Decent bivvy shelter suggestions?

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hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
Evening all,

I'm due to go for a night's camping with some Edgematters forumites down in Devon at the start of May, and I have zero shelter gear so have been hunting for some. Having read-up on things like hammocks and tarps, bivouac bags and shelters, tents etc. I'm set on a bivvy shelter. I like the way you're not quite as enclosed as in a bivvy bag, but you have less of a tent faff and no need to find trees for a hammock.

Are there any go to makes for these sorts of things? Budget up to 400GBP.

Requirements: I am not a car camper, so it needs to have some weight and size consideration, but neither am I a featherweight hiker who needs to remove the cardboard from a bog roll to save on weight. Also needs to be weather proof - I will not be using an external tarp over the top of it.

I've been looking at:

Outhausoutdoors' Grand Solo 2: http://www.outhausoutdoors.com/product/grand-solo-2-aussie-style-deluxe-canvas-swag/

Wynnchester Outdoors' Adventurer Canvas Bedroll: https://www.wynnchester.com/product/adventurer-canvas-bedroll/

Any thoughts on those two? They're weighty and bulky but do look pretty gloriously comfy.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

Hugh
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Decades ago, I borrowed a tent much like the Grand Solo 2 for a month long camping road trip.
I didn't have to skootch in, feet first. I could sit up. I could turn around.
No challenge like extreme yoga to change clothes.
I have actually been scanning outdoor places for something as I remember.
The GS2 looks in fact to be even a little bit bigger which is OK by me.

The canvas bedroll looks fine but I'd feel too much like a pea in a pod.
 

hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
Decades ago, I borrowed a tent much like the Grand Solo 2 for a month long camping road trip.
I didn't have to skootch in, feet first. I could sit up. I could turn around.
No challenge like extreme yoga to change clothes.
I have actually been scanning outdoor places for something as I remember.
The GS2 looks in fact to be even a little bit bigger which is OK by me.

The canvas bedroll looks fine but I'd feel too much like a pea in a pod.

The only downside seems to be the immense weight at 6kg + for the GS2.

For something sort of similar, but modern and light weight there's the Terra Nova Jupiter at under a kg, and the sightly bigger Saturn

http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/tarps-bivis-bothies/all-bivis-bivi-bags/jupiter-bivi/

Any thoughts on those two? Certainly less roomy, but that weight saving is immense!
 

decorum

Full Member
May 2, 2007
5,064
12
Warwickshire
What happens when* it royally widdles it down? Where will you do your cooking and admin? There's very good reason why bivvy bag users tend to use tarps over their waterproof sleeping system ;)

* Note 'when', not 'if'.

I have a swag, similar to the GS2 but from a different company. I like it ~ it's a carry in car camping bit of kit.

If you have your eye and heart set on a canvas then bilmo-p5 of this parish, is your man ~ http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/member.php?u=20177
 

hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
There was an ex NL army carinthia observer copy on eBay today

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orig-NL-A...990833?hash=item489be30171:g:wysAAOxyBotTXqHK

I'm looking at a bivvy again myself for some mad reason.

Thank you for the link. I bid on a Dutch army looped bivi just this evening (not the same design as in your link though). Supposedly made by Carinthia, but the chap removed the listing the moment I bid...

It was a fifth of the cost of the one in your link so I'll check out the differences
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
If I can find the fabric (ripstop nylon) in the colors I want, there's a local seamstress who can sew up the tent of my dreams.
I'll expect to cover it with a very large rain fly as I want covered space out front. Inside space for kit storage and cooking.

I have some gut sense that the combination will weigh less than a the canvas equivalent with an open mesh top?

I want to say that Saturn Trumps Jupiter but that's off-shore fake news for most of you !!
 

SCOMAN

Life Member
Dec 31, 2005
2,583
452
53
Perthshire
What happens when* it royally widdles it down? Where will you do your cooking and admin? There's very good reason why bivvy bag users tend to use tarps over their waterproof sleeping system ;)

* Note 'when', not 'if'.
Then one has to accept you're going to get wet. Bringing a tarp, you may as well bring a tent. I've been caught out before, it's not the best of nights I've had but the challenge in itself was fun. I rarely go more than one night out nowadays anyway.
 

SCOMAN

Life Member
Dec 31, 2005
2,583
452
53
Perthshire
Thank you for the link. I bid on a Dutch army looped bivi just this evening (not the same design as in your link though). Supposedly made by Carinthia, but the chap removed the listing the moment I bid...

It was a fifth of the cost of the one in your link so I'll check out the differences

The guy does have the single hooped variety too.
 

Scotty Von Porkchop

Tenderfoot
Dec 31, 2013
51
4
Lake district
www.ebay.co.uk
I like really lightweight bivy bags that aren't breathable that go under a nice sized square or shaped tarp. You get the light weight but also the views and a comfortable place to cook.

I'm not a massive fan of Goretex generally but they have their place in Mountaineering etc

I also love a heavy canvas bivy too but that's more a base camp sort of thing.

I own one of each ☺️ (full disclosure: I also make them)
 

ScottE

Nomad
Mar 22, 2017
498
357
Norfolk
Dutch army hooped bivvy and a small basha/tarp for keeping dry when cooking etc.

I have an xl sized one that is great, and a large I was offering on here has gone to a new owner, nothing like a tent......a tent doesn't allow me to feel like I'm outside when I'm in it but a basha does and so does the bivi with front open or bug mesh across.
 

hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
The guy does have the single hooped variety too.

Thank you. It's actually because of your original link to the double hoop that a I'm holding out for the Dutch surplus Observer made by Carinthia. They come up for around 200Euro not too irregularly, it's just whether one will appear before this trip!
 
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hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
I like really lightweight bivy bags that aren't breathable that go under a nice sized square or shaped tarp. You get the light weight but also the views and a comfortable place to cook.

I'm not a massive fan of Goretex generally but they have their place in Mountaineering etc

I also love a heavy canvas bivy too but that's more a base camp sort of thing.

I own one of each ☺️ (full disclosure: I also make them)

I'm getting a DD superlight for exactly this reason. I've never actually used a tarp before, but it seems like it'll be a useful, very light for the size thing to have.

It does seem to sort of make the hooped bivi a little pointless, but I like the option of using this standalone, or with tarp.
 

hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
Dutch army hooped bivvy and a small basha/tarp for keeping dry when cooking etc.

I have an xl sized one that is great, and a large I was offering on here has gone to a new owner, nothing like a tent......a tent doesn't allow me to feel like I'm outside when I'm in it but a basha does and so does the bivi with front open or bug mesh across.

One thing I can't find are decent packed measurements for the L and XL Dutch hooped bivvy. Do you have any indication as to how they compare? Also, what's the packed weight of the XL?
 

hughtrimble

Full Member
Jan 23, 2012
458
78
UK/France
If I can find the fabric (ripstop nylon) in the colors I want, there's a local seamstress who can sew up the tent of my dreams.
I'll expect to cover it with a very large rain fly as I want covered space out front. Inside space for kit storage and cooking.

I have some gut sense that the combination will weigh less than a the canvas equivalent with an open mesh top?

I want to say that Saturn Trumps Jupiter but that's off-shore fake news for most of you !!

The thing is, I have zero experience with bivis or tarps, so if i went to get one bespoke made, it would be as wasted on me as a Paul Mason Eureka Jack knife on a bladey novice!

The canvas options just seem rather more luxurious, but weighty. That awful rustling you get with modern materials is no where to be heard!
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,438
2,859
W.Sussex
The DD Superlight was going to be my recommendation. They're very good, lots of cover, tiny pack size. Though the canvas bivis appeal to me aesthetically, I just can't be doing with bugs and slugs getting in during the night. My only experience with an Alpkit Hunka XL was watching the Perseid meteor shower, and I had to go to the garage and get a bedchair out because when I shined my torch on the ground there were slugs everywhere on the lawn.
 

SCOMAN

Life Member
Dec 31, 2005
2,583
452
53
Perthshire
I won a brand new Carinthia Explorer 2 plus on eBay last night for £185, I fancied the observer but it was beyond what I wanted to pay.
 

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