This.
Over the years I've tried most of the ideas for storing or deploying a tarp. While I strive to have the lightest pack possible, if it means I have to fiddle more or have extra work/time involved in set-up, tear-down, adjustment, or field maintenance, I'm not interested. There's a certain weight penalty that is acceptable to me so I can enjoy more of the hike time or relax time, while still having easy, rapid, intuitive deployment and adjustability in foul weather. If you've ever had hypothermia in the backcountry, you know how important that can be.
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--Scott <><
"I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful... because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience...." --Robert Traver
I kept my CRL attached to the tarp inside the snake skins for a while but now I prefer keeping it separate. It's just faster and easier to string it up when it's unweighted and clip my tarp onto the prusiks, especially if the distance between trees varies widely from one hang to the next. Easier to adjust the prusiks when there is nothing on them to center them before attaching the tarp.
bonsihiker, I had one close call with hypothermia when xc skiing alone. When I drove back to town, my first stop was to buy a thermos. Now I never go out alone in the winter without a thermos of hot drink - like cocoa and coffee.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
I find I need to adjust the placement of the tarp almost every time. No two hangs I do are the same. Sometimes I'm wrapping the non-adjustable end of my ridgeline around a 5" tree, and sometimes it's an 18" tree. That definitely means I need to adjust where the tarp is on the line.
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Two things to consider. Intuitively one might think a mesh skin would dry faster. However, a tarp will not dry if crammed into any type of snake skin, period. A tarp is water proof and will not dry out unless it has ample air to evaporate the moisture into the air. That is to say you will need to dry the tarp outside of any kind of snake skin. Secondly, I'm thinking a mesh snake skin would be both more fragile and likely to snag than the other materials mentioned. A positive about CF is it is a slippery and tough material.
Exactly this. Both ends of my main ridgeline are adjustable with plastic toggles, but I still sometimes end up with widely varying tree dimensions and it's just easier to get the ridgeline up and move the prusiks as I need them without the tarp in the way.
Obviously to each their own, but this is the least frustrating path for me personally.
One clarification on a comment to my post. I thought I was clear that the tarp and skin are drying out separately. The tarp is not in the skin at that time, nor do I expect it to dry in the skin - it is blowing happily in the breeze. I may not take the mesh entirely off the line - it might be scrunched up loosely at the ends. But that's the advantage of mesh - there's enough airflow that it drys quickly.
The mesh skin is seldom, if at all, exposed to snaggy things. It comes out of the pack (or kayak hatch), held gently and lovingly in my arms as one suspension end is attached to a tree, then carried across the open area and suspended in the air as I attach the other end to a tree. The same care is taken when it is put back.
I can see the advantage of just connecting the ridgeline, separately, without the tarp. I didn't do that because my tarp is right next to the NAMA claws and it would be the same if I used prusiks. There is no place to scrunch up the skin. But, I can imagine having a longer connection loop to the claws or a longer loop coming off the prusiks so the snakeskin can slide up on that when the tarp is deployed. I wouldn't have to take the skin completely off the system, I could scrunch it back on the long prusik loop (or longer loop going from the tarp end to NAMA claws).
However, the advantage of position adjustment without the tarp attached may be minimal. I can see that one end of the tarp's current place (from a previous hang) must be slid closer to the center and the other end further away. So I just slide the "to-the-center" end to its good spot, then slide the other end away from the center till it's taut. Then slide off the skins. Easy-peasy.
If I found an ideal prusik line diameter to tarp ridgeline diameter I might reconsider. So far it seems the prusik loosens up too much when the tarp is not set up and bites too hard when I have to move it. In other words, there's a certain "fuss factor". On a warm sunny day, who cares! In freezing rain, wearing mittens/gloves, I'll go for sliding a piece of hardware.
I do like the idea of a separate line and will play with it a little bit. It is easier to attach just a line from one tree to the other and slide the connectors - prusik or other - to the desired spots, and then clip on the tarp and give a little tug to make it taut. Many ways to skin that skin.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
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