MLD Bug Bivy

I would suggest looking at the MLD Serenity Shelter which will offer equal protection from bugs but better from rain.

This shelter attaches in a similar fashion to the MLD tarps and comes with only a small weight increase. It costs $20.00 more, than the MLD bug bivy, in the silnylon version and about $50.00 more in the lighter spinntex.

Thanks, that looks like a great option; not sure why but I never felt compelled to click on that and look at it. I wonder if Ron would be able to make one with a silnylon or spintex bottom and the ends in cuben. Or if I got a patrol shelter if he would make the foot end from mesh rather than another fabric due to the foot end of that shelter already being closed. Each of those options for weight savings of course.. He makes the serenity with a cuben floor but I would be apprehensive about that, what do you think, one sharp twig sticking up and it'd probably be a $200 seep-o-matic.

How and where you pitch your tarp should determine how dry you stay, not the mesh on the bivy. If you are more concerned about rain then bugs, perhaps you should consider a regular bivy since they can protect you from bugs but give better weather protection. I have weathered hard wind blown rain and sleet and snow in just my tarp and had very little spray issues.

I have a Grace Solo spectralite tarp and the MLD bug bivy. I use the bug bivy during the warmer months of summer and then go to my TiG bivy with its sewn in bug net for the rest of the year (though bugs are only an issue in spring when I'm using it). I occasionally go with just the tarp when I expect good weather and not bugs. But I sometimes get caught (as I did when I encountered the conditions in the paragraph above).

The mesh on the MLD Bug Bivy will block some spray but it's not designed for that and if you are in conditions where that would be an issue, bugs usually aren't bothering you. So instead of relying on the bug bivy, I'd pitch the tarp low and almost flat to minimize any wind blown rain. Finding a site where rocks,brush,trees can be used to block the wind from one direction helps. You can also use your backpack to help block the end of the tarp from the wind. But if you really want to use your bug bivy for weather protection, then I agree with the other guy above that you should look at the MLD Serenity Shelter since the ends are silnylon and not mesh and should block the rain.

To be honest, I mainly bought the MLD bug bivy to be used as a stand alone shelter during bug season when the weather is nice. I don't normally set the tarp up unless the weather threatens, and when it does, bugs usually disappear.

I also use the MLD Bug Bivvy. I've been using it with a 10 x 10 tarp, so spray hasn't been an issue. I've also got the TiGoat bivvy with netting, and would use that with a smaller tarp in rainy weather.