Bivy Bag usage

[scoutfinch]

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Geo:

Trust me -- there wasn't alot with the exception of being on the range where I learned that if I wasn't on the relay or in the butts, I was sleeping (it was my favourite *background activity*)  I knew I had mastered sleeping through anything when I had to be woken up on the grenade range to go throw my own.  I immediately returned to sleep once I was finished.

That being said, I come from an army family and my dad taught me when I was a wee little girl that any fool can be uncomfortable.  So, if I figured if  I was going to get more than an hour and I was at the biv, I dug out my sleeping gear.  Otherwise, I slept without it. 

I know people think I need a lobotomy but I swear -- I loved CAP!  It was a blast... one hell of a pile of work but worth everything I put into it!

 

[davidk]

On course, we were shown how to use the bivy bag as a flotation device -  pack all your kit inside it, roll it up tight as you can, hold on tight and cross the river.

 

[geo]

Och you missed the best part of your 1st river fording........
dealing with wet kit for 24 hrs..... "fun" (or so they told me).

Military has taught me that, the moment you have "idle" time, you go to ground and.... bingo - asleep... and you wake up just as quickly....
My wife & son are, amongst others, amazed at how I can go on with so little sleep....

Don't try this at home kiddies, only attempt under the supervision of professionals

 

[scoutfinch]

I didn't understand the Insta-sleep process until this summer.  Now, I am a certified master. I've never required a lot of sleep so it was not a huge hardship to go without.  I ended up less sleep f*cked than a lot of my course mates which means I had a great laugh at their expense as they hallucinated their way through the last few days of defensive!

Along with insta-sleep, I no longer can eat a meal at a normal pace.  I am done and wiping my mouth with a napkin by the time that my family is just getting started.  Breathing becomes optional as soon as my plate is in front of me.

 

[davidk]

Och you missed the best part of your 1st river fording........
dealing with wet kit for 24 hrs..... "fun" (or so they told me).

Of course it's fun... so long as your personal kit isn't being volunteered for the demo  ;D

 

[geo]

naw..... we all lived thru it... the better that we all learnt lesson 100% correctly

 

[Jay4th]

I love my bivvy bag, but if it is a reasonably dry night I lie in my sleeping bag on top of the bivvy bag.  I tend to get a little moist inside the gore-tex.  Funny story.
One night in Minnesota, in a patrolbase, I went to ground (lucky me).  Beside me was Infidel-6 in a light green bivvy bag with Gore-tex brand stamped inside on several places.  My bag was a contract bag from Mustang Safety gear.  The rain poured down, beaded off I-6 and soaked into me like a sponge. He laughed and laughed.  I took my bag to clothing after the ex and rummaged around in the box of bivvy bags til I found one made by Gore-tex brand. Thank God for an accomodating supply tech who thought I was nuts.
I always put the air mattress inside the bivvy bag. That mattress is heavy when wet.

 

[Link]

I've slept in nothing but the bivy bag, kept me dry and after reveille there wasn't any time to stuff all that other kit away.  So I've come to find that the bivy works fine on its own, only in the summer however.

 

[Synthos]

A couple things I have picked up in my experience in civi camping and what I have had in terms of military issued sleep

Stuffing is faster and generally smaller than rolling. (Way faster!) just stuff hard; use body weight to stuff even harder, try to get down into the corners as much as you can.

Self inflating mattresses are nice, and can be quite comfy, but they have some issues: noise, time (to inflate and deflate), and can generally be a bit of a hassle. Foam mattresses (i've heard good things about "ridge rests" on these forums) are faster to set up and take down but can be less comfortable than a self inflating one.

I would recommend the mattress out side of the bivi bag. Especially if you store your sleeping mat outside of the valice with your bivi bag/sleeping bag, it will ensure that dirt collected on the bottom of your mattress is not transfered to your sleeping stuff.

 

[Bomber]

The newer bivvy's, made with "Stead Air" are nowhere near as water proof or repellant as the old Goretex ones, to make life a little easier, place your old tatty issue cotton scarf on top of your mattress like it is a sheet, place your bivy and all sleeping kit on top of this.  You Bivy will allow moisture, produced by your body (sweat, condensation, body fluids), transfer in a 360 degree direction.  But, you are sleeping on top of a plasticized air tight membraned mattress, the moisture will go out of the bag, but then will sit on the outside, and eventually saturate that portion, and cause cold and discomfort.  By placing the scarf there, you will absorb most of this moisture, and you can then hang the scarf to dry.  Up north we would jokingly tease the FOO for "pissing the bed" then we would all go on with those TV Commercial voices about bed wetting medication and how his friends wouldn't invite him over for sleep overs.... It was cold and lonely snowed into a tent.  But, place the scarf, and you will reduce your bed wetting tendencies, sleep warmer, and get better sleep.  Remember, your body will pump out almost a liter of water over a good 6 hour sleep, even on a weekend exercise, this will increase the weight of your sleeping gear by 2 kg's,  Imagine what a week long ex will do.  Always dry out your sleeping kit as often as possible.  This si one of the reasons why your kit fit in the valise at home, but for some reason never does when people are yellingat you to pack your crap and lets go ....

 

[vigillis]

I would have to agree with Bomber about the scarf, however I find that an old grey "almost" army wool blanket does better.  IMO the bivy performance seems to end at around -20 degrees and bites rocks when lower.  My friends descrbe me lovingly as a person who sweats when he eats, so the colder the ambiant temperature, the less your body is able to heat the micro pores that allow the water vapour to escape.  This leads to condensation on the inside of your bivy which then melts upon contact with your warmer sleeping bag, thus wet bag.  I do however put the bivy under the Cariboo skin I lie on during patrols.  BTW I work with the Rangers so Cariboo skins are on my 638's. ;D

 

[orange.paint]

Best piece of kit ever.Usually I just throw my fleece civi sleeping bag in it and pump up the submergence hydraulics.However that was back when I was a soldier.

Best night sleep in the world,back deck too hot to touch.Cold winter night.Hard days work.Air mattress biv and my fleece.

 

[BernDawg]

Doyle: funny you should mention the blanket.  I started doing that a few years ago too and it works awesome.  I fold it in three length ways so it just fits on the therma-rest and you sleep on three layers.  Wicked comfy.