Vango Fusion sleeping bag

[Harb505]

Well I picked a Vango Fusion 2/3 season sleeping bag up in a millets sale a few months back. It has a fleece lined stuff sack so it can be reversed and used as a pillow and seperate compression straps.
I've used it a few times thus far but really tested it on Thurs and Friday night. On Thurs night we camped in a scotch pine plantation, I was using:
Army issure gor-tex 'grade A' bivi
Closed cell Multi mat
Vango Fusion bag
Eurohike silkliner
HH warm base layer

It rained a bit during the night but I stayed warm and dry, the next morning we packed and I tightly rolled up my bivi which was wet on the outside. The following evening we were in a Western Hemlock wood, as I unpacked the moisture was starting to get throught the gore-tex layer of my bivi (I'm assuming becasue of the fact it had been tighty rolled up while wet all day and probs not nikwaxed for a very long time).

During the night it snowed, hailed and rained and more water stared to penetrate my bivi but the sleeping bag kept me warm and dry despite having it's outer shell covering in a layer of water.
I will test the bivi again once I have washed it using something like Nikwax tech wash and direct wash in.
But a big thums up for the cheapy £60 down to £30 Vango Bag

 

[ged]

... moisture was starting to get throught the gore-tex layer of my bivi (I'm assuming becasue of the fact it had been tighty rolled up while wet all day and probs not nikwaxed for a very long time).

No, it's because water vapour can go through the Gore-tex membrane in both directions. Warmth from your body will drive it outwards when you're in it, but when you're not in it, and it's rolled up, the water vapour just tends to form an equilibrium where everything is equally moist. Sounds like you got a good deal on the kit.

 

[Harb505]

No, it's because water vapour can go through the Gore-tex membrane in both directions. Warmth from your body will drive it outwards when you're in it, but when you're not in it, and it's rolled up, the water vapour just tends to form an equilibrium where everything is equally moist. Sounds like you got a good deal on the kit.

So you're saying it got as wet as it did on the second night because there wasn't enough warmth on the inside of the bivi? i.e. between the outer layer of the sleeping bag and the inner layer of the bivi.

 

[ged]

So you're saying it got as wet as it did on the second night because there wasn't enough warmth on the inside of the bivi? i.e. between the outer layer of the sleeping bag and the inner layer of the bivi.

Partly at least. A lot of the water was probably from you anyway. It will start to dry out while you're in it, but it won't work miracles. If the outside is soaking wet then it's got a lot more work to do than if it's under some sort of shelter so that the moisture that breathes out onto the outer surface can evaporate away. I like to air everything as much as possible if it's had a soaking, so when I get up the first thing I do is hang things up to dry off (under a tarp if necessary) while I eat and generally mooch about, and when I get to my next stop if things are wet the first thing I do is hang anything up (or at least spread it around) to dry off a bit before lunching, carrying on with the journey, or turning in.

 

[Harb505]

Well hopefully my problems will be resolved after christmas as I'm hoping for a DD solo trap 1.8m x 2.8m. I'm hoping it will make a nice low profile shelter. At the min I usually rely on natural shelter or don't go out in bad weather but I'm starting to find that a bit too restrictive.

 

[John Fenna]

You have to remember that Goretex is NOT "Waterproof" only "liquid water" proof ... the outer can "wet out" and stop the membrane allowing water-vapour to be pushed through by body heat/positive pressure and you get condensation inside (bodies can pump out several litres a night in "insensible perspiration" AKA "water vapour" especially if your nose and mouth are inside the bivibag....) or if your sleeping bag is very efficient the temp inside the bivibag surface can be below the outside ambient temp and water vapour can be sucked INTO the sleeping bag through the membrane (rare, but...)
Liquid water can be forced through the membrane by pressure, especially on bags where age/storage/dirt have compromised the integrity of the membrane.
I recently tried out a cotton sleeping bag cover (used under a tarp - just as I use my goretex bivibag) and it was just as effective at protecting the sleepingbag from spray/mud etc while being much quieter.
Unfortunately it proved unequal to being proof against battery acid in the back of a pals pick up and is now part of my "fabric bits" bag awaiting being remade into other items
I am thinking of making a Ventile bivibag when my current MOD bivibag gives up the ghost ... but than I am a big fan of Ventile...

 

[Harb505]

Well hopefully if I nikwax the outer layer of the bivi so it's more water resistant it will work alot better failing that like I say I should have a tarp soon so having a water proof bivi won't be of a vital imporatance.

 

[jeffz]

Am keen to blag some Tyvek off a building-site to make groundsheets and bivvys from. Anyone tried? Am told the proofing and breathability are excellent. Plus Tyvek is extremely light.