Homemade Sack

“I know some of you like to make your own gear. Has anyone made a Bivy Sack? What materials should I use? Will a regular sewing machine work for these kinds of fabrics?”

“Tyvek?
It's sew easy!”

“search the threads. there are about 12 of them on this subject.”

“I have nothing to contribute. I just wanted to see what this thread title was about.”

“I'd recommend buying a bivy sack, taking it apart, then puttting it back together again. That way you know you're using the right materials.”

“Hydroseal-200 ® Coated 1.7 oz. Taffeta Nylon
Taffeta provides the perfect combination of light weight and durability for use in the floors of Bivy Sacks. It is coated with, proprietary Hydroseal-200 ®
coating that provides an impermeable barrier to water and soil.

Ripstop Nylon 3-Layer Gore-Tex Fabric
Superlight ripstop face fabric keeps bivy sack weight down, but has a high strength to weight ratio. Nylon tricot laminated to the inner side affords crucial protection for the Gore-Tex membrane. It is also lighter, accepts seam tape much more reliably, and provides far superior vapor transport than any of the non-woven inner laminates used onthe market.

A regular sewing machine will work if you know how to use one.”

“rad - I did search the threads and couldn't find any info on this topic. What subject are you searching under?

bacpac - Thanks for the input, and it sounds good, but Gore-tex is not available to the public. The Gore company only sells it to companies that meet their standards. I know there are similiar fabrics, but I'm not sure what they are called.”

“Goretex laminated material is available to the public. You probably wouldn't want the laminate itself, but laminated fabric is available.

Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics has some.”

“OWF sells patterns too. I bet you could get a bivy sack pattern.”

“You can buy Gore-Tex, but you can not use their name without permission on your product or in ad's. I know of two sources which sell gore-tex and off brand gore-tex, one is Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics out of Ut. and the other is Quest Outfitters in FL. Gore-Tex will run about 17.00 a yard and I bought a laminated fabric call Extreme for 11.25 a yd. for my bivy.”

“You can buy Gore-Tex, but you can not use their name without permission on your product or in ad's. I know of two sources which sell gore-tex and off brand gore-tex, one is Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics out of Ut. and the other is Quest Outfitters in FL. Gore-Tex will run about 17.00 a yard and I bought a laminated fabric call Extreme for 11.25 a yd. for my bivy.”

“bacpac and Stalker - Thanks for the info. Looks like OWF has everything I need. And thanks for the link, bacpac.”

“m-nutz

I sent ya an e-mail at your backpacker.com address, did ya check it.”

“Stalker - I just e-mailed ya. Thanks, man!”

“Going to pick up a sewing machine soon. Will be needing some advice myself soon I'm sure.”

“GREAT info bacpac, thanx!”

“No problem guys, If you need anymore info just ask. Most of the posters here are just intolerant extremists. I got the real scoop.”

“Yo, I have one that I want to get rid of.Bivy Sac. It is the climbhigh,2lbs 8oz. Gortex. I traded a bearcannister for it to Walkindude, so I guess $75 bucks would steal it away.”

“$75, that's how much I have in my homemade one plus a lot of work. 2 months to late, story of my life.
Someone ought to jump on that one.”

“I've made homemade clothing in the past, among them were 2 polar fleece jackets... a pullover and a zippered jacket.

I can assure you that by the time you take make the effort to find and purchase all the materials, cut the pattern, and sew the pieces together (hopefully without any problems...which I always had) in order to finish the project...

What I'm geting at is that you can save your self a big hassel, alot of time and headache by spending the extra ?money? and purchase the namebrand item off the shelf, which probably has better material, better engineering and put together better. The extra money, which really isn't that much, saves you alot of hassel of doing it yourself.

I don't discourage anyone from making their own gear...just the technical stuff.”

“It has to depend on what it is. I would agree with ya on making jackets and clothing. But I'll put my (homemade) bivy up against any bought'n one. But if I had found a used one 75 I sure as hell would have looked into that. Why spend 50 bucks on a sil tarp, when for under 20 bucks and about a hour of sewing you got the same exact thing, including mesh stuff sack. I'm wrong most are 8' mine's 9'long. I get so sick of the overpriced "ugot2havethisorthat" gear. Hell if you had never been in the woods a day in your life and picked up a Backpacker Mag. you would think you would have to take out a 2nd morg. on your house just to spend the night in the woods. There are many factors to plug into the equation and sometimes the answer is the costly product off the shelve. But, more often than not, there is a way to get the same quality gear with selling your first born.”

“"...without selling your first born."”

“I think home made gear is always cool, I have a few things, plus gear I have modified to suit my needs. Do what you know, experimenting is fun, and when you can rely on something you make, it actually improves your hiking experience - self reliance or something.

But Buddur has a point. I doubt I could make a product like the Hennessey Hammock without a lot of trail and error, and probably end up spending more than to just buy one, plus Hennessey has a warantee! I made a silk mummy liner, and after buying the materials, doing the sewing, etc. I probably would have been just as well off as buying a Salt Designs, except I got a cool pattern on my silk.”

“Your right SGT, it is very rewarding when you've designed, planned, built your own stuff. Your sitting there by the fire and think to yourself "Yah, I made that RAF RAF RAF". Not to mention how much fun some of those projects can be. I had a blast last spring in my garage drinking beer while making a hot water heater for car camping. Had a hoot of a time, plus the damn thing works. I will have to admit there is a lot of crap I've attempted to make that didn't workout, either. But what the heck, grab a cool one and have fun.”