6.4oz bivys

[John West]

Hi all,
I have a ton of extra fabric laying around from my MYOG binge this past year, and was thinking about putting it to use. Me and my wife were going to produce some bivys if anyone would be interested. The design that works perfect to use our fabric up is based on one that I have made before, it looks like this:

I really like this style of bivy, as it is about 2/3 wpb fabric, and 1/3 netting, so it is quite breathable, and provides a bit more protection than my other favorite bivy, the Meteor from SMD. Bottom is grey silnylon, wpb is 1.1 dwr nylon, and then no-see-um for netting. For size reference, the sleeping bag pictured is a long SD Nitro 30, which is a lofty bag. I am just over 6' and it fits me comfortably.

This one weighs 6.4oz, and I would assume the others I would make would be in that range (definitely below 6.5, maybe as low as 6.2)
So would anyone want one of these? Not looking to make a bunch of money off them, just enough to recoup the money that went into all this fabric, and a little for our time. Pricing would be $75 shipped at the highest, maybe lower.

I think I will be able to make at least 4 of these bad boys, maybe one more, havent measured my silnylon yet.

Note: I would add a grosgrain loop to hold netting off face, this one didnt have it since I personally dont mind the netting.

Let me know fellas! Otherwise I'm just going to make another tent out of the silnylon haha.

[j p]

i'd be into it. what material is on top?

also, i'm currently in south korea…not sure how i could get money to you? paypal?

[John West]

Yeah, paypal would be fine, if its shipping to South Korea though, it might be extra for shipping, because that shipped price would be to the lower 48.

Don't worry about payments or anything yet, we still have to make these things. I was just throwing a line out and seeing if anyone would be interested. I'll let you know when they're done with a PM in a few days or so.
Thanks

[Nicholas Viglione]

John, I would be highly interested, do you have any more pictures of the bivy you've already made? It looks like a great breathable design, perfect for hot humid east coast summers!

[Steven McAllister]

I like the design.

I can't tell from the picture, is it zippered similar to the Meteor or some other configuration?

And I agree, many times I wished my Meteor had more fabric and less noseeum.

A person could get near full coverage if needed by sliding down into the bivy when the wind is blowing rain in under your shelter.

[Robert Kelly]

PM sent expressing interest. I'd like to able to use it with a very lofty bag, so (depending on current measurements) if there is a "slightly oversized" option (not longer, but with additional girth from footbox through shoulder area), that would probably be perfect for me. What are girth measurements of current/planned model? Thanks.

[John Vance]

I would like to know the top fabric and dimensions as well. I will most likely purchase as well.

[Dan Montgomery]

I'm interested enough to commit, as long as it's big enough for a 6-foot, 3-inch guy (I'm also worried about giving my bag enough room to fully loft, but it sounds like you have that covered…?)

Dan

[Dennis Park]

PM sent

ditto on the questions for needs of girth and width!

Us 6 foot and above guys who use the large neoair inside of a bivy, with a large winter bag, need a lot of room in there, especially if we are side sleepers.

[John West]

Hi guys, I will try and answer all your questions

To all that asked this question, the top fabric is 1.1 breathable ripstop nylon, coated with DWR.

Nicholas – Unfortunantly I am still at work for a long day, but tonight when I get home I'll upload more pictures

Steven – The zipper is a top entry. It is 38" across the top. Plenty of room to get inside. While I liked the side entry of my Meteor, I actually like this alot more, less weight, and isnt hard at all to get in to.

Robert – I could easily oversize it for you. Once I get home tonight I will measure the current dimensions of the one I have made, and let me know how much bigger you want it. I still have to measure my fabric to make sure I have enough for all this, but I am 95% positive I do.

John – top fabric is 1.1 dwr ripstop breathable nylon, dimensions coming tonight.

Dan – I am a little over 6' (probably closer to 6'1), and my head is still a 4-5 inches below the top of the start of the floor. This is when my feet are pressed all the way to the bottom of the bivy. So I would imagine that while you would fit in this sized bivy, your head would probably be close to/would be touching the netting coming up. Lucky for you though, I have a few pieces of silnylon cut about 4 inches longer, so if I made a long version, you should definitely be set. I'll update with more information once I get home and measure stuff.

John A – Tonight will bring measurements. As for the loft, the only bag I can think of that has more loft than my SD bag is maybe this cheap coleman bag I have rated for 0 degress that weighs like 10 pounds. I'll take a picture of that and a ridgerest under it to show you what it would look like. I would imagine no problem since the top has tons of room.

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys, I really didn't expect this much interest. Note that I havent answered any of the PM's yet, will do that when I get a chance at work again.
Tonight I'll measure and post more pictures!

[John West]

Hi guys,

As soon as I got off work, we created another one. The design was tweaked slightly, and I like it, alot. A few inches was added to the length, and I have no doubt this will now fit someone up to 6'5"-6'6". I also added a few inches girth for people that want to use high loft bags.

This photo has my SD nitro 30 on top of my 0 degree, over 12 inches of loft.

My wife wasnt home when I was taking the pictures, and I wasnt fast enough to grab a picture on the 10 second self timer with me in it, but with both those bags there is still plenty of room for me.

Dimensions on this design when laying flat are:

94" (7.8ft) x 38" (3.16ft)

I dont have a flexible tape measurer, so I dont know the exact girth, but if it fits all those bags and me, I'm confident it will fit pretty much anyone.

Weight for this design is slightly up from the 6.4z of the other one. This one weighs 6.8oz on my scale. Only a .4oz difference, but that's a game breaker for some folks, so I figured I would note the difference. I hadn't planned on making it this big, but I like to be able to move around in my bivy, and there is plenty of room for that.

I expect to have them all finished by Sunday, so I will write down the order of times that I received PMs/replies to this thread, and they will get first dibs. If there are still other people who want some, I will be placing an order on fabric for a tent I was going to make, and I can add bivy material to that if there is interest.

Thanks,
John

[Nicholas Viglione]

Great John, looks and sounds awesome! Count me in!

[John West]

Nick,
you are in the first 4 that expressed interest, so its yours once I finish them. Ill PM everyone that expressed interest once I am done on Saturday/Sunday.

Thanks guys

[Rick Housler]

If I'm one of the first 4 (I sent an IM earlier), I'd prefer mine the "regular" size, as I'm only 5'10". If you're only making the "long", I'm still interested. Rick

[John West]

Hi guys,
Replied to all people that sent me a PM expressing interest.
If I missed anyone, or if anyone else wants one, let me know with a PM
Will be finishing up making the other two tonight and tomorrow, ready to ship on Monday.

[Matthew Mahling]

Hi,

Would you have enough material left to make childs' size bivy?

My son uses a TNF Tigger 20, a prolite plus small pad, and is a slim 4'1" foot tall child.

Please let me know.

[email protected]

Thank you.

[John West]

Jon,

I have tried sending you a few PMs, but not sure if they are going though. I don't know how else to contact you besides this thread.
I made one for you awhile back, but BPL's PM system is ridiculous, and I dont know if my PMs even went through to you telling it was done.

Also, to anyone else that is interested, I have made a few more of these. The slightly altered design weighs 6.2oz.

[Hoot Filsinger]

PM sent

[Matthew Mahling]

I got the kids bag today. It looks great. 3.6ozs on my scale at work.

Thanks again.

[John West]

Replied to your PM Bill,

Matthew,
Glad to hear it, how does it fit him with that bag you mentioned?

[Rick Housler]

Received my fantastic bivy today. 6 ounces on my scales. Excellent job, many thanks!

[John West]

Hey guys, I'm going to be gone on a 9 day backpacking trip starting on Friday. I am finishing up everybody's that ordered before today, but everyone after this will have to wait until the 7th of August, when I will start making about 5-6 more before I am out of fabric. I start work again soon after that, so those will be the last ones for awhile.

[Todd Ler]

I received my bivy about 2wks ago and already used it. Mine weighs 6.2oz + 0.3 stuff sack.

Thank you John.

[John West]

Thanks Todd, glad you have enjoyed it.

I have been working alot this past week, so I haven't had time to make anymore bivys. If my numbers are correct, I have enough to make about 6 more. I will slowly make them over these next 2 weeks and let people know when they are done.

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