[Tim Marshall]

don't be afraid to try making a tarp.

sewing a rectangular tarp is the easiest thing to sew, i'd say only slightly tougher than a stuff sack. only harder because of the size of the panels. If you can sew a semi-straight line you can sew a tarp. a 5×9 is only hemmed on the edges, and anything else has a ridge line and then is hemmed on the edges.

[Andrew Wolff]

Thanks Guys,

I don't know yet whether the higher floor will lead to more condensation, it didn't seem to be a problem first time out. I will be getting it out again soon for further testing and will report back. I can't see why someone is not already selling a bag along these lines, I would have bought one… o well.

[Diplomatic Mike]

Hopefully condensation isn't a problem. As someone who frequently sleeps on very wet ground, i would gladly accept the trade-off of maybe more condensation, against the top fabric touching wet ground and wicking into the sleeping gear.

[JohnB]

Really nice project. I don't know much about outdoor gear materials. I have a few questions. How water resistant are the nanoseeum and DWR materials? I suppose they're not waterproof because you used a tarp when it rained. Are they not entirely waterproof because the upper portion of the bivy needs to be breathable so that condensation does not accumulate? Is there any such thing as a truly waterproof bivy? Thanks.

[Jared Cook]

nanoseeum is mesh, so it's definitely not water proof.

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