OLD SCHOOL E-BIVY
STAYING WARM WHEN YOU GET CAUGHT OUT IN IT
No matter how well you plan, there is always going to be a chance that you get caught out in the weather overnight with just your basic load out.
So, my question to you is “what do you carry with you EVERY TIME you go out that will keep you from being an exposure casualty?”
In the PNW the weather can change from perfect patrolling weather to hypothermic weather just by adding rain and wind, and rain is always in the forecast outside of the summer months.
I built my E&E Fanny Pack around an E-Bivy, because as the saying goes… “The only thing worse than spending a night in an E-Bivy is not having one.”
If you ever have to use one, YOU WILL end up a cold wet mess even if you entered it dry because they do not breath, but YOU WILL be alive in the morning.
The obvious issue with using one on patrol is that you are in a coffin, unable to move and they are loud and hard to hear over when restlessly trying to sleep in one.
A BETTER SOLUTION
For me, is to sit back against a tree with a “candle lantern” in a hole (you carry a small trowel right?) below ground level and cross-legged over under a poncho (3 Seasons) or Swagman Roll (winter) so I can remain mobile if needed.
Having a small closed-cell foam “sit pad” (I cut up old MILSURP sleeping rolls for this, but many items come packed in CC) prevents you from having to use your LBE or CH as insulation to sit on to remain ready while “sleeping” against a tree.
A candle will heat you up pretty good and you will need to let it exhaust past your head via the poncho hole, but as long as you don’t cover your head and the candle, there is enough O2 to keep you breathing through the night.
Putting the candle a foot below ground level will help prevent it from being seen should you uncover it by moving the poncho around, as well as prevent being burnt off the candle holder itself.
Using a poncho over a candle WILL NOT stop you from glowing under the view of a thermal device but will prevent you from being seen by NODs if done right.
A last resort technique would be to just use a candle below grade, but sleeping over an open flame and waking up on fire is not my preferred plan.
Using a candle to stay warm is a LAST RESORT while on patrol, you should consider yourself to not be alone in the woods and act as if there is someone as capable as you or more so, on the other side of the terrain you are traversing.
If you are not shivering beyond control, you can likely suck it up. Shivering is a good thing, when it stops you need to warm up NOW and this is the best solution to that when a sleep system is not available or prudent.
If you have ever had Hypothermia, you know there is a fine line between being “Combat Effective” and leaving your weapon behind and just wanting to go to sleep. It happened not long after the violent shivering stopped one cold rainy night in South Korea. Lucky for me I had a fireteam to look out after me.
BURN TEST
I paid the $27.50 for an original brass UCO Candle Lantern to add to my 2nd Line Gear and had previously purchased a 72-count box of “15 hour” candles for this express purpose also, but I could not find a suitable container for them until I found a jam jar from Dalfour (mmmm…) that holds (3) of these “15 hour” candles perfectly and allows for safe burning.
So, I did a burn test in the house to see what the best-case scenario was for both and if their advertised claims of “9 hours burn time” and “15 hour burn time” were true before deciding which to pack into the field with me on my line two gear.
ACTUAL BURN TIMES
UCO “9-Hour” Candle burned for 12 hours. (3 hours past advertised)
“15-Hour” Candle burned for 10 hours. (5 hours under advertised)
SELECTING (ONE 9-HOUR CANDLE) OR (THREE 15-HOUR CANDLES)
Seems like the obvious answer would be “more is better” right? Well, given the actual burn test, it seems they are closer than advertised.
Since it is unlikely that I would be sleeping or riding out a night in the cold for more than 10 hours and keeping the two systems near in size profile for packing was important for me, I only included one candle with the UCO, making it about the same size as a complete package as the DIY model but at a much lower output capacity.
CONCLUSION
It’s unlikely that I would every need to use these systems longer than a few hours to get recharged enough to start moving again.
Given the envisioned scenario, the ability to have this system for more than one day in a row is something I do require, but feel could be fulfilled by either system, as the “9-hour” candle could easily be pushed to two nights of 5 hours of heat.
SYSTEM PRO / CONS
The OCU with one candle is smaller when carried, has more moving parts that can get lost/broken and has less burn time by over 2/3rds as the DIY system.
On the plus side it only gets hot on the glass housing and can be moved around with bare hands, but in the field, we have gloves so not that important.
Total cost: $27.50 for 9-hour burn time.
The DIY has more than 3 times the burn time given the ability to store (3) candles in the same package size and has no moving parts. It does require gloves to handle after lit, again, not that important.
Since the purpose of using the systems, is not as a lantern but rather a heater and in the field and we always have gloves, I can’t help but be drawn to the DIY model for field use.
The OCU will be put into the wife's GHB and the DIY now has a place in my 2nd Line gear were ever a poncho or Swagman are, this will be with it on my kit.
With a goal of no light, only heat, I modified the jam jar by adding a wrap of 500D Multicam to it with some 5-minute epoxy. This will help reduce light and give enough insulation that it can be moved by the bare hand also.
Total cost: $8.50 (you get to eat the jam too!) for 30-hour burn time.
FINAL NOTES
If you buy other candles, or even the same ones I listed here, do your own burn test!
They only last “15” or 10-hours when enclosed in a container that allows the wax to be collected and reburned. Burning one on a rock will have all the melted wax moving away from the wick and will not last nearly as long.