bit of advise please...

I bought a poe ether thermo 6 mat off Stu earlier in the year

its a great mat but doesn't fit inside my current bivi bag, I do normally move around quite a lot in my sleep and often end up not lying on my mat. Is it the norm to put mat and sleeping bag inside the bivi bag?

If this is the case I'm thinking of swapping to an Alpkit Hunka, not being the biggest chap (about "medium build") would a std or xl be best for fitting mat and sleeping bag inside.

for the record tinterweb states inflated the mat is about 2.5" thick and about 22" wide.

any advise most welcome.

cheers

I've tried it both ways and found that if I have the mat inside, it seems to end up on one side of me after a few sleepy turns. I always have it outside now and, so far, I've managed not to fall off it in the night :)

No real standard for mat inside the bivi or not, more personal preference. I put my mat on the outside and have never had an issue, but others prefer otherwise.

If you do go for a hunka, you'll need the xl size to allow space for the mat and your bag to loft properly.

As Scotroutes says, it may be best to try with the mat on the outside and just teach yourself not to move about in your sleep.

I have the standard hunka and find it a tight fit with a mat inside, if I have to sleep with my down jacket on then there is no way the mat will fit inside.

I have the Hunka XL as I like the mat inside the bivvy bag. I find it doesn't move around then and there's a little bit of protection against anything sharp I didn't clear.

If expecting rain I have to use a tarp with this setup though as it means that I can't get the hood down over my head.

I have 2 setups at the minute. Both are mat inside the bivi bag.

Borah Bivi, Sleeping bag, Full length eXped mat and tarp. This is my bad weather setup and generally the same for multi dayers so I always like to have the mat inside to keep it dry. Seems to fit ok.

The other is a terranova moonlight (no tarp). The exped mattress wont fit in well so I have used a ProLite but it offers minimal comfort so am considering trying out the no mat approach for single nighters.

everything goes in a double vaude biwak.
seems to breath ok
I am currenty making a custom one for next year.