Ooh la la The Girl tries out the brand new Wynnchester Adventurer Bedroll
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I notice you're using the Italian Alpini pack; they're superb, eh? Good little review, I like the look of that bedroll and the option of hanging with it is a handy alternative to have available, even though I'm a ground dweller......Thanks 
I notice you're using the Italian Alpini pack; they're superb, eh? Good little review, I like the look of that bedroll and the option of hanging with it is a handy alternative to have available, even though I'm a ground dweller......Thanks
Love that little Alpini pack. The carry strap set up is so good. Clearly designed to carry something heavier on the straps under the pack.
I like ground and air... just depends on the terrain....
Love this bedroll. Amazing thing.
Great review! I love the bedroll, thanks for posting that up!
Glad you like it. This is what I will be sleeping in, when in the forest now....
In the snow - Jerven Bag.
3 seasons - Bedroll.
UL - eVent bivvy, cuben tarp, ul down sleeping bag, Exped down mat
Mountain - same but replace tarp with UL mountain tent
Horses for courses.
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Nice vid but 3.8kg and £275 for a canvas bag is absolutely crazy.
My roomy 2 man tent, 7cm Synmat, and sleeping bag only weigh under 2.5kg all together, it's not like canvas is particularly good in wet weather or is very breathable either.
Enjoy watching and reading reviews even if it's kit that i don't really have any purpose for, but this just seems to be pointless.
Can't imagine it would be a comfortable night as a hammock, yet something like a Alpkit Hunka XL would perform just as good if not better in bivvy mode, plus the hunka is only 503g in comparison and is £230 cheaper at £45.
Granted this bivvy might last longer, but Hunka's aren't exactly fragile either, and at over 6 times cheaper you'd need to get through a fair few before you started saving anything.
So my question is, what's the point?
My roomy 2 man tent, 7cm Synmat, and sleeping bag only weigh under 2.5kg all together, it's not like canvas is particularly good in wet weather or is very breathable either.
Enjoy watching and reading reviews even if it's kit that i don't really have any purpose for, but this just seems to be pointless.
Can't imagine it would be a comfortable night as a hammock, yet something like a Alpkit Hunka XL would perform just as good if not better in bivvy mode, plus the hunka is only 503g in comparison and is £230 cheaper at £45.
Granted this bivvy might last longer, but Hunka's aren't exactly fragile either, and at over 6 times cheaper you'd need to get through a fair few before you started saving anything.
So my question is, what's the point?
I like your kit choices. Looks like a very comfortable bedroll to me. You've already mentioned you have UL gear, so its not about the weight cbr.
Its luxurious. Theres a special feeling about sleeping under canvas you dont get with synthetics. Treated canvas is very waterproof, and breathable enough as well, although I've found you do get some condensation in canvas tents. I agree that Wynchester stuff is very expensive. Im not a hanger, but the idea of a hammock with spreader bars has always appealed.
[I think john Fenna and Swright of this parish have made hammocks/Beds out of canvas with spreader bars? ]
And Dave Canterbury has a youtube vid about his pathfinder bedroll, which is canvas with spreader bars.
Always rather fancied one of those duluth bedrolls. Ive never seen those alpini packs before. They look good.
Nice Vid.
Its luxurious. Theres a special feeling about sleeping under canvas you dont get with synthetics. Treated canvas is very waterproof, and breathable enough as well, although I've found you do get some condensation in canvas tents. I agree that Wynchester stuff is very expensive. Im not a hanger, but the idea of a hammock with spreader bars has always appealed.
[I think john Fenna and Swright of this parish have made hammocks/Beds out of canvas with spreader bars? ]
And Dave Canterbury has a youtube vid about his pathfinder bedroll, which is canvas with spreader bars.
Always rather fancied one of those duluth bedrolls. Ive never seen those alpini packs before. They look good.
Nice Vid.
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I like your kit choices. Looks like a very comfortable bedroll to me. You've already mentioned you have UL gear, so its not about the weight cbr.
Its luxurious. Theres a special feeling about sleeping under canvas you dont get with synthetics. Treated canvas is very waterproof, and breathable enough as well, although I've found you do get some condensation in canvas tents. I agree that Wynchester stuff is very expensive. Im not a hanger, but the idea of a hammock with spreader bars has always appealed.
[I think john Fenna and Swright of this parish have made hammocks/Beds out of canvas with spreader bars? ]
And Dave Canterbury has a youtube vid about his pathfinder bedroll, which is canvas with spreader bars.
Always rather fancied one of those duluth bedrolls. Ive never seen those alpini packs before. They look good.
Nice Vid.
Thanks for the heads up Dave i'll do some searching for those spreader type hammocks, we did make one a few years ago for the summer house but it proved extremely unstable using only 2 trees.
Be interesting to see if there is anything we can do to make it more stable this summer though, so i'll take a look at those vids thanks.
When backpacking i make a active choice to try and keep my pack as light as i can but still retain enough comfort to be warm and get a good nights sleep.
It's a ongoing balance, i might chose to use say a 7cm sleeping pad and add say 100 grams if it means i find a 5cm pad not comfortable.
When car camping though i'm the type that throws everything plus the kitchen sink in, so when glamping weight really isn't a priority for me.
That's the problem here, that bedroll is heavier than most 3 man tents, or if you prefer hammocks, yet it offers not as much room and no where near the comfort.
It's weight lends itself to glamping but why on earth would anyone take a bivvy like that glamping?
It's a minimalist product at the luxury weight and price, the 2 just seem like contradictions to me.
I do admit that i don't get "romantic" about any of my kit though, it's something that serves a purpose, i don't care what name is on the label, what it's made out of or where it's produced, i judge it 100% on how it performs.
Nothing crazy at all about these choices - they're obviously the things that work for the OP, as you say the things in your kit are those that work for you. Your post seems to me to be saying "I don't understand your choices"; I often don't completely understand the choices made by others but they equally may find mine baffling. None of this means that ANY kit choices are right or wrong, the clue is in the phrase "Horses for Courses"
cbr6fs, a piece of kit is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. It's a personal choice if someone buys a canvas bedroll.
The old British Army hammocks could be used as stretchers, they were also fitted with stretcher bars, they were designed that they could be integrated into an a frame as well for jungle use and very comfortable they were in that mode. As a hammock they were more like a catapult until you got used to the method of sleeping in one. After that they weren't a problem.
I have used canvas bedrolls in the UK and abroad and I have to admit to liking them, yes they are heavy and I have always used them with vehicle support, but I slept very well in the ones I have used.
As to the Hunka side of life, I bought a Hunka before the XL model existed and they are somewhat more than snug, yes they are cheap, but like most synthetic breathables they will have a limited lifespan and they will be a lot more fragile than canvas, you certainly wouldn't be able to use them in the same way as the military bivvy bag is used. The Hunka cost either £20 or £25 delivered when I bought it, it packs down to nothing and I like that, but it's a narrow fit for me.
I was given by a friend a military MTP issued bivvy not that long ago, it's bulkier and heavier duty. I can however get me and all of my kit in it if necessary and would be far better suited to winter and times when it's gonna be hammering down.
Because it cost me nothing does it make it any better than the Hunka XL. It doesn't.
As to cost, heavy duty canvas can be the very devil to stitch, dependent on the weave and how tight it is can mean specialist machines that have to be setup correctly for the material to be stitched, that means getting the correct tension on both the bobbin and on the main feed through. The people that do this work charge quite a lot of money to do it. Look at the cost of a Duluth Canoe pack for instance or one of their bedrolls or to a degree even the Frost River Packs.
Is it worth it when you can buy a state of the art equipment for two thirds the same price or less, to some obviously it is and that is their right, but then I think Susanne actually summed it up very nicely "Horses for Courses."
The old British Army hammocks could be used as stretchers, they were also fitted with stretcher bars, they were designed that they could be integrated into an a frame as well for jungle use and very comfortable they were in that mode. As a hammock they were more like a catapult until you got used to the method of sleeping in one. After that they weren't a problem.
I have used canvas bedrolls in the UK and abroad and I have to admit to liking them, yes they are heavy and I have always used them with vehicle support, but I slept very well in the ones I have used.
As to the Hunka side of life, I bought a Hunka before the XL model existed and they are somewhat more than snug, yes they are cheap, but like most synthetic breathables they will have a limited lifespan and they will be a lot more fragile than canvas, you certainly wouldn't be able to use them in the same way as the military bivvy bag is used. The Hunka cost either £20 or £25 delivered when I bought it, it packs down to nothing and I like that, but it's a narrow fit for me.
I was given by a friend a military MTP issued bivvy not that long ago, it's bulkier and heavier duty. I can however get me and all of my kit in it if necessary and would be far better suited to winter and times when it's gonna be hammering down.
Because it cost me nothing does it make it any better than the Hunka XL. It doesn't.
As to cost, heavy duty canvas can be the very devil to stitch, dependent on the weave and how tight it is can mean specialist machines that have to be setup correctly for the material to be stitched, that means getting the correct tension on both the bobbin and on the main feed through. The people that do this work charge quite a lot of money to do it. Look at the cost of a Duluth Canoe pack for instance or one of their bedrolls or to a degree even the Frost River Packs.
Is it worth it when you can buy a state of the art equipment for two thirds the same price or less, to some obviously it is and that is their right, but then I think Susanne actually summed it up very nicely "Horses for Courses."
Cool video review. The bedroll seems a bit heavy to carry far, but I could see myself using it when on canoe trips, or car camping trips. Thanks again for the video review.
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Great post.
I can understand a products value being what someone is willing to pay, i think it's unlikely i will ever see one on the hills/mountains like say Hexmids etc though.
These are those pathfinder log cots, that I mentioned earlier cbr, damned comfy looking things!
http://duluthpack.com/outdoor-gear/camping-hiking-gear/bedrolls/kephart-log-cot.html
http://duluthpack.com/outdoor-gear/camping-hiking-gear/bedrolls/kephart-log-cot.html
Probably not mate, but things within the various outdoor industries tend to run in cycles. Look at how wool has made a big resurgence in the last so many years, the same could be said of ventile cotton as well, I can still remember when only specific members of the armed forces, the BAS and surgeons were the only people using it and it wasn't really that long ago in the bigger scheme of things.
Dave those log cots are almost identical format to the old issue hammock apart from materials used and if you look at the current issued American camp cot and just strip away the frame you have virtually exactly the same thing. Now just imagine taking the parasilk from a cargo chute and making the same thing, it would weigh virtually nothing and pack down really nice and small.
Great post.. thank you.
I also have a tent, sleepingbag, exped mat setup - which I use in the mountains above the snowline.
There are in fact several points of this setup:
Getting out of the "tent bubble" directly into the nature. Directly under the stars...
But - you can do that with a bivvy and a mat and a sleeping bag. And yes sometimes I do.
Rough ground & Fire
But - I like to be able to throw down my sleeping system anywhere, even in thick brush, and I also like to have a fire. All this without having to worry about piercing/tearing/melting/destroying my expensive lightweight plastic/nylon (eg the Hunka.) when I am days from civilisation.
Really - Heaven help you if you are in contact with fire all bundled up in a nylon bag with down and more nylon...yikes...
For many of us, the fire is part of the overall experience, and I for one, really like not to have to be afraid of it. This is also why I wear woolen outerwear...
Especially in the far northern boreal forests, the ability to be near a fire is quite an important thing.
When its really cold you need either to be moving UL and using a VBL, or carrying more weight and expecting to use a fire. (Carrying an axe, bowsaw etc...)
The next point of it is a love of the traditional materials. And getting out of the "plastic bubble"
Canvas is in fact very breathable, and works in excellent harmony with wool and felted wool (also called Loden here).
It feels good to touch it, to sleep in it, to work with it.
I guess you could compare it to the feel of a vintage car, all wood and leather, as opposed to a modern plastic marvel. Each its own application...
Finally you may cry - But it's so heavy!
Well yes at 3.8kg it is heavy, but it is huge, and it is bombproof, and on the kind of trips this thing goes on, it is not about speedy-gonzalezing around the place.
It is about moving gently but strongly to a camp, and having a stable and secure base. It's about slowing the pace down, taking in the landscape, maybe doing a bit of stalking...
If I want to speedy-gonzalez, then I will take my Western Mountaineering Ultralight Downbag, my exped 7 downmat, and my eVent UL bivvy with cuben tarp, or my mountain tent....
We are in fact talking to Wynnchester about making a much narrower version which would be maybe 1/2 the weight. This thing is VAST....
Space!
It is VAST - This means that you can get another person in if you need to. VERY VERY useful when in truly challenging environments or when guiding...
All you gear easily fits inside.
Also if you do get stuck inside for many hours you don't really mind.
Hope all this sheds some light...
Thanks again....
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Well we will see how it all goes.
Different gear for different purposes...
I think the issues that you have in the UK with building fires takes away a part of the specific usefulness of canvas, but we'll see.
I hope my elucidation below also answered your query. Otherwise let me know and I will be happy to see if I can shed light.
It's a topic close to my heart.
I have been going in the mountains and the wilderness of all sorts for about 30 years now, in all sorts of different set-ups, and I really do find benefit in getting out of the plastic bubble.
So I do like to present these possibilities to those who may stare at this kind of thing and go - Huh?!
All good.
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