Meet the world's most versatile bivvy

Collectively, as carp anglers, we spend more time in our bivvy than we do outside. That’s more time than we spend setting up, spodding, casting, eating and going to the loo put together. Even when socialising, nine-times-out-of-ten you sit on your bedchair whilst your mate sits on the guestie in the doorway. And yet, across the country, banksides from coast to coast are full of ‘not-quite-right’ bivvies.

Part of the issue is that there’s too much choice nowadays. What’s better: a pram-hood or fan-out style frame? To oval or not to oval? Do you go for an inner mesh capsule? Well, the good news is that choosing has become a hell of a lot easier, because the Rod Hutchinson Cabrio 1 & 2 Man Bivvies have it all.

Thanks to having a completely removable front panel, the Cabrio is massively adaptable

It does exactly what we’ve just written on the page – i.e. everything. Want a big bivvy which will take you, your humongous bed and all that food but on a small footprint thanks to a clever flat back design? No problem. Fancy having the now-standard rear vents along with the not-seen-on-any-other-bivvy side ventilation panels to ensure you keep super cool when it’s roastingly hot? You’ve got it. Reckon you’d like to have a clip-in mesh capsule to form a 100% efficient insert screen – i.e. perfect for that French trip you’ve got coming up? Sure, go ahead, clip it in.

The flat back design maximises internal space

If you’re going on a long session, one where you’re committed to a swim for five, six, maybe even seven days and you’ll be taking all the home comforts, then you’ll also love Hutchy’s optional extra Overwrap and European Wrap, both of which provide a valuable porch area – one’s big, the other’s huuuge! But even without that, there’s a large front peak to protect you from the elements along with a fully zip-out, multi-adaptable front panel system which features large mosquito mesh panels and windows with zipped blinds and a removable ‘winterised’ PVC window. The two-way door design also features smooth, quick-release crash zips, so yes, you can now sleep with it semi-done-up if you wish.

That’s not all, either. The Cabrio isn’t just a multi-functional, do-it-all, take-it-anywhere legend, it’s a bloody hard brute, too. Thanks to being built from the ground up on a durable, hardwearing green textured powder-coated frame which is wrapped in a fully tape sealed, waterproof/breathable polyester with 10,000 hydrostatic head, it’s not just solid, it’s completely leak-proof too.

And thanks to having more features than you can shake one of the supplied heavy-duty bivvy pegs at (think: elastic ball-end tension straps above each pegging point, reinforced pressured points and a full width heavy-duty PVC skirt to provide increased cover under the groundsheet) you’ve got a bivvy – along with the free heavy-duty groundsheet, frame support and oversized hardwearing carry bag – which will protect and your kit in every angling situation you’re ever going to find yourself in. From the tinchy Redmire Pool to the mighty Rainbow Lake, the Cabrio’s got your back.

“GIMME”: 1 Man, £399.90; Wrap, £249.90; European Wrap, £289.90; Capsule, £99.90. 2 Man, £499.90; Wrap, £269.90; European Wrap, £299.90; Capsule, £119.90;
rodhutchinson.co.uk