Privacy on the Go with SylvanSport’s Privy Bivy Privacy Tent

If you love to explore the outdoors, SylvanSport has a little bit of everything to make your trip more enjoyable. This company, hailing from the Appalachian Mountains, have created award-winning camping trailers, equipment and accessories since 2004. They specialize in a lot of great gear that make roughing it…well less rough.

Run Oregon was happy to give the Privy Bivy Privacy Tent a whirl for some outdoor adventures of our own. This shelter provides you some privacy for a shower, for changing or for a call to nature. Honestly, you can use this tent for just about anything when you need a little extra privacy. We think it may be an option for a relay race where some “me-time” is a necessity.

Looks:

It might be easy for you to see from the pictures that the Privy Bivy is roomy. It covers a generous 50” x 50” of floor space and has an interior height of 6’-8.” Yep, even the biggest of yetis will find this thing pretty spacious.

Function:

SylvanSport thought of everything with the Privy Bivy. There is an interior attachment for a light or a shower head as well as a pocket in the tent to store things like TP and other toiletries. SylvanSport also sells a Thetford Porta Potti that you can buy with the Privy Bivi as a package deal.

Construction:

You’ve already heard how much room you’ll get inside this thing, so we’ll skip over that here. The Privy Bivy comes with fiberglass tent poles and tent stakes to keep the tent securely anchored to the ground. It comes together easily, just as a basic tent would.  There are multiple ventilation points as well as a zippered window with “no-see-um” bug mesh. The door is a large D-Style in construction and there’s also a ground skirt and stuff sacks for the poles, stakes, and tent itself.

Overall/For Consideration:

The Privy Bivy is a useful add-on to your camping gear. It folds up pretty small and it doesn’t take too long to put together. I will say that there aren’t any instructions included, and though anyone who can put together a basic tent can figure out how to assemble this easily, it would have been nice to see an indicator that tells you which tent pole should cross under/over the other before you’re neck deep in putting it up.

Also, because it’s much larger than it looks when it’s all packed up, make sure you have plenty of space to get it up. It’s much bigger than my backpacking tent and practicing in my living room was really comical. It’s also heavy enough that I wouldn’t want to pack it around while hiking and it doesn’t pop up instantly like some portable shelters. However, it’s a high quality item that would be great for a weekend in the woods or potentially on a relay.

It’s well made and should last for many years if you take care of it. It’s completely waterproof with polyurethane coated nylon and taped seams. If you’re looking for a private outhouse, changing room, or outdoor shower, look no further.