First bivvy advice.. [australia]

Hi Peter,
I would go with a Mountain Laurel Designs bivy, there are a number of designs, but this one would just about fit in your budget
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=30 The all netting head option would suit you well. Shipping to Australia is $25.
i have used silnylon bottom shelters for at least 7 years in Australia and you will be suprised at how they hold up. You can always buy one of the ground cloths he also sells, or use a thicker plastic from the hardware store, but you can really do without as long as you spend a minute clearing pointy stuff from the ground before laying it down. Hope that helps, Cheers Brett

> Would be nice to have quite a rugged bottom material so no groundsheet is needed

If you are talking about camping caves in the Blue Mts, I don't think you need worry too much about 'rugged' as the sandy floors are not that bad. What you WILL find though is that most of the cave floors are either very dusty, rather dirty (spread ash mainly) or both.

Cheers

Hey Brett, great to see Aussies here

Thanks for the response! I've seen reviews of the Superlight on these forums (5x 5/5) and the internet and it seems fine – even been updated with some new features since the first of the reviews

I'm 183cm, bang on 6ft so I might be looking at the Large size superlight, which brings it to 180+25=205=230 AUD.. while the minimalist comes in at around 150 AUD which is sort of the baseline I'm comparing things to.

I'm by no means an ultralighter so 34% more money for 280grams is not consideration #1 when coming down from a 2kilo setup, but the weight of the superlight bivvy is very impressive and it does tick most/all of the boxes, and has an overhead hang loop.. ahh dilemmas

Thanks for your recommendation Brett!
Cheers

Hi Roger,
A very familiar name! (aus.bushwalking usenet)

Yes, you're right, I'm referring to the camp-caves in the Blue Mts and surrounds and they do seem to have a perpetual sooty layer on them.
I was hoping to use the tarp material as a groundmat (such that either in or out of a cave I'd only need it for the one purpose) but looking at the prices for quality silnylon type material tarps it looks like I will need to bust out the old PVC as a groundmat (or the nice ground-clothes that are on the Mountain Laurel for quite cheap)

Ahh, cheers for that. Good to see you around
Pete

You could probably get John at Bear Paw tents to make a bottom for his bug bivy out of whatever you want.

I had one and it weighed 13 oz with the “hoop” that kept the netting off your face. I would suggest something lighter, but you said you don’t use a trekking pole to keep the net off your face.

Hard to beat for $76 USD

Bear Paws bug bivy

on eBay

Bear Paws bug bivy

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