The Bat Coffin – Tarp/Bivy/ Bugnet

[Karple T]

My wife named it … she said that looks like a coffin, who would want to sleep in that!

Still working on it.

Ideas are welcome : )

[Christopher Zimmer]

Very cool design! If Batman was fighting crime on the trail I'm sure he would have a nice shiny black cuben fiber setup :-)

[Colin Krusor]

I agree that this is a brilliant design. I've seen various shelter designs (tarps, dome tents, etc.) that were miniaturized to shelter only the head end of a waterproof bivy. I had a friend who was a tent designer for Mountain Hardwear who made a prototype Liliputian dome tent just to cover the head end of a bivy. I think its a great idea.

I think your Bat Coffin would be a really storm-worthy 3-season shelter if it had a beak. Replacing the bug netting on the bivy with perimeter bug netting on the tarp would give you a bug-free space to sit in for about the same weight.

[Stephen Barber]

Cool looking design!

Two critiques: 1) Looks like you need lots of stakes; I count a total of twelve. 2) Front end looks very vulnerable to wind/rain; if the wind/rain is coming from your feet, it's great, but if it shifts during the night, the fly will fly indeed!

Don't stop working on this – I think you're headed towards something good!

[Karple T]

Changes:

9 – stakes to set up.

[Stephen Barber]

What holds the shoulder corners out? What holds the top of the foot box up?

[Karple T]

Well … Its a bivy so it would realy be laying loose but the design program is limited.

I am figuring stakes at the foot but not the shoulders which would make (9)

I will scrap the coffin shape and be able to pull it tight with a rectangle shape.

I have a lot of ideas to work with – the comments are great.

[Tom Lyons]

I think it's interesting.
One thing that sticks out at me is that the rainwater is going to run right down the tarp on to the exposed part of the bivy.
It had better be VERY waterproof, and the user must not mind feeling all that water running down on his bivy-covered body.

It can work, but I think there are issues that need to be worked on.

[Ken Thompson]

Yes, another ounce would give you full coverage.

[Jerry Adams]

Extend it a little further to keep runoff off bivy – then you'll have a pyramid : )

If you aren't getting rain on the bivy, you can make it from sub 1 ounce fabric

[Karple T]

This is an all cuben project so its waterproof and all the designs can have a full beak added – However –

I started this really focusing on the combination of a bug tent and a bivy.

What are the thoughts on that alone with a normal tarp which is what I am going to use it with anyway.

Here is another idea for a short tarp cuben shelter.

I have been working on this one for a while. It would have a triangle of carbon poles at the foot to keep the shape tight.

It would only require 4 or 6 stakes.

Here is my alien spacecraft

[Franco Darioli]

There is a commercially available version of that design.
The Luxe Outdoor X Rocket :
http://www.luxeoutdoor.com/eng/catalog-topic-gallery-view1.asp?id=821&selfpath=/12/125

Take a look at the difference between the first and second version to see how the product evolved..

Franco

[Karple T]

That's cool Franco ! … a lot heavier than what I had in mind.

I think I can get below one pound with cuben.

The pancho is an awesome idea.

[Franco Darioli]

The X Rocket is made with 185T polyester so it could be done a lot lighter with silnylon but would almost double the price.
Of course when you do it yourself that is less of a consideration on the final cost ,unless you charge yourself for your labour.

Yes, I thought that since you have a very similar design might as well consider the poncho add on too.
note that it has side entry but can access the front from the inside.

Franco

[Bill Segraves]

Interesting ideas. For most conditions, I think I'd tend to prefer something like http://www.backpacking-lite.co.uk/diy/make-an-ultralight-solo-micro-tarp.html. I like the open-ness and the way the slant of the tarp takes all the rain that hits the tarp away from the bivy, instead of dumping some appreciable fraction onto it. I've been lucky enough not to hit bad stuff on the first tests of my MYOG microtarp, but in really bad weather (gusting winds driving rain in from variable direction), yours would certainly offer more coverage.

Best,

Bill S.

[Franco Darioli]

The problem with that set up (ultralite solo micro tarp) is if the wind changes direction or if you set it up not knowing where the wind is likely to come from.
Personally I also find that a pole set up at a slant like that loses a lot of stability.
That is what I do with the Contrail (for example) when I can't be bothered using two poles but I set it straight at bed time.
Franco
EDITED to add photo. Of late often the only way to add a photo has been to post the message and then edit (???)

[Bill Segraves]

I made mine so that it could be pitched with the pole nearly straight up and down (you make it asymmetric enough that one side is nearly vertical while the other side provides your sleeping space), and added an O-ring for direct insertion of an upside-down trekking pole. It's not at all hard even for a tarp newbie to get a taut, stable pitch.

Bill S.

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