Gman
WKR
I've really been loving my Integral Designs bugaboo bivy It's relatively light, on the minimalist side, and made of eVent material. However, like a lot of gear, it was ALMOST perfect. I never really liked the flexible wire that was in the hood, designed to keep the bivy off your face when all zipped up. The drawback is the wire isn't removable and makes compressing the bivy in your pack less than ideal. If only this one thing were Over the weekend was talking it over with a like minded gear-head and he gave me the idea to modify the one thing I didn't like. So with much trepidation, I did some operating on my bivy.
*** disclaimer - I'm attempting to do this all via Tapatalk on the iPad.
Start with your ID Bivy, a pen, lighter, razor, and flat utility knife (not pictured)
Mark your intended cut area with a pen. You can see by the pic I'm about an inch to 1.5 from the bottom of the wire "channel" this is so I can re-fish the wire at a later date if I want and it will stay in the bivy. Take a deep breath and gently take the razor blade to the penned cut area. When done, exhale, sip a beer. It's okay.
Bend the end of the wire up through the hole you made and get the end out. Go easy here, you don't want to get excited and rip the hole you just made bigger. The wire is super bendy so put all the pressure on that... get it through the hole and pull it out.
Now let's seal that hole so it doesn't rip any further. There are many ways to do this. I like a utility knife and the kitchen stove. Heat the metal flat edge up nice and hot and barely touch the edges of your hole, melting and sealing the material. If you hold a hot knife here to long it will melt the material quickly so take care.
All done! Save the wire. I plan on folding in half and keeping either in the bottom of my pack or in the bladder sleeve. If I need the wire I can re-fish it back in with ease. But 95% of the time I don't need it and the bivy will now compress in my stuff sack with my bag in there no problem!
If you lose the wire that's a 1.3 ounce savings as well.
*** disclaimer - I'm attempting to do this all via Tapatalk on the iPad.
Start with your ID Bivy, a pen, lighter, razor, and flat utility knife (not pictured)
Mark your intended cut area with a pen. You can see by the pic I'm about an inch to 1.5 from the bottom of the wire "channel" this is so I can re-fish the wire at a later date if I want and it will stay in the bivy. Take a deep breath and gently take the razor blade to the penned cut area. When done, exhale, sip a beer. It's okay.
Bend the end of the wire up through the hole you made and get the end out. Go easy here, you don't want to get excited and rip the hole you just made bigger. The wire is super bendy so put all the pressure on that... get it through the hole and pull it out.
Now let's seal that hole so it doesn't rip any further. There are many ways to do this. I like a utility knife and the kitchen stove. Heat the metal flat edge up nice and hot and barely touch the edges of your hole, melting and sealing the material. If you hold a hot knife here to long it will melt the material quickly so take care.
All done! Save the wire. I plan on folding in half and keeping either in the bottom of my pack or in the bladder sleeve. If I need the wire I can re-fish it back in with ease. But 95% of the time I don't need it and the bivy will now compress in my stuff sack with my bag in there no problem!
If you lose the wire that's a 1.3 ounce savings as well.
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