Decent bivvy shelter suggestions?

[hughtrimble]

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

 

[Robson Valley]

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]

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!

 

[SCOMAN]

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.

 

[decorum]

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]

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

 

[DavidJT]

Saturn is bigger than Jupiter? The logic defies me!

 

[hughtrimble]

Saturn is bigger than Jupiter? The logic defies me!

And Jupiter has a ring!

 

[Robson Valley]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

 

[hughtrimble]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[SaraR]

A basha sheet and a bivvy bag is both light weight and flexible. Plus fairly cheap.