Re: Current Military sleeping bags (Drying bags)
Never fully zip a bivy closed, has and can lead to high co inside the sack. Always leave an opening around the nose. Roll the zipper towards the ground to shield from the blow. Goretex is a poor barrier for shelters, not enough pressure difference to push moisture through the G-tex barrier. Using a ball cap inside a bivy will keep the fabric off the face. I sewed in a piece of flex around the face that I can bend to keep the fabric off my face.
I had a custom one piece suite made by WildThings that the legs would ziper together making a bivy sack, pull my arms inside around my core and I survived into the single digits. I also had WT stitch up my Andinista pack with an extra long extension so I could get inside the pack and sug the extension around my neck for a bivy.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: threetrees</div><div class="ubbcode-body">well. in my area we usually go for a full tent, but i would be inclined to exchange that for a proper bivy (which is fine when going out with friends) or an exped scout tarp (
http://www.exped.com/exped/web/exped_homepage_na.nsf) - when the girls are around.
however ... with a tarp, i guess you get all the biting insects into the tarp
- any recommendations/experience in that field by some of you guys? </div></div>
I have spent more time in a bivy than probably any 3 users here combined. They are not all they are suppose to be. No way to change clothes, dry out, make some hot (cook and boil water) in a bivy. In bug country, bivy is a real chore to stay tucked in for any length of time. Using a tarp with a sack just adds weight so why not use a small bivy tent like the Black Diamond FirstLight, for two it is lighter than 2 bivy sacks with full protection and room. I have used this tent as a bivy for two (sans the poles just wrap up in the tent. For a tarp tent, my main shelter in Alaska was the Integral Designs SilShelter at just under 1# with room for 2, more in a pinch. This shelter we erected over bolt holes in the snow, tree holes, wrapped up in a blow and or course used it as a normal tent.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: cworks</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A little trick we have been taught, since you cant get out of your bag four 4 hours without starting your time over, is to pee in a bottle and use to it warm your hands and feet. Sounds gross now, but when your little piggies are cold you will wish you had a bottle to pee in.</div></div>
I will go one better. Use a piece of garden hose or tube that your penis will fit inside. Your pee bottle should be a difference design (mine was square and collapsible Vs round for water), place the hose through the zipper of your bivy and/or sleeping bag and pee in the bottle while still warm and snug. Now place the bottle around your feet. When I needed to hydrate, grab the round bottle is easy distinguishable from the square pee bottle.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Frederick</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I been using a Marmot brand Pinnacle model mummy bag for just over 2 years now. It's been a good bag. It is, however, a goose down bag. The shells on these newer bags go a long way for one to justify a synthetc fill bag. Down bags compact quite a bit smaller when using a compression sack and are considerable lighter than the synthetics. They're also warmer for their fill weight. This bag weighs 2 lbs. 12 oz., is a 3 season bag, and rated to 15 degrees F. With an optional slik liner or wearing some clothes it is good to 0 degrees F. or less.</div></div>
Yes and no. Primaloft 1 in if fact has a higher R value than down in the test tube. The problem is, Primaloft requires a scrim to secure the fibers. My Integral Designs Primaloft bag is on par with a down bag in temp rating and weight (not comparing to the new superlight shelled down bags). What makes down so good is, it drapes around the body as you lay decreasing dead air space for the body to heat up. Synth are stiffer and do not drape around the body having more and larger dead air space. For clothing this is not important as the body is always in motion.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SturmHead</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
How hard is it to dry out one of the new bags if it gets wet? I know down is warmer and lighter, but if it gets wet it looses almost all insulation value and takes forever to dry. I was wondering if anyone has experience trying to dry out one of these bags in the field after it or part of it got wet.</div></div>
Yes I have the t shirt. 1989 I was on an alpine climb, I had a brand new Feathered Friends down bag with gore-tex shell. Weather was superb as we left base camp but like all mountain weather, this turned real Alaskan quick with high winds. We dug into bolt holes up next to the rocks to get out of the wind but we did not bring any shelter and at the time we did not have packs large enough to get inside from the weather. The wind turned to snain, heavy snain. The next day when the weather finally broke, I was laying in a pool a water in my bolt hole, my down sleeping bag was so full of water and heavy, I actually thought the seams were going to rip trying to stuff it. Water actually dripped out. I shivered all night wasting many calories and warmth, just terrible. Up we went and 16 hours later after carrying that super heavy soaked bag, we got back to base. Very tired I crawled in a very wet and cold bag. I wore all my clothes that I had on to stay warm and protect from the wet. I laid my bag on top of the tent all day waiting to leave and after 3 days my bag was still wet like it just came out for a washing machine. Back home it took 6 days hanging to dry. I have only used down once since and I would not allow down of any sort in my clothing list when I guided.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: litehiker</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
BUT... all synthetic fills do lose loft (thickness) after many compression cycles. Climashield resists loss of loft better than most. Personally I would avoid Primaloft fill for its more rapid loss of loft.
Upon waking dress and lay your fully opened bag on your shelter roof while you eat breakfast (if thre's time, of course). It will lose at least some of your accumulated body moisture. When packing STUFF the bag foot first into its stuff sack. NEVER ROLL A SLEEPING BAG> Rolling a sleeping bag always, but always, inevitably pulls the insulation to the foot.
The other option in sub-zero weathr is to use a VBL (Vapor Barrier Lining) bag inside your sleeping bag. You MUST wear thin polyester or polypropelene long johns to avoid feeling clammy. The VBL will keep your bag dry.
**** Long term winter camping without a VBL results in the bag gradually gaining weight until it weighs sevral pounds (yes) more than when dry. </div></div>
I disagree, Primaloft is some of the longest lasting syth there is. I have ID Renaissance from 1997 filled with Prime 1 and I can still use it 10 degress temps that it is rated. I cannot guess at how many nights in the field it has but I do know that during that time period I spent 3-4 days a week in the backcountry of Alaska. Primaloft 1 requires a scrim, Primaloft Sport is very long lasting but does not have the R value of Prim 1. I had a TNF Snowshoe bag from 1982 or so that I kept stuffed and used it a lot, then my boys used it and staying warm in temps close to single digits. After 15 years it fell apart and I would still use it, really did not lose much.
Yes but the best way to care for your sleeping bag in the field is, as soon as you get out of your bag, turn it inside out and squeeze it like you are stuffing it. This will push all the warm moist air out through the highly breathable inner lining. Depending on the air temp, waiting any time at all will allow the warm moist air to either freeze but it will condense in the fibers, laying your bag in the sun is good but first expel as much warm moist air out by squeezing it before it has time to freeze / condense in the fibers.
I have never seen a quality sleeping bag clump all the insulation in the foot area. Down bags have baffles so the down cannot go anywhere but inside the baffle, they run around the body not length wise, some are trapezoidal, square, V, ect. Synth fibers are fastened so they cannot migrate either. Rolling means the same creases / folds in the fill and fabric that adds undue wear. Stuffing is always different creases.
Those days are over and we all know more now. VBL are not what said to be, cold and clammy feeling even wearing clothes. Yes moisture does collect but see how to minimize it above by squeezing it out first. WP shells like Gore-Tex and all barriers will not allow body moisture to escape due to there is not enough pressure difference to push the moisture through the barrier, so it collects and freezes. Either use a microfiber or open weave shell that will allow the body to push most of the moisture out. I prefer to dry my clothes out while sleeping by using a Primaloft sleeping bag with an open weave shell.
