Compare a couple bug bivys— would you buy either?

[Dale Wambaugh]

I've been kicking bug bivy's around. I've been looking the two below as they can be used under a tarp or under the stars.

Outdoor Research Bug Bivy. Coated nylon floor, 16oz, has a Delrin hoop and I can get one for about $60:

Another model in the same vein, the Slumberjack No Fly Zone Bivy. I don't know about the floor on this one– it is ripstop nylon, but I don't know how waterproof it is. Weight is 14oz, it also uses a Delrin hoop and I can get one for $30.

I have one of the Epco Design dome type sleep screen. It will keep the bugs out, but takes a little fiddling to set up and isn't sealed on the bottom.

Other more expensive but UL options would be cottage-made units like the SMD Serenity NetTeny or Meteor bivy that are 6-7oz and $120-$130.

Any thoughts or clever options?

[drowning in spam]

Those are way too heavy. I've done plenty of comfortable reading in my TiGoat bivy without using the nethood guyout, so I don't see the need for a hooped bivy. You want more ventilation though. How about:

http://www.bearpawwd.com/shelters_floors/bug_bivy.html

$69-79, weight varies, but they're lighter than the examples you posted.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Bearpaw is a nice tip! The BearPaw minimalist bivy looks good to me. It will take some work on the guy lines in my Gatewood Cape, but nothing too difficult. The head end should hang from one of the neck-hole spreader toggles.

http://www.bearpawwd.com/shelters_floors/minimalist1_bivy.html

[drowning in spam]

I thought about pointing that one out, but I thought you were looking for something with hoops. I think the one I posted is new because I swear that wasn't there a couple weeks ago.

I wish I had something like that minimalist bivy on my last trip when I spent a LOT of time under my tarp. I would probably run a full-length ridgeline and then use hitches to connect the bivy to the ridgeline…with the goal of getting it fully elevated with less risk of pulling apart the netting.

[James Marco]

Dale,
I have been looking at a similar set up for myself. My gear is set up for two, and I need to downsize a bit. So, I am making a tarp and bug liner for solo stuff. I will be replacing a 9'6"x9'6" tarp/golite nest.
Tarp: 9' long trapezoid
Tentativly (though I am prone to MYOG stuff,)these are good options:
The Six Moon Designs Serenity NetTent at about 8oz (including 4 ti stakes.)
The Mountan Laurel Designs Bug Bivy at 7oz (including 4 ti stakes.)

Either will yield a shelter system of about 1lb.

[Shane Reed]

I'll second the Bear Paw bug bivy. I used one last summer and loved it. IIRC with the pole it weighs 13 oz. John at Bear Paw will also customize gear to your specifications.

[todd]

I plug my SMD Serenity into my Gatewood Cape, which I believe you carry, too – no? Less confining than any other bivy I've used and has more room to sit up to change clothes, roll up my sleep pad, etc.

One note on the OR – getting into that thing looks tough. Maybe I'm wrong.

My 2nd choice would be Bearpaw's Minimalist or SMD Meteor (which I also own).

Todd

[Dale Wambaugh]

I ordered a Bear Paw "Minimalist 1" and received it today. John does very nice work indeed. I am *bug* free :)

[Tyson Marshall]

I'm also using the Minimalist 1 — and soon to be used under a Grace Duo (once the MLD tarp arrives!)

[Rob Vandiver]

Ive been eyeing bearpaw also, for a while now. I was wondering, the picture they have is the Minimalist set up on a ground cloth. Is the cloth recomended? The floor is listed as 30D silnylon, is this sturdy enough to lay right on the ground and still last a few seasons?

[Dale Wambaugh]

I'm a real freak about footprints, so I use a piece of Tyvek with all my shelters. By the time you crawl around on your hands and knees it would go through most shelter floors. I get maximum mileage and minimal dirt and water that way, and it is my recommendation.

[Ken Helwig]

Just bought the Bearpaw Minimalist 1 and it should be arriving in a few days. I will anwser back my thoughts once I set it up.

[Brian Austin]

When bivying I put closed cell foam bad underneath and have a couple of straps that hold the bivy to the pad. No holes in said floor. Same with tent.

Ok, call me stupid, you won't be the first! =), but neither of those bug bivy's protects against the rain, dew, wind, or sun and they weigh in at a pound. Now for just a little more $ and weight you can get something like the Tarptent Contrail or equivalent design from several different cottage industry guys and get a rain shelter as well. Or just a "normal" bivy with a pull over rain proof cover over said bug netting. Splurg and you get a palace like the Tarptent Rainbow where 2 people can sit and play cards and eat out of the rain as well.

What am I missing here? Do you plan on bringing a very large poncho in case it rains to put over said bivy? Obviously said Bug bivy is not for the rockies as it rains every afternoon there, nor for the pacific mountains or cascades. We looking at a bug bivy for the AT and Sierras? A beach bivy to keep the midges out?

[Dale Wambaugh]

Looking for a bug net to use my Gatewood Cape (yes, there is the mating bug net from SMD @ $130), and as a stand-alone fair-weather out-under-the-stars bug net. The Gatewood is the real shelter, with the bug bivy as add on in bug season with a bathtub floor to boot.

I was really working my way up from the bottom, with the Slumberjack just because it was cheap, and the OR because I trust their stuff more than Slumberjack, and the Bear Paw because the design works for my purposes and the price was right. Compromise!

What would be cool is to have a liner for a poncho tarp lean-to that is like like a right angle with the outer vertical wall of silnylon and the inner angled wall of screen. Entry would be through the end. It could hang from two guy lines run from the trekking poles down the lean-to roof and staked down. It may need a V of line from the poles to hold the center up, and/or vectored down and out a bit. Those extra guys would help stabilize the poles without too much complexity. Another way would be to have side guys on the poles and short lines to the apex of each end of the inner tent. The idea is to get the top edge of the vertical wall in under the overlapping poncho roof.

The gain is to get a simple light addition to an off the shelf poncho tarp, or it could be used with any flat tarp. It would be a double-wall tent on the slope side and single-wall on the vertical side. The bottom corners could shock cord to the poles in front and to the same stakes that hold the bottom edge of the lean-to roof down. The vertical wall (front)side could actually be tipped out a bit at the top, giving more shoulder room when you sit up and less chance of brushing the fabric if there is condensation. So it would be a slight scalene triangle in cross section than a hard right triangle. I would think the length should be close to 6'6". In my vision, the outer ends would be solid silnylon with a zippered door on one end. Windows might be nice. There should be plenty of ventilation with the sloped wall of all mesh.

Please forgive my q&d diagram. My idea as seen from the "left" end in cross section:

A more complex design could have a big double door right out the front with zippers and/or bug net doors— rather like the MSR Missing Link shelter, but utilizing the poncho for the back wall. It would be heavier, more complex and more expensive.

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