Well I finally made the plunge. I spent the last few weeks kicking around ideas in my head, and browsing on here for some inspiration and . I scored 3 yards of eVent fabric in the Gear Swap section of Backpackinglight.com and I knew exactly where I'd put it to use. I'm racing in the Colorado Trail Race this year, and wanted a shelter with a compromise of simplicity, waterproofness, durability, and weight. I wanted to avoid having to set up a tarp/tent, so this meant that the bivy I used needed to be completely waterproof, not just water resistant. I was willing to sacrifice a few ounce of extra weight, even over a ultra-light bivy and tarp combo, as this would make for an easier setup after 14 hours straight on the bike. I also made it a little larger than it needed to be, this gives me room for my Neoair pad, some extra room to store clothing if it gets nasty out, and also just for some wiggle room.
Top fabric is eVent, bottom is 1.9oz PU Coated Nylon(again, a sacrifice of weight for strength). It has tie out loops on both the body portion, and hood portion of the zipper, which is a YKK #3 Water Resistant. Also pretty proud of the matching stuff sack I made for it... hahaha
Ready for bed.
Matching stuff sack...
Under one pound...
Part 2, the nano-see-um window insert...
I finally finished her up a few days ago, and just now got all the pictures loaded up and hosted... Here she is. It came out better than I truly was hoping for. I wanted something removable, as I don't often need the bug netting on my trips, but wanted the option. The window insert is simple, and very effective. And the best part, it's only 1oz... It rolls up to about the size of a AA battery, so it's compact and easy to store in the bottom of the stuff sack for use if needed. I put small grossgrain loops at each end to make removal easy from the inside. To crawl in and out it's as simple as undoing one edge of the velcro and wiggling your way out. It puts my total bivy weight with stuff sack, and 3' of elastic tie-out cord at 16.05oz. All in all, I'm very pleased with my first attempt! Can't wait to get out and get it dirty!
Insert laid out:
Laid over the bivy for size refernce:
Close up of the velcro that is sewn just inside the zipper portion of the bivy. This remains on the bivy at all times, and is then mated with the velcro strip that borders the entire mesh window.
Another close up. This one showing how nicely the velcro seals at the edge of the border. It'll definitely keep out the creepy crawlies...
This is just demonstrating the location of the upper tie-out point on the hood portion. Gives me tons of ventilation and great visibility.
And this is the same as the above one, but showing it with the bivy completely water-tight.
