emergency bothy shelter

[Martin B]

Finally got round to making a lightweight 4 person bothy shelter. I probably won't use it for biking as i have a 2 person one (https://www.summitgear.co.uk/product/su ... -2-person/) but I needed a 4 person one for hillwalking and mountaineering when out in bigger groups (when restrictions allow)

From experience of using a bothy shelter, I don't need the fabric to be bomb proof or fully waterproof. Just light weight and water resistant is more than adequate. also i don't require fancy vents or pole slots either.
MYOG bothy shelter by Martin Brown, on Flickr

MYOG 4 pers bothy shelter by Martin Brown, on Flickr

I don't know the exact spec of the fabrics that I used, but they came out of my Hilleberg fabric surprise box. the yellow sidewall fabric is ripstop, it's superlightweight, doesn't appear coated but it's super slippery to work with. the red roof fabric is also ripstop, it's slightly heavier and is coated. All stitching on the sides and roof are french seams and the final dimensions are roughly LxWxH is 130cmx130cmx106cm and weighs in with stuff sac at 305g. stuffed size is roughly 9cmx18cm. It's certainly roomy for 4 people and i think at a push with rucsacs on the outside i could get 6 people in.

MYOG bothy shelter weight by Martin Brown, on Flickr

Annoyingly I was about a metre short in overall length of the yellow fabric to do the side walls in one continuous piece, so I had to stitch 3 sections together from the width offcuts to make one of the end walls. Which gave me good practice at doing french seams

[Borderer]

That's impressive for the weight. Nice work.

[belugabob]

How much does it weigh, if you include the chairs?

[sean_iow]

Nice work

The yellow looks like the fabric the inner of my Nallo 2 GT is made from, the red (being coated) is the likely the same as the flysheet. Hilleberg only use top spec materials so that surprise box is a good way to get the fabric. I remember when I bought me Nallo GT that the sales literature stated their fabrics were 50% stronger than other tent manufactures so they may well have them made especially.

All Hillebergs have the name of the seamstress on the inside* so I hope you've put yours on it

* They have a single sewer make the whole tent, I assume that this it to keep track of who's no good if there are warranty claims and they can be retrained/let go.

[ledburner]

Well done Martin, that's a high spec bivvi box shelter! You can't hide it that, not may phone/post boxes about in the hills.

Pssst, How did you aquire that bargain bag?

Karrimor of old, Accrington, used to make them, called KISUs karrimor Instructor Survival Unit, I guess.
I made one years ago, then gave the 'green slug' away as a prize at a climbing club photo comp or other mad cap idea... Its probably a garden furtiture cover now . It was just cheap nylon seconds off the market, probably just lining roll ends.

On a winter trip half way up a Monro, 4 of us we had a lunch stop in it , so sat on packs in the snow, out of the wind. Then 15 min later emerged & carried on. No heavy legs syndrome as we kept really warm. They really do make a difference..
Ideas for you...
I hemmed light shock cord into the base. It made sitting on on the side ground sheet easy and prevented it 'ballooning. ' 2-3mm would do. Getting in/out wasn't a problem.
I also sewed the stuff sack on to a seam edge so it wouldn't get lost/blow away. It also has a cord tail to clip to a climbing sack, for the same reason.
I'm sure you'll have thought it all through.

[Borderer]

Pssst, How did you aquire that bargain bag?

You get them from Hilleberg. They are out of stock on their website. I emailed them yesterday and asked if they were planning on getting them back in and they replied that they would at some point but didn't know when. So not in the short term it seems.

[ledburner]

Thanks Borderer!

[Martin B]

Ideas for you...
I hemmed light shock cord into the base. It made sitting on on the side ground sheet easy and prevented it 'ballooning. ' 2-3mm would do. Getting in/out wasn't a problem.
I also sewed the stuff sack on to a seam edge so it wouldn't get lost/blow away. It also has a cord tail to clip to a climbing sack, for the same reason.
I'm sure you'll have thought it all through.

Thanks Ledburner.
I've used 2mm climbing cord and a toggle around the hem. I wasn't sure about using elasticated shock cord, I might give it a try.

To stop the stuffsac blowing away the closure cord is tied through the bothy shelter hem cord. And I 've put an alpkit mini karabiner on to it to clip it to a rucksack.

I use my shelters a lot in the winter for lunch stops. It makes a huge difference getting out the wind.

I'll keep an eye on the Hilleberg site to see when the boxes come back in to stock. For your info I got roughly 4 metres of each of the yellow and red fabrics. I also got the same length of the red fabric but in a dark green colour. A couple of offcuts of a heavier fabric that I presume is for reinforcements and a 7' heavy duty zip which I'm still to come up with an idea for. I think it was about £30 in total. No idea if additional Brexit charges will apply to any future orders

[ledburner]

I see your sorted

Thanks for the feedback about Hilleberg goodie bags.