Ditch your Snakeskins!!

[cmoulder]

I’ll be trying it out when I have some time. Love the skin on my first tarp, but have resisted with my new DCF. Features I like most about the skin is a controlled set up in the wind and the laziness of packing it up.

I want to see what it looks like leaving it all wrapped in the “stowed” position and putting the coiled “horizontal snake” in the outside pocket of my pack instead of in a stuff sack. That would retain the snakiness.

Im imagining a coiled roll of DCF as long as a tarp is wide to be pretty bulky though


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Yes, that's the thing about DCF... any method that involves scrunching it up it still results in gobs of volume, and all those little 'micro-wrinkles' resist compression. I find that with the folding and rolling technique it takes up only slightly more space than silpoly.

One advantage of DCF over silpoly is that it folds and rolls up easily, whereas silpoly is rather like dealing with a greased pig. Not a deal breaker but it does require a little more finesse.

[BillyBob58]

Nice idea, Bob! I'm not sure I am getting exactly what you are doing vs the snake skin approach as I have always used, but I think I get the gist of it. Maybe if you ever have the time and inclination, you could have someone film you- or use a tripod- as you both deployed and packed up the system. But, I think even my slow self understands it enough to play around with the concept. So, thanks!
Bill in MS

[cmoulder]

Hey BB58, I did some more video today showing exactly what you requested. Will upload tonight or tomorrow.

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[cmoulder]

I took the tripod on my hike today so that I could make a video of the tarp being retracted into stowed position, then re-deployed quickly for full coverage.

Note to @possum daddy, I took your suggestion to simply slide the prusik instead of using the carabiner to release the tarp at the D-ring, and this worked quite well with the Lawson Ironwire. The key is pushing the prusik loop part back toward the wraps, which practically eliminated all friction. Once again, hardware not needed!

So without further adieu, here's the video:

[BillyBob58]

Hey BB58, I did some more video today showing exactly what you requested. Will upload tonight or tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

I took the tripod on my hike today so that I could make a video of the tarp being retracted into stowed position, then re-deployed quickly for full coverage.

Note to @possum daddy, I took your suggestion to simply slide the prusik instead of using the carabiner to release the tarp at the D-ring, and this worked quite well with the Lawson Ironwire. The key is pushing the prusik loop part back toward the wraps, which practically eliminated all friction. Once again, hardware not needed!

So without further adieu, here's the video:

Yay! Thank you!

[cmoulder]

You're welcome, Bill!

Of course, I'm very interested to hear what you think after you've had a chance to try it!

[BillyBob58]

You're welcome, Bill!

Of course, I'm very interested to hear what you think after you've had a chance to try it!

As lazy as I am these days, it might take me a while. This looks to me like it might be superior to my snake skins for fast deployment, as well as obviously saving the weight, bulk and expense(for those who don't already have them) of skins. But how do you think they compare when it is time to break camp, load everything up and go? I might strap my skins outside the pack or into some pocket. Do you think this works as well or even better? I guess it would have to be better in at least 2 ways: weight and bulk. (though not a lot: skins don't weigh much plus very slight added weight of shock cord and biners)

[inductioncooktops]

Maybe just swivel your snake skins 90 degrees. Same idea as this shock cord but two skins, attached at the same point as the shock cord clips. and you pull them up on each side. Vertical Snake Skins even.

[Shug]

And there are other ways to keep skins and still see the skies! With or without DCF tarps. But I get what you are doing.
https://youtu.be/DAYLi_mDzPI
I did something like what you are showing years ago. See in the video here at :45 seconds in....https://youtu.be/rSbL95V3erY
Never really did it much but I do the other pitches a lot.
Tarp....lotta range.
Shug

[cmoulder]

As lazy as I am these days, it might take me a while. This looks to me like it might be superior to my snake skins for fast deployment, as well as obviously saving the weight, bulk and expense(for those who don't already have them) of skins. But how do you think they compare when it is time to break camp, load everything up and go? I might strap my skins outside the pack or into some pocket. Do you think this works as well or even better? I guess it would have to be better in at least 2 ways: weight and bulk. (though not a lot: skins don't weigh much plus very slight added weight of shock cord and biners)

For breaking camp, the zig zag tarp folding method is fast and compact. When it's that small you can put it inside or outside or in a pocket. I forgot to mention, tomorrow morning I'm out for a quick backpacking trip and will use it on the trail for the first time.

And there are other ways to keep skins and still see the skies! With or without DCF tarps. But I get what you are doing.
https://youtu.be/DAYLi_mDzPI
I did something like what you are showing years ago. See in the video here at :45 seconds in....https://youtu.be/rSbL95V3erY
Never really did it much but I do the other pitches a lot.
Tarp....lotta range.
Shug

I figured somebody at HF during all these years had to have tried something like this, and — no surprise — of course it's Shug!

Great that we have options. I used snakeskins for a while but the big bundle just doesn't sit well with me.