Phil Parker put the following question about ‘proper’ size 2 man bivvies that will accommodate him and his fishing wife – plus all the gear we typically carry with us.

“On the subject of Bivvys, why do manufacturers make them so low. I’m not the tallest of people but I am finding it difficult to do any kind of adequate manoeuvring unless I’m sitting or laying down especially if the heavens open up. My two man bivvy is exactly not that, more of a one and a half, especially as I have to share with my fishing wife. The only one I have seen is more of a tent than a bivvy and that is the Rod Hutchinson geo 2.2 super tent. This seems to have masses of room, especially for storage. Can anyone recommend anything on the market which has a substantial height and capacity for storing the plethora of gear I carry including a carp fishing wife?”

Hi Phil,

I’ve had a similar problem as you whenever I’ve taken my girlfriend fishing with me. She doesn’t fish but loves the outdoors, nature and camping aspect of our favourite pastime. I’ve just come back from a difficult but satisfying week’s trip to the Angling Lines water Etang de Margot in France with her. For the first time I tried out the new Total Fishing Gear Force 8 Bivvy but in the new Giant version. I originally bought the 2 man version but when I set it up at home it was nowhere near big enough for 2 bedchairs. The company then brought out the new Giant version and I took it back to the shop and swapped the original one for that and paid the difference. I think it retails at around £200 plus.

After a week in France I’m pretty impressed. The Giant version is pretty huge. Loads of room for 2 bedchairs with stacks of space in between (enough to comfortably get a 3rd bedchair in). On top of that is a porch area which the built in groundsheet covers. It’s nearly high enough for me to stand in the middle (I’m 5′10″). It has a full cover door, roll this back for a plastic see through door and inside is a zip up mozzie panel door on the internal twin skin. The internal skin is meshed at the back to allow air through when it’s hot. We had a serious storm one day with strong winds and heavy rain and the bivvy survived no problem. We were bivvied up on hard core gravel and the groundsheet never looked like being pierced by the big stones we were walking on.

My only minor complaints are that in the Giant size it takes a while to get used to putting it up (forget the claims about seconds to erect) but once you have the hang of it, it is quite simple and clever. The only other gripe I have is that it’s a bit of a nightmare to pack down to the neat size it first comes in but that’s also a matter of practise I guess. The pegs are cheap metal ones but I have loads of the screw in type from my other bivvies so I used them instead. It’s big, it’s heavy and it’s more for longer sessions when you can drop your gear off from the car – you wouldn’t really want to be carrying this one too far. It’s perfect for 2 people for a week’s fishing in France.

Hope this helps, Elie

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