Submitted by Eric Daniel
You gotta love the internet. I can buy guns on-line but I can't buy a zipper. I decided to try a full-up system test of my issue MSS sleeping bag and I have come to the conclusion there's just no way in hell I'm going to fit in the black bag and the gortex bivy. To say that I wear the bag is an understatement; I am truly mummified in the bag. Not only does the bag bind significantly at the shoulders (I can't zip the bag up from the inside - I need to either get someone to zip it up from the outside, or I need to expose an arm and do it myself, and just leave the exposed arm hanging) but it only comes up to about my collarbone. The only way I could get all the way into the bag was to hop around like a hopping caterpillar until I could get the "hood" portion of the bag over my head, and then lay down. All in all, just way too much work, and most assuredly something I don't look forward to doing in the rain.
So, I'm looking on-line for a replacement sleeping bag zipper for my old M1949 mountain bag (the zipper blew out.) Unfortunately, these seem to be rather rare things. Moreover, all the local surplus stores seem to have gone out of business, so even finding an old sleeping bag to cannibalize for a replacement zipper has become an issue.
The end result of all of this is that I'm now looking for a mil-spec sleeping bag that I can use in the field to take the place of the waif sized MSS (or at least until I can get my old M1949 back on line.) Granted, there are any number of civilian bags out there that would fill the role admirably, were it not for the fact that they were of an exotic color and expensive as hell. Moreover, I like the idea of a modular system, that I can layer for additional insulation in cold, aka Yakima-like, weather.
One of the sleeping bag systems that caught my eye was the Wiggy's line. They offer a stand alone "military style" bag with a break away centerline zipper (the zipper runs town the middle of the bag, rather than on the left or right hand seam) that is large enough for you to get in with your clothes on, and easy to get out of in a hurry. In addition, they've got a nested bag system that you can tailor to your temperature requirements. This system consists of a standard overbag (rated to +35F, the military bag is rated to +25F) and a number of optional insert bags. The inserts range in ratings from +20F to -40F and when used in conjunction with the overbag, provide an additional 40 degrees of insulation.
Has anyone had any experience with the Wiggy's bags?
