Tips needed on use Zpacks Poncho/pack cover/ground cloth

[English Stu]

I recently used this in the UK for two weeks and liked it apart from wet arms in rain. I did think about making some long cuffs to help with the wet arms -any one made those. Any tips on putting it on without hanging myself, though better than the Pertex poncho I had before.

[SteelCut]

It does take practice and doesn't work well for larger packs. I have not been successful in getting it on by myself with it already fully zipped on both sides. It can be done if you have a partner to help. But since I usually hike solo, I've tried all of the following and haven't converged on the best system yet:

1) Start with it fully unzipped... I put it on and get it over my pack, find the correct corners on one side, zip up that side, repeat for other side. It does take a bit of being Harry Houdini to have the dexterity to do all that ... especially in a heavy rain and/or high winds.

2) If you start with it fully unzipped and it's not really windy, I skip zipping up and use the elastic cords to keep it secured around my waist.

3) Alternatively, I've recently tried the method where I keep one side fully zipped and the other side completely unzipped. I have been able to get it on and over my pack that way fairly easy and thus I only have one side to attempt to zip up if it's raining hard enough where I want to be fully zipped.

[Hikingjim]

I use steel's method # 1. I just try and make sure it's over the pack properly and aligned right before I mess with the sides

And I've learned that cursing at the poncho doesn't help, it just makes me look like a crazy hunchback doing circles in the rain.