Probably most people on this site are familiar with the Driducks jacket and pants, and in my opinion it's a highly breathable waterproof material, so when I saw that the company that makes Driducks also makes a poncho out of the same material, I started getting a lot of ideas. They're fairly cheap, at about $15 a pop. And while the non-woven material may not be ideal for something like a poncho tarp (if only they were a bigger size), I do wonder about using some of the material in something like a bivy top.

What do people think about an idea like this, particularly in regards to achieving seam strength? I'm thinking that any sort of heat-sealing process, or seam tape would probably be ineffective if the bivy bottom were silnylon. However, maybe something like a rolled seam would be strong enough? I also wonder about the overall dimensions of the Driducks poncho (would I need 2 in order to get enough length?), so if anybody owns one, could you comment on its overall dimensions?

Edited by artsandt on 10/22/2008 17:17:22 MDT.

I would love a bivy made from this stuff.
I didnt even know they made a poncho. I would suspect that you will have a few seams on top to stitch together.
Thanks for the idea, Im going to look into it!

I've had good luck with Barge's cement and also with duct tape. Tyvek tape might work as well as duct tape and would be lighter. Why not run a test and tell us how it goes?

I have used a poncho made of the same material as DriDucks for a bivy. Worked fine.

Art, I have had this exact same idea for a few months now. I was thinking of using tyvek home wrap as the bottom and tyvek 1443R as the top. But then I thought that the driducks poncho would make a better top. I wish I could find a comparison for tyvek 14 and driducks. I was planning on sewing it, and then sealing with tyvek tape.

Vic, you said you used an similar material. Was it a driducks poncho, or something else? Where did you get the material?

If you look at the comments on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/6dl83q and then search for "Re: Re: Re:Propore versus Tyvek" you will see a great little description of the comparative values of the two fabrics (at least, according to the author). In general, it looks like Tyvek is lighter and more durable, but not quite as breathable or water resistant. For a bivy under a tarp, I would think being being breathable is more important than being water proof (for a poncho, the opposite is true). There is more to the discussion (and it is quite interesting). Because it isn't what I would consider waterproof (if my understanding is correct) then I would consider Tyvek as very nice windshirt material (quite water resistant, fairly breathable and very cheap).

Edited by rossbleakney on 10/23/2008 13:39:05 MDT.

I just got a Driducks poncho. Here's the dimensions:

After I cut off a sort of non-detachable stuffsack from the poncho, the weight is 7.3 ounces, which includes all the standard poncho hardware. The main dimensions are approximately 87"x52". There is a 3/4"-1" hem around all the edges, and 6 lightweight plastic snaps down each of the long sides (3 male/3 female per side). The head hole is roughly D-shaped (if I were to cut the hood off, there would be a D shaped hole in the middle of the fabric), and measures (when laid flat) approximately 10" wide (along the spine of the "D") by 6" deep.

The main body of the poncho is not a single piece of fabric, but the front and back are separate pieces of fabric with the seam across the shoulders. However, this is a heat-sealed seam, and I don't doubt its strength just lookign at it. I found one flaw, which is that on the back side of the hood, there is a 2" section where one side of the fabric didn't get completely incorporated into the seam. I've seen this sort of flaw before on Driducks raingear, particularly in curved seams, like the crotch of the Driducks pants I also own, so I don't think I got too terrible of a lemon.

Currently I'm thinking that there's plenty of fabric in the hood to just pull forward and use to sew the head hole shut. 87" seems plenty long enough for a bivy, though I plan to use a much more breathable fabric like 1.1 nylon over the head area. The main concern I have is how to best mate this material with the silnylon I intend to use for the bottom. From the little experience I have, Driducks laminate loses strength when there's a line of needle holes in it.

Also, I don't normally do this, but the place I bought the poncho had a good enough deal that I'll mention them here. http://www.thegearlessmachine.com/driducksponcho.html $13.99 and free shipping.

Edited by artsandt on 10/27/2008 17:45:06 MDT.

I posted a thread on this forum some time back asking the same question. Randall Miller explained how he modified a DD poncho by adding draw cords in the hems at both ends for dual use as a poncho and bottomless sleeping bag cover, sounds like a great idea, but I never got arround to trying it myself. So maybe Randall can give some info if he's listening. Here's the thread if you want to check it out

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=14334&skip_to_post=106374#106374

Edited by bdgriz on 10/27/2008 22:08:28 MDT.

Thanks for the link. That's a very interesting idea, and not one that would require too much sewing or extra material. However, I'm probably going to make a full bivy, for bug protection in summer and draft protection when it's cold. I'll update this thread when I have made progress on the project, though I'm notorious for delaying projects several weeks unnecessarily...