Bivvy kit need to lighten up... thoughts please

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Bivvy kit need to lighten up... thoughts please

83 posts & 28 voices | Started 2 years ago by Tiger6791 | Latest reply from Tiger6791

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Tiger6791 - Member

Right so Bivvy'ing this weekend out for 3 days sleeping rough for 2 nights

I expect it will be wet and cold. Just got the stuff together I think I need and it's loads.

Need to ditch dome kit

Main 2 contenders to go are:

- Self inflating foam sleep mat
- Army Poncho

Do I need these? The poncho makes a great mini shelter when it raining and the sleep mat should keep me warmer it's just that both together are quite bulky.

I've got a good down bag now (never used it) and a AlpKit hunka do I need a mat as well?

Do I need the Poncho could always make a nano head shelter out of my Goretex Jacket?

Posted 2 years ago #
druidh - Member

Remember that the down in your sleeping bag will compress under your weight - effectively cutting it's insulating properties to zero.

Posted 2 years ago #
flatfish - Member

poncho will break the wind if pitched to the floor on prevailing side making warmth loads better.

Posted 2 years ago #
Rikoshea - Member

Ditch the mat and get a baloon bed, i shit you not.
You might be glad of the poncho or a tarp in this weather.
how much is your kit weighing in at?

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

so the conclusion is take both then?

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Foam Mat
ME Down Bag
Alpkit Hunka
Army Poncho
Dry bag
3916g

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Cooking
Outlander Micro Stove 160
Steel Mug 117
Lighhter 12
C100 Gas (full) 189
Small Pan & Lid 120
Smaller Pan 37
Bag & Strap 24
Spork 15
Chopsticks 5
679g

Sleep Clothes
Fleece
Socks
Running Tights 801g

Then bike tools some food, tube, pump, hip flask of scotch and waterproofs

Posted 2 years ago #
deft - Member

Cook using the steel mug?

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

Steel Mug 117

You've got a pan, so why the steel mug (in fact why 2 pans)?

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

2 of us going so 2 pans which double as bowls

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

Dry bag

For keeping kit dry in your pack? A couple of bin liners works fine, or if you're really bothered a sealed pack liner is a lot lighter than a full dry bag.

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

2 of us going so 2 pans which double as bowls

Fair enough, but one pan and a couple of plastic bowls is lighter.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Dry bag is also the compression bag

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

Foam Mat
ME Down Bag
Alpkit Hunka
Army Poncho
Dry bag
3916g

A Hunka is 400g. If I assume 1500g for the bag (I'd be surprised if it was much more), then that's 2kg for the mat, poncho and dry bag - that's an awful lot of weight for non-essentials. I'm not a big fan of balloon beds, but bubble wrap works fine for insulation from the ground. The poncho might be useful, bit is it rather heavy for what it is - a lightweight tarp might be just as useful but a lot lighter.

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

compression bag

For what? A down bag will compress as much as it's going to by hand stuffing.

Posted 2 years ago #
TenMen - Member

I've bivvied in all weathers, and there's no way I would go without some form of mat. I use a small thermarest which fits neatly inside my bivvy bag. I have tried without and it was misery.

Posted 2 years ago #
schmiken - Member

Ditch the foam mat and get an Alpkit Thermarest - they may be a little heavier, but roll up much smaller and are a lot warmer. Get rid of the poncho and tent too, just get a military issue Goretex bivi bag.

Posted 2 years ago #
flatfish - Member

neoair's are the way forward

Posted 2 years ago #
TooTall - Member

plastic cup. Get rid of the chopsticks. Get an old army foam sleep mat and trim it down if you can. Buy a bivvy bag that would be more efficient and probably lighter than the poncho. Use bin bgs as bag liners. Warm hat as well.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Army Poncho has to go I've decided, it's just too heavy

Gonna cut the same size out of some plastic pond liner in case extra shelter is needed

Posted 2 years ago #
Nick - Member

Can't your mate carry his own mug, and you carry one mug, you carry the stove, he carries the gas etc? Will save you a bit, but not enough really.

I guess the bag must be pretty heavy, but changing it to a lighter one is not going to to be cheap.

Alpkit might be able to get you a Pipedream 600 and a wee airic, which with your hunka would weigh in at just over 1.8kg, this will fit into a 13l dry bag, weighing **** all, change your poncho for a micro tarp from Backpackinglight (or make one yourself) and your all up weight will be about 2.1kg, just over half what you're quoting above.

Can't see another way of doing it, but it's going to cost you £200

Posted 2 years ago #
Edric 64 - Member

plastic cups are crap you can cook in a metal one and junk a pan

Posted 2 years ago #
Edric 64 - Member

+1 for goretex bivvy bag and short therma rest

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Breaks down like this

My wife now thinks I'm mental weighing stuff on the kitchen scales

Foam Mat 666
ME Down Bag 1555
Bag sac 155
Alpkit Hunka 384
Army Poncho 933
Dry bag 256

So I'm gonna bin the Bag sac, dry bag & poncho.

Stuff the sleeping bag into the very bottom of the rucksac and use stuff on top to compress it.

Posted 2 years ago #
Nick - Member

The goretex bivvy bag will weigh twice what the hunka does, I know, I've got an army issue one, it's great but weighs nearly a kilo!

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Why is a goretex Bivvi any better than the Alpkit Hunka?

Posted 2 years ago #
Nick - Member

remember, if a down bag gets wet it will a) weigh a ton, b) not keep you warm

Posted 2 years ago #
Nick - Member

Why is a goretex Bivvi any better than the Alpkit Hunka?

Goretex is tougher, but it weighs more. No personal experience of the hunka myself, but think I will get one when I want to save a bit of weight (Welsh Ride Thing)

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

plastic cups are crap you can cook in a metal one and junk a pan

Well you can, but you're far better off cooking and eating straight out of a proper pan - you don't get much in a mug. Have finally remembered what I do in Polaris etc. - I have a pot pasta snack as the first thing I eat. Then use the container to eat and drink everything else out of - I only ever use the pan for heating water. Or if you don't want a pot snack on your menu, just get one of the pots to use, as it's about the lightest durable "mug" you can get. Of course I also use alu foil Chinese take-away containers for pans - they work fine for boiling water on a stove.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

The mug and the pans 250g, they are not my issue

Posted 2 years ago #
nickc - Member

You're right to ditch the poncho, but I'd be wanting some sort of tarp I reckon

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Right Rucsac now included

Rucsac with DownBag, Sleeping clothes, Waterproofs and Bivvy is 5.18kg

The rest goes on the bike

Think I'm happy now

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

Tarp is pond liner weighing in at 495g and rolled into sleeping mat for no extra bulk.

Poncho gone!

Posted 2 years ago #
Ambrose - Member

Bin the pond liner, go to B+Q or similar and buy decorating polythene dustsheet if you want v. lightweight or DPC membrane if you want heavier duty.

Plan route carefully so that you can sleep in bivvibag in lee of tree, wall, boulder etc. I've never used a tarp although I've wanted one on a couple of occasions.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tiger6791 - Member

I think I'll look at the weather, I don't really want a tarp but if it's forecast rain all weekend then it's gonna be that bit nicer sleeping / cooking out of the rain if we've been rained on all day while riding.

It's not actually pond liner but DPC

Posted 2 years ago #

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