Favorite Tarp Backpacking Storage Method

[Tonykarter]

I second mesh tarp skins. Skins from Kat at MountainGoat Hats on both of my tarps. Easy to use. She is wonderful to deal with too. She made me a couple of custom sizes so that I could skin my hammock too. I do this while it is on the hammock stand in the boat. (Obviously not backpacking, so weight is not a consideration, but convenience is.) That way I do not have to take it down off the stand when I start the boat, and it will not "kite" while on plane. Before Spring I am going to contact her to make another mesh skin, this time a "mega-skin". I want to be able to leave the underquilt on the hammock, my overquilt in it, and just sleeve it. That way I do not have to bother with rigging everything everytime I want to get in it throughout the day and take a breather from fishing.

[brady1]

I carried the Kelty Noah 12 for a week on the SHT. No, it isn't THAT heavy, however, I didn't realize how heavy it was until I got my Superfly.

That said, the Noah does fit quite well into a set of Hennessy snakeskins. Just roll it fairly tight and it fits no problem. I then rolled up the rolled up tarp (think giant cinnamon roll) and crammed into the outer mesh pocket of my pack.

[toddseimer]

I carried the Kelty Noah 12 for a week on the SHT. No, it isn't THAT heavy, however, I didn't realize how heavy it was until I got my Superfly.

That said, the Noah does fit quite well into a set of Hennessy snakeskins. Just roll it fairly tight and it fits no problem. I then rolled up the rolled up tarp (think giant cinnamon roll) and crammed into the outer mesh pocket of my pack.

Awesome, that's what I was thinking. I have a ULA Ohm and I thought of just skinning it and stuffing it in the front mesh pocket.

[brohawk]

Silnylon snake skins thenot stuffed into stuff sack.

[neo71665]

Seriously guys, sure the Noah's 12 is heavier than comparably sized tarps from our cottage vendors, but it's not THAT heavy. Y'all talk like it's carrying a ton of lead or something... sheesh. If I can carry the thing 30 miles on the AT it just ain't that heavy!

Weight weenies will weigh helium filled balloons and complain.

[soul embrace]

These tarps do not work with snake skins very well due to their inability to compress down. Check out MassDrop and pick up one of the UGQ tarps at a really good price and you will avoid this issue all together.

My first tarp was a Noah 12 and I had no problem getting it in the snake skins. Yes the SLD winter dream is a lot easier but the Noah 12 work well also.

For my tarp when at home it's in snake skins then stuff in the stuff sack it came with, when I go on a trip I just stuff it in my bag.

So I have a Kelty Noah's 12' tarp and while I love the tarp I hate, hate hate the bag they include for it.

The bag it comes in does suck, it's made for you to fold the tarp like it came and put it in. The only time my Noah 12 was in that bag was when I bought it.

[MikekiM]

I've yet to succumb to snake skins though at some point I might try. I had a double ended noseeum sack made for my tarp. I know any moisture trapped inside the folds of the tarp won't dry, but the mesh bag works well and I make myself believe it's better for storing a damp tarp.

It's intentionally a bit oversized because I would rather be able to stuff the tarp in and around stuff in the front pocket of my packs (Ohm & Zimmerbuilt) rather than have to contend to a less pliable, tightly stuffed ball of silnylon.


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[Caminante]

The requirements that I want to meet for tarp packing are that the tarp is outside of the pack's main compartment and easy to deploy/pack. Outside of the pack so that I can set up in rain without opening my pack, and so that it is isolated when stowed as it may be wet. Easy to deploy/pack because I'm lazy. Using a bishop bag for stuffing and stowing it in a side pocket on my pack meets my needs. I haven't tried snakeskins, but I've found that when this site is near unanimous on recommending a product or method, it's the best way to go. I probably need to try snakeskins.

Weight weenies will weigh helium filled balloons and complain.

My first tarp was a Home Depot blue tarp that I used to cover my ENO DN, so people tend to find a solution that they can live with based on their constraints. However, shedding 1+ pounds of weight with a silnylon/poly hex tarp vs a Noah 12 is hardly weight weenie territory IMO. I'd guess that people go with Noah's for price point, versatility for non-hammock applications, extra coverage, they already own one, etc.

[durunner]

Use the Mountain Goat snakeskins for my Old Man Winter. Sometimes I store it back in the stuffsack. Sometimes I just use only the skins.

[cougarmeat]

~humming the song, "I fought the wind and the wind won..." ~ I've had two experiences trying to put up a tarp in the wind - maybe I should say WIND - and can see, in those circumstances, how starting with the tarp in a skin would really help the situation. Also, if I wanted to see the stars, but be ready for a change in weather, having the tarp in skins and suspended, with stakes and guy deployed, would allow that. Something to try anyway. But here's what's stopping me. The skin tapers down pretty small. Usually I have a split ring with a Figure-9 on it at each tarp end. I turn a continuous ridgeline, using an mini-carabiner at one end and connecting to the figure-9 at the other. I've tried to do this with the tarp in a skin but the taper is too small at the ends. My guess is, I need to attach something like a 8 inch dog bone or loop to each tarp end (as an "extension") and run the Amsteel though the end of the skin. That would give me 8 inches to slide the skin onto when I pull it off the hammock so it won't fight the guying of the end edges.

How do you guys deal with suspending/connecting to the tarp via the tapered end of the skin? I'm assuming you are keeping the skin on the tarp rigging while it is hung.