Camping

Things You May Not Know About Bivy Tents

Finding the right form of shelter for your outdoor excursions can be a difficult choice. 

There are a large number of options you have when it comes down to making a decision, whether you prefer a sleeping bag, a traditional tent, a truck bed tent or any other of the various choices you can make.

If you are planning on spending a night out in the wilderness, there are a few aspects you may want to consider in terms of the shelter you are purchasing, and bivy tent should be on the top of your list.

Primarily, the most important aspects will be durability, the level of affordability, portability, weather resistance and level of comfort.

Some of these aspects may vary according to your personal needs. For example, if you plan on using your tent in an area where rain is rare, you will have less of a need for waterproof construction.

Why Use a Bivy Tent?

a bivy tent in a field

Durability is paramount as you will want your tent or shelter to be effective in protecting you from the elements and you want it to be an investment that will last you a decent amount of time. 

Seeing as your shelter will be exposed to environmental stresses, it is important to ensure that it will be able to put up with these rigors as effectively as possible.

Beyond the financial investment which is lost when your shelter breaks, you also have to spend the remainder of the outdoor excursion with a broken tent or something similar, which can result in discomfort or even cancellation of the trip.

Affordability is also important as you will not want to spend an exorbitant amount of money on your tent.

While this may be one of the more personal categories due to each and every customer having different needs and budgets, we can still provide a few pointers to ensure that you purchase one of the best products for the money.

The most important thing to consider is that a higher price will not necessarily equate to a higher quality product. 

It is quite easy to find certain products that will fit your needs just as well at a fraction of the price; you must simply know what it is you need in a product and where to look. 

It helps to use an online retailer to find a large variety of goods that may not be available in certain brick-and-mortar stores.

Keeping all of these aspects in mind will help you when searching for the best bivy tent or any other form of outdoor shelter for your fishing journeys or other adventures in the woods.

We will now move on to the subject of the bivouac shelter. Bivouac shelters are also known as bivy tents, and they are a form of outdoor shelter which is rapidly rising in terms of popularity with campers, outdoorsmen, fishers and many other customers.

What Is A Bivouac Sack?

A bivy tent with a camouflage pattern

A bivouac sack (also known as a bivy tent) is a form of outdoor shelter which prizes minimalism and portability over comfort and size. 

They are typically only large enough to fit one or two people at most, and they are very useful when bulkiness and weight are constrained by your carrying capacity such as when you are backpacking.

Bivy tents are also useful for activities such as fishing trips as you will already be weighed down by a significant amount of equipment as they will help to cut down on your overall encumbrance. 

The tradeoff is necessarily one of comfort for portability, but if you are amenable to sleeping in a more confined shelter, you may find that bivy tents are just as cozy and enjoyable as standard tents.

Bivouac Definition

Bivouac is a term typically used in the military or mountaineering, and it defines a short-term encampment that is typically lacking in tents or other forms of more permanent shelter. 

This term is used to describe bivy tents as they feature less protection than typical tents and will usually only provide enough shelter for a single individual.

Bivy Vs. Tent

a bivy tent in the woods, with a light shining from inside

A bivy tent will typically be far more portable and less tiring than an entire tent.  If you are traveling alone or with a group of two, it is far more efficient to bring a smaller bivy tent as you will be less tired. 

This is especially true if you have no other form of transportation such as a car or a van.

A bivy tent is also useful on fishing trips on which you are bringing a large amount of equipment such as fly-fishing rods and other tackle.

Traditional tents are more effective if you have a large group or need a shelter with more interior space so you can move around and do more than sleep, such as store some equipment or other, similar tasks.

As long as you have a method of transportation and enough room, a traditional tent will typically be the better choice for trips without weight restrictions. 

Bivy tents, on the other hand, are more suitable for impromptu trips and lightweight excursions as is typified by ultralight bivy tents and backpacking bivy tents.

One Man Bivy Tent

This type of bivy tent will typically only have enough space for one person and perhaps a small amount of equipment. 

This is by far the more common type of bivy tent and is the kind that gave rise to bivy tents as a form of outdoor shelter in the first place.

Winter Bivy Tent

a bivy tent assembled in amongst tree branches in a woods

This type of bivy tent can either be a one-person bivy tent or a two-person bivy tent and usually features a good degree of thermal insulation and waterproofing to be more useful in winter conditions.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this list has been helpful in expanding upon the little-known subject of bivy tents. 

They are helpful in a large variety of applications such as fly fishing journeys all the way to camping and backpacking excursions.

Similar Posts