Bivvy bag help needed

[stav]

This will probably sound stupid to all you seasoned Bushcrafters but I recently bought an army issue bivvy bag off ebay and I'm not sure of the set up.

It is completely open at the getting-in end with no draw cord or netting for protection. Is this normal? Are you supposed to rig a tarp up over the bag as well? Can someone advise?

Like I said, I'm probably just thick, but, until you know these things - you don't know these things.

 

[bushyboo]

Hi stav
you should have a drawcord at the top (mines has) if you are expecting it to rain then i would use a tarp ,if its a gortex/waterproof one you will get away with just keeping your head covered but then you have to think of the rest of your kit and keeping that dry it all depends on the weather and how comfy you want to be.
hope this helps

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Hello Stav.
As previously stated, it would normally have a draw string around the opening at one end, but it's not the end of the world if it dosen't. You can use a tarp to cover you and your kit, or even just an opened up rain coat either draped over the head end, or on a make shift frame made from a few sticks. The only part that needs covering is your head.

 

[Woodcutter]

Hi Stav, as already suggested it should have a draw cord around the opening, worth putting one in too so you can tighten it up to keep snug and dry. Tarp is best to keep your head and kit dry, although you can do without, you just turn the bivy bag over so that when you tighten it up you leave a small opening facing down. It depends on how comfortable you want to be.

Also when using it, put your sleeping mat inside the bivy bag, with your sleeping bag on top of it, this way you won't roll off your mat in the night and wake up with a cold back.

They are a great bit of kit, keep the wind and damp of you when used with a shelter of some sort. I don't go out without one, often use it on its own in summer with just a sleep mat inside for comfort rather than insulation.

Have a look at this post and you can see a couple of pics of bivy bag set up. Happens to be my son in the pics but you can clearly see the bivy bag set up.http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=20779

 

[Glen]

I've not seen or heard of anyone else doing this but it worked for me so you might want to try it.

I used the bivy upside down, instead of having the hood underneath me and pulled over the back of my head I had it loose and hanging above me, hooked over my pack to keep it off my face. It did take a bit of aranging to make sure the bottom ( usually the front ) piece was bathubed round shouldersto not let small streams in. I used a fleece in a waterproof stuffsac for a pillow which kept my head from the wet ground.

 

[Jedadiah]

Hi Stav,

top tip mate. If you do not have a draw cord, get yourself some paracord (3mm or 5mm), then get a wire coat hanger. Straighten the coat hanger out so it's as straight as it can get (dont worry if there are any bends or minor kinks). Pass this through the channel that the draw cord should be, all the way so the other end of the coat hanger sticks out of the other end of the channel. Then, bend the very end of it double and pinch the end of the paracord in the doubled over section. You can crimp it down with pliers. Then, as you withdraw the coat hanger, you pull the paracord through the channel. When the hanger comes out, so does the end of the 'cord. Hey presto, draw string! All you need to do is disconnect the hanger, cut the cord to length (make sure the opening is fully open by this stage) then get a plastic clip that you get on jacket draw cords or bergan snowcovers, put that on and tie the paracord ends together.

A cheap and inexpensive fix that will probably be stronger than the original cord!

Hope this helps

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

I use a safety pin to thread the cord through, same idea tho... Also like the idea of the bergan as a support

 

[stav]

Thank you for the advice, gentlemen. I'm a bit wiser, now, but am I right to think that if you don't have a tarp, then you pull on the drawstring and totally enclose yourself in the bivvy or would that create too much condensation and you should leave your head out and cover your face some other way?

I'm going on a Bushtruck course next weekend, so I'll take the bivvy along and hopefully learn how to use it, there.

Thanks again.

 

[sxmolloy]

Hi Stav. I would go with a tarp personally. I have recently bought a bivvy and although I haven't used it as such would probablly go for a set up something like this.

Tarp overhead to keep me and my kit dry.

Self Inflating mat inside my sleeping bag and sleeping bag inside my bivvy, with my head exposed, maybe wearing a wooly hat on colder nights.

If you were to put the bivvy right over your head you would get soaked with condensation from your breath, and you couldn't fart during the night without gassing yourself....

Hope this helps...ATB....Stu

 

[Jedadiah]

Theoretically, if it is a Goretex bivvy bag, you should not get wet as the moisture evaporates through the material! Thats the point of a bivvy bag.

If you want to risk it or anticipate a dry night, just go hardcore and bivvy bag,

If it's going to be 'a bit moist', tarp over the top to protect kit and bivvy bag.

My two pen'eth.

 

[Andy B]

Here is a few pics of me in my army gor-tex bivvy.

Sometimes it helps to see something in use.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Greg]

Just be aware that these Bivvi bags aren't of the top quality you would expect from a civilian brand, they will eventually leak if you do not use a tarp with it and it rains hard.
They can also get quite stuffy because of the obvious lack of a zip.
And yes if you don't keep the cover away from your face condensation can form on the inside!
Still it is one bit of my kit that I managed to keep hold of when I left the army.
Which safety me forking out, and I use mine all the time.

 

[Chainsaw]

I take mine with me even when I'm hammock and tarping in case I can't find a willing couple of trees. I use it as a underblanket if I can. You can also wrap your sleeping bag or mat in it to keep them dry.

Cheers,

Alan

 

[Sleepy Weasel]

Re the pics
I though I was the only person who looked grumpy getting out of a bivvi bag!

Re the bag itself, it's worth fitting the drawcord as then you can use the bag to keep all your kit dry for river crossings as well as a flotation devce. Personally I've used these bags a lot and have had no problems with them. but for personal preference I have used a tarp/basha affair to keep the worst off me during the typical Welsh summer.