snake skins, 2 or 1?

**ihavea4** · 05-02-2014, 11:30

I've been reading a lot about snake skins for tarps or hammocks, and one thing that seems like it would annoy me is when you are packing up your tarp and you bring the second snake skin in, there's a big bulge in the middle that you have to tuck in. It seems like it would be better to just have one long snake skin that covers the whole tarp, that way there's no tucking in, and no bulge to deal with. Is there a reason the 2 piece set seems to be more popular than one long one? If anyone has experience with one or the other I'd like to hear your thoughts.

**pizza** · 05-02-2014, 11:44

I don't have that problem with the MountainGoat mesh/bugnet skins but silnylon or cuben fiber ones are more prone to that since they trap air.

**ihavea4** · 05-02-2014, 12:06

I just checked those out, and they seem pretty cool. I'd still be interested in hearing from someone with one long sleeve just out of curiosity. If nothing else, i may just buy those Mountaingoat skins and see how I like them. I can always make one long sleeve myself later if I decide to.

**Passinthru** · 05-02-2014, 13:27

I currently use a 2-piece tarp skin and don't really like it for the reason you stated. Also, I have to connect the two pieces in the middle to keep them from shifting around. At one time I had a hammock with a 1-piece sleeve and it worked very well. Someday I'll probably get around to trying a 1-piece on the tarp.

**climbing.kevin** · 05-02-2014, 13:54

I have a wb superfly with a dollar store loofah aka shower scrubbie snake skin. Therefore mine is one long skin. The problem with it is when I close it all up, the doors want to extend past the ridgeline tieout, so I have to stuff the doors back in the middle. Having 2 skins would help bring the doors in, making it a cleaner packing job.

**olzeke** · 05-02-2014, 15:31

I have 2 skins, and have learned to furl the tarp a bit before drawing the skins into place. Helps keep the lines in place as well. Really quite easy to keep the tarp in position once you try it a couple of times.

**HappyCamper** · 05-02-2014, 15:42

Big bulge in the middle. Yes, I had same problem when I started with my 2 snakeskins. Keep practicing. When I roll up my tarp I make sure to do it evenly and then I put my hand in the middle and squeeze out any trapped air by running my hand to the end. Then I pull the skin on. Yes, there is still a small material bulge but I use my thumbs and push the remaining material into the skin. Not a big deal. The skins are still fast and worth the effort IMO.

**ADKrella** · 05-02-2014, 15:59

Ive got 11ft. Mountain Goat skins and they are really nice.
Someone mentioned earlier that mesh skins themselves wouldn't bulge.
Makes sense.
The only bulge Ive encountered is due to air getting trapped in the center of my Superfly from folding/rolling to much when packing up the tarp.
First time(s) I tried I couldn't even get the ends over the center.
Now I just roll up the doors a bit on each side and the rest slips in with a little stuffing .....no problemo.

**pizza** · 05-02-2014, 16:22

As mentioned the key is to roll the tarp up and slide your hand towards the center as you are sucking the tarp into the skins. This gets as much air out as possible. Maybe not all of it but enough so that there isn't much of a bulge left in the center to easily get into the skins unlike with silnylon or cuben that doesn't vent. To keep them together the Mountain Goats have drawstrings in the center of each skin to keep them together. As added security I overlap one over the other and tighten the drawstring of the overlapping half. This keeps it together when packing it up. The drawstrings are key. It's a pain if you don't have drawstrings and the tarp starts to fall out at the center. Another con I see with a single skin is if you are using an over the top CRL you don't have a lot of room between your connection point to the tarp and the connection point on the CRL to bunch up the skin. By splitting the material in half you have less material to bunch up at the end of the tarp. Obviously not as big of an issue if you are using two separate lines off each end of the tarp.

**aircoder** · 05-06-2014, 09:04

In high winds I find the double skins vs one long skin to be a better solution, that way i can control the tarp quite a bit better while setting it up. At least that what i have found. To me setting up in the dark in heavy winds i would rather have more control of the tarp then not.

Also I have found If you control the tarp as you bring the snake skins over the tarp you can get it to cinch in pretty well. I guess it depends on which problem you find yourself facing more often and which you can live with.