USGI sleep system with bivy?

[wyattd5]

Does anyone use the USGI sleep system? I have two complete USGI sets and while the entire set is heavy, I have them. I used to sleep on top of one while getting in the second if needed. Does the gortex bivy act as a barrier to heat loss the way a pad does? I also have poncho liners and wool blankets I could use in side the bivy if a bag is too much. I have one down bag, an old USGI mountain sleeping bag that is great but also heavy. I have a bivy over this one also.

I know about TQ and the benefits but I have this stuff already and would like to utilize it.

Any experience/ideas/combos that work best?

Im in Florida= summer 95-72, winter 75-25 (only a couple freezes a year.)

Brand new Claytor jungle hammock

[gargoyle]

Any insulation you lay on compresses and becomes somewhat useless.
There are quite a few members using the gi bag. Using a pad or uq you'll be fine.

[dontknowyet]

wyattd5, I have several of the BDU colored Modular Sleep Systems. Yes they are heavy as well as bulky, but if neither of those are an issue I say use them. With the three piece system it is extremely versatile. With the wide variety of temps you have down in Florida it would be a great bag for you. The inner black bag being the colder weather is nice when the temps dip pretty low. The outer green bag is light weight and thin for warmer weather. The outer GoreTex bivy cover is great to keep the whole thing clean and dry and being GoreTex breathes very well. I am a cold sleeper and the Modular Sleep System keeps we warmer then a -15 Down Mountain Hardwear bag I have. They are also very durable as the military has no choice but to make them to last.

On a side note the newer ACU colored ones are almost identical with an extra smaller stuff sack if you want to carry just part of your system. We (Cold sleepers in my unit do not believe the new bags are as warm as the older ones) Hope this all helps.

[wyattd5]

I have the older woodland camo but I have both stuff sacks.

[dontknowyet]

The older ones did not come with 2 stuff sacks. Are they the lighter green/ gray color? Glad to hear you have the older style bag.

[wyattd5]

I have the black stuff sack and I bought the foliage one later.

[Edvvard]

i have the black bag and bivy. I'd like to get the green bag.

How well is the green bag? I figured it'd be a good back to take on early fall overnighters

[SuperTramp]

anyone ever bivy in a hammock alone with no tarp? i realize that the water needs to go somewhere (mesh hammock) but ....just wondering

[Just Jeff]

I've used a bivy with no tarp. I spent a night in a blizzard at 10k ft (http://www.tothewoods.net/HikingPicturesWinnemucca.html) where the dry snow was blowing under my tarp and landing on my insulation, so I bought a bivy for the next snowy trip.

Then I made a hammock sock and travel pod so now I don't have to. Look at the bottom of this page and you'll see a picture of a gore-tex hammock bivy.
http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockCampingWarm.html

Gore-tex breathes acceptably well by "breathable material" standards...which means it passes about 2% of the vapor. The military system is designed acceptably well for the constraints that the military put on them (price, durability)...but putting a plastic bag that passes 2% of the vapor around a bunch of insulation, especially in winter, isn't the best design as far as condensation management. But it's better than getting rained on. If you want it to be warmer, put the bivy on the inside and the bags on the outside, and camp away from rain and water.

On to the OP's question. You can make those systems work well for a hammock. It won't be as light as down, but you can cut the weight by more than half if you can sew or know someone who does. If I had two complete extra sets, I would cut them up and make them more efffective. Cut one winter bag into an UQ and one into a TQ...use that for your winter kit. Cut one summer bag into an UQ and one into a TQ...use that for your summer kit. In shoulder seasons, use the winter UQ and the summer TQ.

The designer of the original Kickass Quilts started by cutting a North Face bag into an UQ. He wrote a tutorial for it...I think it was posted on www.whiteblaze.net but I'm sure there are links to it here if you search.

[Alan]

Randy introduced me to the USGI sleep system as well as the GI-issue ECW (extreme cold weather) bag. The USGI system and the ECW work VERY well as long as you don't mind the weight. We car-camp so the weight really isn't a problem with either system.

The waterproof bivy shell from my USGI system is great! During one of our Texas Hang trips to Stephen F Austin State Park, I used 2 of the USGI bags inside the bivy shell. With my tarp pulled halfway back, I stayed completely dry even though the weather was miserable that weekend.

Hard to see in this picture since the bivy shell AND my TrekLight double hammock are camo, but here it is...

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/MrLaptop/TLwBivy.jpg

[LIBERATOR13]

Does anyone use the USGI sleep system? I have two complete USGI sets and while the entire set is heavy, I have them. I used to sleep on top of one while getting in the second if needed. Does the gortex bivy act as a barrier to heat loss the way a pad does? I also have poncho liners and wool blankets I could use in side the bivy if a bag is too much. I have one down bag, an old USGI mountain sleeping bag that is great but also heavy. I have a bivy over this one also.

I know about TQ and the benefits but I have this stuff already and would like to utilize it.

Any experience/ideas/combos that work best?

Im in Florida= summer 95-72, winter 75-25 (only a couple freezes a year.)

Brand new Claytor jungle hammock
I have the current GI Issue ACU Modular Sleeping Bag System it has the five pieces. The ACU Bivy Cover, the Foliage Green Patrol Bag, the Urban Gray Intermediate Bag, and two stuff sack; one big stuff sack for all the Modular Sleeping System and a small bag to use two sleeping bags. Yes, their heavy and bulky worth every penny. The Patrol bag warmer and cool temperature. The intermediate bag is for cold temperature. I've used it last winter it 20 degrees their pretty warm i love this sleeping system. I think its one of the best sleeping system outer.

[LIBERATOR13]

i have a video on you tube on libra1369

[TheCoyote]

I am looking at getting one very soon. Being that the whole system is rated to -30* is it nessesary to use an UQ or will I be ok with out one. I live in NE Ohio. But I may be wrong cuz I no there is cold air flowing underneath me. Because it is a 3 layer system there is some insulation underneath you and adding a thermarest sleeping pad I was thinking I would be ok without one. Anyone test this or do it?

[ernesthemmingway]

I am looking at getting one very soon. Being that the whole system is rated to -30* is it nessesary to use an UQ or will I be ok with out one. I live in NE Ohio. But I may be wrong cuz I no there is cold air flowing underneath me. Because it is a 3 layer system there is some insulation underneath you and adding a thermarest sleeping pad I was thinking I would be ok without one. Anyone test this or do it?

Even though that sleep system is rated to -30, you will still need something underneath you, either an underquilt or a thermarest pad, in cold temps. When you lay in the hammock, the sleeping bag underneath you gets compressed, and loses much of its insulating value. I have used this system on ground before with temps in the 20-40 range and definitely needed a pad underneath me.

Also, Ive always doubted that -30 rating. Ive never been that low, but I froze my butt off one night in 18 degrees, and I had a pad underneath me.

[TheCoyote]

Even though that sleep system is rated to -30, you will still need something underneath you, either an underquilt or a thermarest pad, in cold temps. When you lay in the hammock, the sleeping bag underneath you gets compressed, and loses much of its insulating value. I have used this system on ground before with temps in the 20-40 range and definitely needed a pad underneath me.

Also, Ive always doubted that -30 rating. Ive never been that low, but I froze my butt off one night in 18 degrees, and I had a pad underneath me.

Ok, ill test it with a thermarest pad and if I get cold ill get an underquilt for colder temps. Thanks

[Mouseskowitz]

I have the old sleep system and use the black bag as insulation between the green and gortex. I was very comfortable at 50 and it may have dropped into the upper 40's with rain. I'm not sure how cold it would have to be for me to climb into the black bag.

[Bart the fart]

I have two of the old woodland systems and am learning...thank you HF

[13pt buck]

Sorry a little off topic.

Can this system be stored in the stuff sacked compressed? Or will it effect the loft of the insulation.