Wiggy Bags or other sleeping bags?

I found a thread on this forum in which Wiggy bags were recommended. I looked them up, and am not sure what to think.

I don't take down on a major trip. Too much risk of getting wet. (You cannot always find a good campsite when darkness falls in a real wilderness situation. I have experienced this: Tent is kind of wonky, but up. It rains really hard. You wake up with wet sleeping bags. The polypro stayed warm, even though the foot of the bag was soaked.

Also, I have seen storms in which the wind has driven the rain right through the tent fabric. Yes, there is a fly, but if you have a really high wind, the fly is plastered to the tent.)

My favorite bag is an old polypro semi-tapered bag from the 80s? The problem is it is heavy and difficult to pack.

I want to go light, but I am a cold sleeper. I use the sleeping bag and I wear long underwear, socks and a knit cap.

Anyone experienced with the Wiggy bags?

Or any other suggestions (that are not down).

Thank you. Erica

Wiggy's Bags are very heavy in the models that I have.

I have the biggest rectangular Wiggy’s bag, I think he said he made it for semi damp environment of sleeping in a boat. Might be good to +40 degrees. I like it, for summer use, plus works good as a quilt in a cabin or heated tent. I bough it to go outside of my Feathered Friends large rectangular down bag for extra warmth in colder weather camping.
He makes all kinds of bags, I would just call the company to se what they say.
I have been camping for sixty some years, never got my bedding wet ever, except to launder it. Dad and Grandpa were sticklers about keeping tents & sleeping spaces dry. Even in the bad old days sleeping in balsam and spruce bough lean-to’s on bough beds, we were dry even in heavy rain.

No Wiggy info but I use a Gore-Tex bivy sack to protect my down bag if there is the potential for a wet night. That and a really thick and wide sleeping pad.

Thank you all.

Recped, do you use the bivy sack inside a tent?
I have an Outdoor research bivy.

and what kind of sleeping pad?

thank you.

I have a 0 degree rectangular Wiggies bag, initially purchased for winter use in the tripping truck bed, but I liked it so much that it comes on off-season canoe trips.

I was looking specifically for a rectangular bag without a hood; most often I sleep using the bag unzipped like a quilt, but wanted something large enough that if need be I could zip it up and still toss/turn inside without becoming tangled. At 36” x 84” it is plenty big enough.

Despite the “Super Light” in the name it is heavy when compared to our down bags, and huge even in a compression stuff bag. The compression bag included with the Wiggies is not well designed, so I use a different compression bag.

https://www.wiggys.com/sleeping-bags/hunter-super-light-rectangular-sleeping-bag/

I’ve mentioned this before; synthetic bags droop closer to your body when used as a quilt. Down bags tend to leave cold air channel voids / O \ alongside near the sleeping pad. The Wiggies forms nicely over my body all the way to the pad.

Despite the size and weight it has become my favorite off-season bag. Would buy again.

Boreal Birch said:

never got my bedding wet ever

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you must be the luckiest person alive, because out of the hundreds of people I know, not one has ever claimed they never got their bag wet- because sh** happens, even to the most cautious and prepared people.
I've seen tents leak, drybags leak, and condensation pool on the floor or drip from the roof. Even the most durable tents can develop a pinhole or have a seam let go, same with the most expensive drybags, bivys, tarps, or groundsheets.

I can’t just let Boreal Birch be anointed as “the luckiest person alive.” I should at least be tied for “luckiest,” as my bedding has never gotten wet either. Is it luck? Perhaps not entirely. When tripping, we pack our gear and food in a dry bag, within canvas, Duluth-style packs. To add an extra layer of protection, food and sleeping gear are also stored in double layers of plastic garbage bags, of which we take plenty of extras, as plastic bags will wear out over 3-4 weeks.

We also take plenty of repair materials, such as seam sealer and nylon patching material for any potential tent pin holes. We also check and test all of our gear a week or so before heading out. Our tents have always had vestibules that can be closed off, providing another zone of defence against wind-driven rain. We always put a footprint beneath the tent, providing another layer of defence from moisture penetrating from below. The fly provides another layer of defence against moisture penetrating from above. Am I lucky? if so, then please don’t hand the “luckiest“ crown to Boreal Birch! I also deserve some “lucky” recognition.

I don't recall ever having a wet sleeping bag. That's about 60 years worth of camping.

billconner said:

I don't recall ever having a wet sleeping bag. That's about 60 years worth of camping.

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Are you trying to horn in on my shared “luckiest” title?

I should, perhaps, fess up a little. Back in about 1981, Kathleen and I were returning from a Yukon backpacking trip, car camping on the way home. We had stopped for the night at a private campground, one day away from our home in North Vancouver. This was before we had a van to sleep in, so we naturally set up our tent, with fly, and crawled In. Turns out that we had set up in a bit of a hollow. It started to rain hard, which is common in BC. In the middle of the night, Kathleen nudged me awake to declare that water was flowing through the tent. I felt around, and everything seemed dry to me. Fifteen minutes later, and she again said that water was flowing through the tent. I turned on my headlamp. Sure enough, water was flowing through Kathleen’s side of the tent. Seemed like her problem to me.

Even so, we moved our free-standing tent under the campground’s covered cooking shelter. I don’t remember if Kathleen’s down bag was wet. Neither does she. Mine wasn’t, and we both slept well the rest of the night. A good lesson, though, about making a better choice about where to set up the tent.

Had a wet bag once, on a backpacking trip. Tarp camping, we had a thunderstorm that was so heavy the rain was bouncing 18' up from the ground and coming under the tarp. The outside of our down quilt got wet, took half an hour to dry at lunch. Don't be afraid of down getting wet. Choose a quality tent, double bag your sleeping gear.

I’ve gotten sleeping bags wet a few times, always a foot box or hood from a leaky tent corner. Never insufferably wet, but annoyingly damp. Old, poorly sealed Timberlines were often the culprit; it was always the inadequate rain fly coverage at the pole corners of the bathtub floor. Especially bathtub annoying when a puddle got in but couldn’t get back out.

Today we have better sealed Timberlines, and other more modern design tents, all with better footprints that don’t (can’t) stick out from underneath.

But I still take some precautions. If I’m base camped or not moving along that day the sleeping bag, after it airs out a bit, goes into a laundry bag sized stuff sack, lined with a garbage bag if it is rainy. I feel safer with the bag not splayed out loose and appreciate the better organized tent when I crawl back in, but don’t need to chore of a right-sized stuff bag struggle. Probably better for the sleeping bag not to be needlessly compressed as well.

In travel the bag is always in a water-repellent compression stuff bag, inside a dry bag. In long submersion roll-top dry bags will leak, or at least seep; the water-repellency of the stuff bag can’t hurt, and the reduced-air compression factor may help as well.

Same DWR compression bag packing for my clothes bag as well, for plus 1 waterproofieness.

Wet bag once in Alaska.
Close to freezing to death, and it was August 31.

ppine said:

Wet bag once in Alaska.
Close to freezing to death, and it was August 31.

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Just curious how your bag got wet.

Erica said:

Thank you all.

Recped, do you use the bivy sack inside a tent?
I have an Outdoor research bivy.

and what kind of sleeping pad?

thank you.

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Much of the time I camp using a floorless shelter but I also use it inside my old Marmot tent (Sanctum 3 season) which has a leaky floor. I am using an old Outdoor Research bivy from my experimental days of going bivy only (too claustrophobic).

The pad is a Mondo XL (Not the 3D version), about 30 inch width , 4 inch height. I've had to camp in some truly horrible spots where it's virtually impossible to keep the inside of the tent dry.

PaddlingPitt said:

Just curious how your bag got wet.

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Three and a half days of solid Alaska rain. Soaked through my pack, stuff sack and sleeping bag.
I got spoiled by the Sierras. Never made that mistake again, it was 30 years ago.

There is something to be said for a big, or at least wide, sleeping pad.

No matter your preference core material and inflation technique, having something w i d e enough to keep the edges of your sleeping bag elevated of the tent floor is a boon.

Even more so if you are a built-for-comfort endomorph tosser and turner. Some 20” wide pad isn’t gonna cut it. I don’t need XL length, but I’ll take XL width.

There are things I happily forgo on trips; a good, warm, comfortable night’s sleep is not among them.

Back on topic

A few years ago when I thought about winter camping I did my research on Wiggy and would have bought one had I pulled the trigger on winter camping.

I have too many 3 season+ bags to buy another one.

You may want to look at a wide quilt paired with a separate hood. Something like a 15deg F Arrowhead Equipment in wide with pad loops. A quilt will pack smaller and be lighter and then pair with with a warm wide pad like a Thermarest XTherm or one of the new Sea To Summit Etherlite Pads.

I really am a lucky guy. I’m still alive after many close encounters with neighborhood children that got polio when I was a child, high speed flying metal in my late teens/early twenties, canoe capsize’s in ice out waters, broke through thin ice while snowshoeing, twice, in below 0 F. temperatures. Had bullets zing by my head while hunting. On a lighter note, married well above my station to a beautiful girl that is still outdoorsy. Had a great career doing what most people pay to do on their vacations. Always had enough money to buy the best of outdoor gear. Also lucky to inherit good healthy genetics from my parents, so at 75 I am still active as I was at fifty with no aches or pains.
When I wrote that my bedding never got wet, I never said damp. Maybe somewhat anal about keeping dry, but I am a belt and suspenders kinda person about sleeping. Best money can buy tent, has a outer footprint and a inner bathtub footprint, tent rain fly with a tarp over that for sleeping. A separate bigger tarp for living room/kitchen area. I never claim to be some sort of expert at anything, but willingly adapt others proven tactics. “One ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure” is a good saying.