Hello. First post. (Looked for an intro thread, but didn’t see one.)

If this question has been covered many times before, sorry, and please direct me to the thread where the topic has been discussed.

I’m slowly working on overhauling my gear set-up, with an eye towards reducing weight and also bulk, but still wanting to retain some modularity. With an eye towards implementing as much multi-purpose equipment into the set-up as possible, my thought started turning to having the pack bag also serve as a bivvy bag. Has anyone else attempted this. Or is there some amazingly obvious drawback to this that I am missing? Obviously the bag would be much longer than the frame I plan to mount it on, but that can be folded like a dry bag and clipped to the sides or closed with a draw string etc.

So, curious as to whether anyone else has tried this, did it work for you, any drawbacks, etc.?

http://moonbowgear.com/1trailgear/2Bivies/bivies.html

http://moonbowgear.com/1trailgear/1Custom%20packs/Powerpacks/1powerpac.html

Edited by jshann on 05/08/2012 16:26:23 MDT.

As I suspected, someone else thought of it too. Thank you for those links. I was not aware of that product. Just wish the photos enlarged.

Then there is the bivy and raingear combo in the Hilleberg Bivanorak.

I have a Bivanorak, and I quite like it. I take it with me if I go for a wander and have no plans to spend the night out, but just in case I have to....

But I'm not sure it would work so well for what I have in mind here. Openings at the top, bottom and two sleeves. I think I would prefer the simplicity of just one opening at the top.

I thought about the same thing a while ago, and posted about it in a similar thread. You're not the first one that redo threads, the search function isn't always brilliant.

On the bivy-liner combo, for me at least, there were some condensation inside the bivy from the previous night. So using it as a liner didn't work out all that well, kind of defeated the purpose. :) Mind it was a cheap McKinley bivy and slightly damp morning so hanging it out to dry whilst eating breakfast didn't help.