Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Integral Designs South Col Bivy > David Sowards-Emmerd > Field Report

Field Report - Integral Designs eVENT South Col Bivy
January 13, 2004

Name: David Sowards-Emmerd
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8" (1.73 meters)
Weight: 155 pounds (70 kilos)
Email Address: dseATstanfordDOTedu
Location: Los Altos, California, USA
Date: January 13, 2004

Backpacking Background:

Product Specifications:
Product Information:

Manufacturer's Specifications:

As measured by tester:

Product Description:

The design is simple and seems to minimize the number of seams.
Aside from the black bottom footprint made of TEGRALTEX, the rest
of the bivy is constructed from eVENT fabric. The workmanship is top
notch, all of the internal seams are felled and seam taped, and the
zippers are all YKK.

A 22" (56 cm) waterproof zipper on the left side is more than enough
for exit/entry and provides a reasonable vent. There is also a second
zipper - in addition to the waterproof side zipper there is a zipper
(non-waterproof, but has an inch long eVENT flap that covers it) -
with three pull-tabs just below the hoop. This zipper was not visible
in the diagram on the Integral Designs website. It allows venting
through two separate openings with the three pull tabs (one 6" /16 cm
opening is recommended to avoid suffocation). Almost directly above
this zipper is the copper wire hoop, which is removeable/replaceable
and folds easily when rolling up the bivy. This half circle of wire
serves to keep the fabric off of the face and allows better
ventilation inside the bivy. It seems that it could have been slightly
longer. Above the 'inside' zipper, a flap extends 6" (16 cm) from the
hoop towards the feet. The bivy does not seal completely shut, as the
two zippers do not intersect exactly, and leave a tubular opening to
the outside, about 3" (8 cm) in diameter.

The Integral Designs patch/badge on the top is not seam taped, but it
is external to the zippers. The small eVENT tag right next to the ID
tag is effectively a loop for keeping the hoop as high as possible
(tying off to a tree or between snow walls).

Testing:

Location 1: The bathtub in my apartment
Inside temperature: 60 F / 15.5 C
20 Nov 2003

As promised, before taking the bivy out in the wild, I tested its
water resistance in the shower. I inserted a Therm-a-Rest mattress,
a Nunatak Ghost Blanket, and a pillow into the bivy, and placed it
in the tub with the head end farthest from the shower head. Next I
got into the bivy, where I had to have my legs bent to fit, since the
tub is shorter than the bivy. Zipped up the side zipper completely
and the top zipper all but 8" / 20 cm or so, and had my wife turn the
cold water on. The first 4-5 minutes were nice and dry - I also had
a stopwatch in the bivy with me. But, since the bivy was covering
the drain, the water slowly filled up the tub. Once the water level
reached the side zipper, water leaked into the bivy. Soon after this
I had my wife turn off the water and I carefully got out, and dragged
the bivy out of the shower. By carefully removing the sleeping bag
and pad (the pillow was completely soaked) it was obvious that water
leaked in mainly in the open gap between the side and top zippers.
However, there was a thick wet line on the sleeping bag where the
water resistant side zipper had been (not caused by opening the bivy).
Aside from that, from the end of the side zipper down, the sleeping
bag and pad were both bone dry, as well as the inside surface of the
bivy. Apparently, the seam taping job was as good as it looked!
Conclusion - the fabric and seams held up to this brief test, but the
zipper could use some work - an extra flap of eVENT fabric folded
over it would probaby do the trick.

One thing worth noting is that based on this test, I expect with the
correct setup, the bivy should keep me dry even in the heaviest rain
so long as the wind is not changing direction. (By keeping the top
zipper zipped together in the middle and open on the sides so that
the wire hoop holds up the fabric over the chest enough that it
drains to the side instead of into the bivy.) Getting into the bivy
in the rain may be more of an issue, but with the weight I save
carrying the bivy instead of a tent I can justify bringing an
umbrella if I am expecting rain.

Location 2: Rainbow Basin Natural Area (BLM), Owl Canyon campground
(a dozen miles north of Barstow, CA)
Elevation: 3500' / 1067 m
Conditions: cold, dry and clear
23 Nov 2003

Since the temperature, 31 F / -1 C, during dinner was already below
the rating of my Nunatak Ghost Blanket (32 F / 0 C) and the sky was
clear, I decided to sleep under a tarp (GoLite Hex 2) for added
warmth. Since rain was not an issue, I left the top zipper
completely unzipped, and the side zipper partly unzipped. Along
with the blanket, I used a full-length standard Therm-a-Rest and a
camping pillow. Although the low was probably below 20 F / -7 C
that night, I was plenty warm in the bivy/blanket combo. The bivy
kept out the wind that usually blows right under both the tarp and
the blanket. Additionally, it definitely extended the temperature
range of the blanket and there was no condensation in the bivy in
the morning. I plan to test the bivy in this configuration a few
more times on snow this winter, but I expect condensation will be
more of an issue in the cold.

Location 3: Emigrant Campground, Death Valley National Park, CA
Elevation: 2000' / 610 m
Conditions: Cool, overcast
27 Nov 2003

Thanksgiving day, and no firepit to cook the turkey drumsticks!
This time I used the bivy as a standalone shelter, along with a
Ghost Blanket, Therm-a-Rest full-length standard pad, and a
camping pillow. The campsite was basically a square of very large
gravel (the fuel bottle top I lost blended in well with them)
and a picnic table. I put the bivy directly on the rocks with
the pad inside - no noticable damage to the bivy from abrasion
the next day. The temperature around sunset was around 40 F / 5 C,
but I don't know how cold it got that night. Again, the bivy kept
out the wind, and definitely added to the warmth of the sleeping
system.

The bivy makes a nice addition to a crowded campsite as it allows
another shelter in a small space where you couldn't fit a second
tent. Plus it allowed me to get a bit farther from my wife's
snoring.

Location 4: Wilderness State Park, MI
12 Miles west of Mackinaw City, MI
Elevation: 600' / 183 m
Conditions: Cold, clear, and no wind. 2" / 5 cm of snow on the ground.
26 Dec 2003

Since I had not had a chance to test the bivy on snow yet, I
decided to camp out one night while visiting parents in Michigan.
I used a heavy synthetic sleeping bag with a flat, drawstring hood,
a 0.5" / 1.2 cm foam sleeping pad (inside the bivy), and a jacket
for a pillow in conjuction with the bivy. I set the bivy out to
chill about 4 hours before use to better mimic backpacking
conditions. By the time I set up camp (about 10 yards from the
Lake Michigan shore), the bivy had a healthy layer of frost covering
the outside. The temperature at the time was 24 F / -4 C, and the
low according to the local news was 14 F / -10 C. Getting into the
bivy without dragging too much snow in was an issue, since the bivy
is a left zip and the sleeping bag is a right zip. Due to the cold,
and the lack of a proper hood on the sleeping bag, I kept the side
zipper fully zipped and the top zipper mostly zipped. I changed the
top zipper several times during the night when I woke up. It is
nice to be able to peek out at the stars every once in a while! In
the morning, the sleeping bag was soaked at the head end, and damp
elsewhere. The inside of the bivy was covered with frost, and
occasional frozen droplets of water. The snow below the bivy had
melted nearly through to the grass, but the inside (bottom) of the
bivy remained dry. The fabric doesn't seem to breath all that well
in the cold. But if the dew point is inside the insulation of your
sleeping bag, condensation is going to be a problem (without a vapor
barrier liner at least).

I also used a Psolar balaclava in this configuration, hoping to
minimize the amount of moisture I exhaled. I'm not sure how much
of the night I had the heat exchanger over my mouth versus under
my chin. Additionally, the air passing through the heat exchanger
doesn't travel very far away from my mouth during normal breathing,
which is not desirable when I still want to keep fresh air
circulating in the bivy.

Observations, General Thoughts, etc.

The bivy is very handy for use with blankets or half bags, as it
eliminates the breeze that tends to sneak in and helps to hold in
heat around the head. One issue is that of storage space for gear
in bad weather - but if I'm carrying a bivy for shelter instead
of a tent, the rest of my packing should be minimal as well. As
for waterproofing, the bivy seems to be bombproof, with the
exception of the zippers. I haven't used the bivy enough under
similar conditions to make any statements about the breathability
other than that keeping the zippers opened up as much as possible
seems to help. To date, the bivy shows no signs of wear after
this use (or the dozen other times I've set it up in my living
room and repacked it).

Future Testing:

I'm planning to test the bivy on several more snowy winter nights
in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. Hopefully the vast
majority of the testing is yet to come. Time and conditions
permitting, at least one of these nights will be spent in a snow
cave. I got the snow pile a little over 4' / 1.3 m trying to build
a quinzhee in Michigan, but ran out of snow - plus it rained the
next day.

Read more reviews of Integral Designs gear
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Reviews > Shelters > Tarps and Bivys > Integral Designs South Col Bivy > David Sowards-Emmerd > Field Report