[at-l] Bivy Questions

[Ken Bennett]

Can you sew? Do you know anyone who can sew? My lovely wife made my bivy,
and it is wonderful. It is made from silnylon on the bottom, and Momentum
.90 fabric on top, with a HUGE mesh panel over the chest. It is *not*
waterproof, but the M-90 fabric is the most water-resistant truly
breatheable fabric I have ever seen. Water just puddles on it, and sits
there overnight, then shakes off.

Of course, this style bivy requires a tarp, but I think you asked about that
in another post. I like my 6x10 sil nylon tarp.

Photo 1<http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=15028&catid=member&imageuser=266>:
the finished bivy.

Photo 2<http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=15993&catid=member&imageuser=266>:
in use north of Hot Springs under my tarp.

My hiking partner used an Epic fabric bivy on that same night not twenty
feet away, and he was *soaked* in condensation the next morning. I have
never had a drop of condensation inside. The mesh top is the biggest part of
that, of course, but I think the M-90 helps, too.

All the materials are available from thru-hiker.com for about $60. I will
say that the very light slippery fabrics are a pain to sew -- I can finally,
barely, sew a straight line just enough to make a small stuff sack. My wife
did the whole bivy in one go, without a single pin or tape or anything --
just held the fabric together and made perfect seams.

I like the versatility of this sort of bivy. It can be used in a shelter (no
bugs, no mice, adds warmth), out under the stars (no bugs, adds warmth and
wind protection) and under a tarp in bad weather.

Cheers,

Ken





On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 9:00 PM, Frank Looper <nightwalker.at at gmail.com>wrote:

> I'm looking to seriously lighten my pack. Part of the equation is a
> lightweight bivy. I'd love to get the MSR E-Bivy<http://www.rei.com/product/781507>(at the embedded link), but it doesn't make any explanation of "how the heck
> do you breathe through that thing?" The other one that I'm looking at is the
> 15 ounce REI Minimalist Bivy <http://www.rei.com/product/731431>. It has a
> breathing net and stuff, but it makes me pay more to get more weight. I'm
> not really fond of that idea!
>
>
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