Tarps and Snake Skins.

[oldsparkey]

Digging around on the web I located/found a neat idea for when you are camping and if it would be raining on you. If there isn't any rain then this is a fast way to put up a tarp.

This idea is basically for the hammock campers with there rain fly's or what could be called tarps since most of the rain fly's that will cover a hammock are 12x10 rectangles or there about.

Using the Snake Skins that Tom Hennessey dreamed up for his hammocks.

Use the snake skin for just the tarp/rain fly.
You arrive at the campsite and want to get a tarp up since you are getting wet and want a dry place to camp. Pull out the tarp which is inside the snake skin and tie off one end , then tie off the other end and slide the skins towards the trees freeing the tarp. Next stake out or tie off the sides of the tarp and you have a dry place to enjoy and even hang your hammock.

Tent campers can do the same and have a dry place to put up there tent as it rains. Especially the ones that are a single walled tent , no rain fly with them. Plus this gives either the hammock or tent camper a nice dry place to cook of relax in a rain. The camper that just likes to use a tarp can do the same for a quick way to put the tarp up and take it down.

When breaking camp , take everything down and pack it then slide the skins over the tarp towards the center and untie the ends from the trees , coil the skin up with the tarp inside it , bag it and continue your trip. No fighting with the tarp and folding it while getting wet or having it get in the dirt.

For hammock campers...........
Another benefit of having the tarp/rain fly separate from the hammock is when you get in the hammock your weight will not pull the tarp/rain fly down as the hammock adjusts to your weight. That is a nice way of saying as the hammock slowly approaches the ground with the extra weight in it and finally settles at the proper level the tarp will be where it was.

If you don't know what a snake skin is ... it is nothing more then some nylon sewed into a tube with one end being narrow and the other being wider , sort of like a stretched out a ice cream cone or funnel. Two are needed one for each side with the wide parts of them meeting in the middle. Normally the middle section will overlap each other to seal , cover , the item.

 

[catfish]

chuck i knew what a tarp was but i thought you was talking about a cotton mouth or diamond back :? :roll: :lol:

 

[Kayak Jack]

When I put up a rain fly, I like to stretch it in the UPwards direction a bit to facilitate standing room and drainage. You can either prop it up from underneath with a paddle, pole, or a stick. Or - pull it up from on top.
I prefer to tie a 30' line onto the top of the tarp - at or near the center. If a branch is handy, I loop a full water bottle (1 liter Nalgene type) onto the other end of the line and artfully sling it up over said branch. A full water bottle is light enough to sling, streamlined enough and heavy enough to penetrate smaller branches & twig-type stuff, and come back down again. I then pull the line up tight to raise the fly, and tie it off to anything handy. (If Chuck stands still long enough, he serves the purpose nicely.)

 

[oldsparkey]

On Jewell Key we strung a line between two trees and tossed the tarp over it as a center line , then tied off the corners and it worked really well. Everything was overhead and we had the full area under the tarp to use.
I had my chair with me but they decided not to tie the one corner off to it. :lol:

Joe ( lazyriver guy) takes his tarp and runs a center line then ties off the corners and the rest of the grommets he runs a ling down to a short bungee cord and to a water jug. When the wind blows the cords stretch and sometimes lift the jugs off the ground. They have enough stretch in them so the tarp does not raise fast or flop around in the wind. Might call them shock absorbers for the tarp. He was using a 16x20 tarp. Plus his hammock was under it and with plenty of room for a gathering / socializing and even cooking when it rained.

Catfish.......
Good point about the snake skins but they are nylon and look like someone skinned a snake and cut it in half. One end is big and the other is small. about a 1 inch hole increasing to a 4 or 5 inch hole in a 6 foot distance. Guess they would be more like a Python or Anaconda skin in real life.

 

[woodman]

Sparkey... when you were explaining a snake skin nylon tube ...I was thinking of the old nylon bag I use that those collapsible chairs come in you see everywhere.

 

[oldsparkey]

Here is a link to the snake skins , these are being used to hold a hammock and the rain fly. They are basically a stuff sack for the hammock but not like the stuff sack a person would associate with camping gear.

http://hikinghq.net/hammock/hammock6.html

I know .. You are going to ask why not just do like he did for the whole hammock. I have a larger rain fly and the skins are to skinny for both the hammock and the over-sized rain fly. So it is just the rain fly which is the 1st thing up and the last thing down. This will let me use the rain fly with the single wall tent , take the rain fly with either of them.
Now I need to go camping to try it. :wink:

 

[Kayak Jack]

<SNIP> I have a larger rain fly and the skins are to skinny for both the hammock and the over-sized rain fly. <SNIP>

This was a major faux pas of Hennessey. If the snake skins were just a bit larger in diameter, they would be about ten times more useful. I threw mine away for just that reason - too damned skinny to do the job they were intended to do. Close - but no cigar.

 

[oldsparkey]

This was a major faux pas of Hennessey. If the snake skins were just a bit larger in diameter, they would be about ten times more useful. I threw mine away for just that reason - too damned skinny to do the job they were intended to do. Close - but no cigar.

That might be one reason why so many Hammock Blogs and web sites have instructions on how to make them. If Tom would just use a little more material in the construction of them it would be nice. They are nice for the smaller hammocks he has but the larger ones they are not worth a dam....... Won't do the job they are intended for. Don't even think about fitting a Hennesey Safari Deluxe in a set of them , that is a fight no matter how you try it.

With just the rain fly ( Hex 12x12 ), it will fit in one but not with the hammock attached.

 

[Kayak Jack]

From the jaws of victory, he snatched defeat. Good idea, he's on a right track; he just quit an hour too soon.

 

[Bootlegger0173]

I never loved the skins, but what I did was buy a cheapo stuff sack and put a grommet in the back side. I run my tag end of guy line out the grommet and out. I can hang that end and pull tarp out in two seperate moves. When comes time to pack up, I take tag end down, place sack at chest, and pull/stuff back into sack as I walk to the other end.

Did the same thing to the hammock. When tied up, the sack stays hanging so never gets lost. Works for me, anyway.

KAW.