I wondered that we might be able to adapt the bivy/quilt combo that is popular with ultralight hikers to a fit two people. So I sewed a two person bivy using the same dimensions as the FF Spoonbill. It has 1.1 oz uncoated nylon for the top and 1.3 oz silnylon seconds for the bottom. There is also a zipper and a no-see-um netting panel in case there are bugs.
For the quilt I had ambitious plans to design and sew one. However, it's really hard and would cost about $300 if I used premium materials. Instead, we are decided to try sharing my Western Mountaineering Ultralight. By itself the bag narrow to share, but the bivy helps hold the sides of the bag so it covers both quite well. Just in case, I sewed an attachment using down from an old blanket and left over 1.1 nylon to make the top edge a bit wider. The attachment had 1 baffle also made from 1.1 oz nylon. I sewed the attachment to the zipper area of the bag to avoid hurting any of the nice nylon on my bag. That way I can seam rip it off easily without affecting my nice WM mummy.
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| Open bag in "quilt" mode |
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| Attachment I made to make bag wider |
Our shelter is also built for couples since we can't sleep next to each other in my beloved MLD Speedmid due to the middle pole. As the PCT has surprisingly few rainy nights (according to previous hikers) we wanted to use poncho tarps so that we have rain gear and shelter in one. However, one poncho tarp would be too narrow to cover both of us in our bivy. To solve this problem, I made two poncho tarps that over lap and attach with velcro. I used a modified version of Roy Robinson's poncho tarp pattern.
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| The connecting poncho tarp in shelter mode |
So for two people our sleep system is pretty light I think and will hopefully keep us warm, dry, and comfortable on the trail.
Sleeping bag (32.5 oz)
Bivy (8.3 oz)
Poncho tarps (8.4 oz each) + stakes and guylines (couple of ounces)
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