RE: [at-l] Bivy sacks, again.

["Nicole Markee" <thatgirl@astrogirl.com>]

> Behalf Of Mayer, Jim
> I haven't done this, but I've thought about it.  It seems to me that if
> you are going to carry a light tarp (or a poncho) that you may be able
> to get by with a much lighter bivy.

Yeah, but I like the fancy bivys.  I'm always a bug's dinner, make no
mistake.  I need the netting, and it can't be something that only sort of
works.  The only kind of bivy
that is attractive to me are the kind with a pole to prevent claustrophobia.

> The fancier bivy sacks (I have an
> Integral Designs Unishelter, which weighs about 2.3lbs in its standard
> configuration) give one several things:

The OR Advanced is 1#15 with all it's stuff.  It can be used without it's
poles and netting (in non-bug season, of course) for 22 ounces.

>Oh... and Integral Designs makes a really cute 5x8 tarp that weighs 7.2
oz and has lots of tie points.

This would get me to 10 ounces under my tent (which is 3#10 complete), so
it's not trivial.  In addition, one man tents that are light always need
staking.  This is limiting.  If I wanted to spend the big bucks, I'd buy a
Stephenson tent and be done with this.  Unfortunately, that's twice as much
money.

I really need to set one up and see if I can do things that I will do in bed
in it.  Like write in a journal.  If I want to eat or cook, I can make it a
lean-to kind of thing with a tarp.  If I'm waiting out rain during the day,
I can do that in a shelter.  If the tarp doesn't make up for it's weight, I
can always send it home.

Looks like I need to make a pest of myself at REI, because no one else seems
to stock OR sacks around here.  If anyone in NoVA knows which outfitter
stocks bivys with one or two pole designs that are not Slumberjacks (too
heavy and reviews complain of condensation problems), let me know.

-Nicole

=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
Nicole Markee
MCI Internet Engineering
Vnet 272-7250
nmarkee@mci.net



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