When the Annual Motorcycle Camping Issue first began a few years ago, a gentleman that many readers may know – Wayne Marsula, GS guy extraordinaire – sent me an article about the packing and camping setup he uses on his Baja adventures. One picture he included was of his Cocoon sleeping system, basically a sleeping bag, ground pad and bivvy tent all in one.

 

Well, in terms of the number of phone calls and e-mails I received asking where one could buy one of these things, you’d think that the Cocoon was as significant as the Second Coming. Unfortunately, upon further research, it turned out that the product was no longer being manufactured.

The Cocoon4 Sleeping System is ideal for the minimalist camper, and is particularly good for challenging conditions.

 

Well, hope springs eternal for all you minimalist motorcycle campers out there. Pneugear Inc. has resurrected the Cocoon design, complete with a host of improvements, and have called it the Cocoon4 4-season Sleeping System.

This is roughing it?
The Cocoon4 features a heavenly 4" thick inflatable ground pad mattress attached by zippers to an inflatable blanket, both of which have a sealed-in layer of premium goose down 650-fill insulation. Air pressure is used to control the loft of insulation, with the mattress, blanket and pillow all separately inflated by means of built-in manual inflation device called an inflator sack. If you’re interested in this sleep system and your BMW has an accessory connector, the first thing I would buy is one of those hand-held 12Volt compressors. The inflator sack is cumbersome to use and takes too long to fill the bag, especially when it’s raining. Using it will give you an excellent upper-body workout, however. Once inflated, you can set the Cocoon4 on golfball-sized rocks and still be comfortable.

You get into the Coccoon4 by opening either the left or right-side zipper, lay down. And then zip back up. Your head protrudes from the Cocoon with a collar that surrounds your neck. If it is a warm night, you can deflate the blanket and unzip it on both sides, roll it down toward your toes and put on the full-length bug mesh to keep pesky critters out. If it should become chilly or start to rain during the night, you need only unroll the blanket inside the bug mesh and go back to sleep.

If it’s colder, or you’re sure it’s going to rain, it’s best to zip up the Cocoon, inflate the blanket and install the canopy, which also features a built-in no-see-um mesh. The nylon canopy can either be rolled up and secured leaving the mesh in place, or deployed so as to keep the rain or snow off of one’s face. This canopy extends well beyond the mesh, permitting the easy circulation of fresh air. Side zippers permit portions of the fly to be opened and secured, allowing the sleeper a wide range of control over the ventilation. The no-see-um mesh provides a horizon-to-horizon view, and there is ample space to store light, gloves, reading material, snacks and personal effects. 

The canopy is attached by a zipper to the head-end of the Sleeping Bag, and is held up by a 4-piece carbon and glass impregnated, resin rod which is strong and flexible even at 60° below zero. The corners are stretched into tension by shock cords, which attach to the titanium ground pegs supplied with the system. I found the fiberglass canopy support rod to be difficult to install because the sections kept falling apart, and would suggest Pneugear look into a thin, shock-corded aluminum pole as an alternative. Maybe aluminum cracks at 60° below, but if you’re out with your motorcycle in that temperature, you’re probably cracked, too.

Survival Grade Gear

As mentioned earlier, when fully zipped up, your head protrudes from the Cocoon’s upper blanket section, with your neck surrounded by an insulated collar. Configured as such, the Cocoon4 is extremely warm, and Pneugear claims that it provides comfortable sleep in temperatures down to 45° below zero! At these kinds of temperatures you really must use the insulated hood provided with the Cocoon. The human body can go into hypothermia with only the heat lost from the head. According to Pneugear: "this can happen when the body is fully insulated from the cold, but the head is exposed to temperatures which aren’t much below freezing. The reason is that the circulatory system will ensure that the brain always gets warm blood, even when it has to rob other parts to do so. The first signs of such hypothermia are cold hands and feet, since the head, which is being kept warm, doesn’t notice the cold."

You may have noticed that camping in cold or even cool weather causes condensation from the moisture in your breath to form inside your tent, and it is no different with the Cocoon. To prevent the moisture from dripping on your head, the canopy is designed the to allow droplets to run down the inside, where they drip from the hem to the ground.  The canopy’s mesh provides a second line of protection, so that if a droplet should dislodge from the fly, it lands on the mesh, where it then trickles down the outside. 

According to Pneugear, the human body gives off from 1-3 pints of water per night, even when one feels cold. In a traditional sleeping bag, this moisture is wicked away into the insulation, where it condenses and possibly freezes. As this happens, the bag loses its warmth. Since the Cocoon4 is made from air-tight fabric, it is also a vapor barrier, keeping water vapor next to the occupant and away from the down insulation.

Is this for you?

The Cocoon4 is built to the nines, using premium-grade materials and will provide many years of service in even the most extreme conditions. The system has been used in numerous expeditions; it packs to a reasonably small 12" diameter x 19" length (which won’t fit in a saddlebag) and is reasonably light (however, I would strap it in the pillion position instead of a luggage rack).

The question becomes: what do you need for your style of camping? This is truly a sleeping system, and while you can change your clothes while inside, you really can’t do much of anything else other than sleep. Wayne Marsula used his in conjunction with a fly so that he had somewhere to sit and to cook in case of rain. Pneugear says that many people buy the system without the canopy and use it inside a tent. That 4" ground pad sure is nice.

At nearly $1000 for the Extreme model (which can hold a 6’6" 280lb person, or $795 for the Explorer (6’0" 250 lb) and the Junior (5’3" 140lb), the product isn’t inexpensive. But it is expedition grade and it offers a lot of comfort and low-complexity for the minimalist camper. And if you add the cost of a premium 4-season tent such as a Bibler, a ThermaRest ground pad and a premium down sleeping bag, you’re talking the same price (and possibly more packing space).