Nash Strongbow Bivvy

Nash Tackle are well renowned for their bivvy and umbrella developments, and also at times been unfairly criticised by some of the angling public for the own anglers misuse and lack of care for their purchase.

The Strongbow bivvy was launched in 2008 and taken up in large numbers by carp and specialist anglers alike. When erected the Strongbow is literally rock solid and this surprised me as most bivvy systems built using flexible, elasticated fibreglass poles, are usually flimsy and have lots of movement when erected.

The main cover of the bivvy is of a heavy duty nylon material that has all seams taped for weatherproofing. At the rear of the bivvy, there is a mosquito mesh panel, that by unzipping the flap on the exterior, opens up to allow air flow through the bivvy whilst keeping out any bugs and light rain. With the flap open, it has been tested at the Nash factory to keep the interior of the shelter on average 6 degrees Celsius cooler than shelters without the airflow panel. This is a bonus on those muggy hot summer days that we get occasionally in the UK. The front of the bivvy has zipped panels either side of the doorway which roll back to expose further mosquito mesh. This allows almost unrestricted viewing of the water in front of the shelter, and also will help keep the bivvy cool in the summer. The door itself is supplied with a clear plastic window fitted and also has a nylon flap that Velcro’s down to cover up for privacy should it be required. The door has zips that open from either top or bottom and the top of the door is held in place by a Velcro strip. This allows the door to be zipped down halfway should the angler require it to so the maximum vision is available, as well as offering protection from the elements still.

The Strongbow is a multi-purpose shelter, and this is enhanced by being able to roll the door up fully, and also being able to roll the front side panels back, giving a total open front umbrella type shelter. Please be aware though, that the Strongbow is not as rigid in structure with the fronts rolled back, but is more than capable of withstanding the same sort of conditions most brolly systems would. This is the same with all pram hood design shelters though which do not have lateral support bars, and not unique to the Strongbow. With the optional Winter Skin fitted though, the Strongbow retains its rigidity with the front completely open.

Erection of the bivvy though is straight forward enough and requires no instructions. It must be pointed out though that the Strongbow’s fibreglass poles are just flexible enough to fit into the locating eyelets, but juniors, elderly or disabled anglers may find them to be a little bit of a struggle to locate. Whether or not the poles or material will become easier over time, only long term use will answer. Once the fibreglass poles are tensioned into the eyelets, it is then simply a case of pulling the tension strap across from one side to the other and clipping the ring into a carabineer fitted to the opposite side. Once tensioned the rear pegging points should be pegged down and the front of the bivvy can be pulled forward using two pegs in the doorway eyelets to erect in seconds. Once the doorway pegging points are pegged down, it is then best to fit the groundsheet if required so that the shelter can be pegged out accordingly and the groundsheet lying as flat as possible. The groundsheet fits the shelter by two different ways – clips at the rear and sides, and by Velcro strips towards the front.

On the first attempt at putting the Strongbow up, it was managed to erect in under 5 minutes, with most of the time being spent trying to flex and locate the poles into the retaining eyelets. Once these were in, the Strongbow was pegged out and usable in seconds. Nash Tackle claim that the Strongbow can be set up in under a minute.

The optional Winter Skin was literally a piece of cake to fit. Once unrolled and placed over the Strongbow, the option of either using the additional supplied pegs to peg it down was provided, although it was found to be better and easier to use the rear pegging points of the shelter for the back (saving the amount of pegs required) and then using separate pegs from the outer sides round to the front. This obviously means that if you lose or bend a peg, you are not left wanting if you are not carrying spares. The front “wings” of the Winter Skin have been fitted with clear PVC windows, and can be rolled back if required. There is no door fitted to the Winter Skin. The Winter Skin is made from the exact same fabric as the Strongbow itself, and will insulate the bivvy as well as eliminating condensation.

As mentioned, a removable groundsheet is supplied, and although it does the job, it is on the thin side and the optional Heavy Duty Groundsheet is recommended if you will be using it in the coldest conditions or should the banks of your chosen venues be of gravel or stony surface.

The footprint of the Strongbow is not as big as people would imagine, but not so small that the angler would not be able to comfortably house themselves and their tackle in it. Upon measuring, the erected Stongbow internal sizes were found to be 231.5cm from front to back, and 263cm from side to side at widest point. This gives sufficient room to fit an Indulgence Mk4 bedchair completely flat in the bivvy, with ample room to spare at either end of the bedchair, meaning that the sleeping bag would not be touching the sides when inside it. This is a major positive point for the Strongbow as there is nothing worse than waking up with the sleeping bag soaking wet from touching the outer skin during the night. The amount of headroom inside the Strongbow is impressive. The measured height of the tallest part internally of the bivvy was 130cm from groundsheet to ceiling. With the door fully rolled up, the entrance to the bivvy was measured vertically from the bottom of the rolled up door to the groundsheet at exactly 110cm. If you rolled the door downwards, the doorway headroom then increases to 120cm – allowing much better vision of the water when sitting on the bedchair.

Nash have also thought about the way the shelter is stored. The Strongbow easily rolled up and fitted back into the oversize carry bag supplied without any straining of zips or squeezing. The manual compression ties that are provided with either the bivvy or the Winter Skin were not required to pack away. The Winter Skin is supplied with a stuff sack that literally swallows the skin and the pegs. With careful folding, the angler could get both into the Strongbow carry bag with no problems at all, which certainly saves on barrow space.

What is the conclusion with the Strongbow? Well the Srongbow is certainly an impressive piece of kit, and for the angler that does not particularly like full bivvy systems and preferring an umbrella style shelter, they are excused for being a little wary of the claims by Nash that this is the future of shelters for the brolly loving angler. The versatility of the shelter is superb with the differing configurations of the front panels, and the weight of the complete shelter is not overly heavy either (but most anglers use barrows nowadays anyway so the weight is not a huge factor). With the groundsheet, shelter & pegs packed away in the supplied carry bag, the Strongbow weighed in at 7.7Kg (quoted weight by Nash of 7Kg) with the mud still on the pegs and groundsheet, with the Winter Skin weighing in at 2.3Kg with the pegs. This is still lighter than a lot of the other comparative shelters complete, but heavier than some. The weight could be lightened by using the same type aluminium poles that the Double Top range use, but then the price would have to increase. 10Kg for a complete twin skin bivvy system, groundsheet and two sets of pegs is not particularly heavy at all.

The RRP on the Strongbow bivvy itself is a very reasonable £149.99, and offers great value for money for such a versatile piece of equipment. The optional winter skin has a RRP of £59.99, and this is much less than some other manufacturers prices for an item that is essential for anglers that fish all year round in all conditions. As already mentioned, and optional heavy duty groundsheet is available at £49.99 – which if you do fish in extreme conditions is also an essential purchase. All in all, and at today’s prices and standards that some bivvy systems are priced at, you can buy a complete Strongbow package with everything that is available for a tad under £260 at RRP.