Stuff sack or just snakeskins??

[ivanputski]

When you pack your hammock up do you put it in a stuff sack or just use the snakeskins and put it in your backpack? I am at 37 lbs with all my gear and food and water for 5 days so the weights seems reasonable but I am looking at ways to pack smaller so that I'm not packed so tight.

[Just Jeff]

I use a pair of silnylon skins for the hammock/underquilt and a pair of mesh skins for the tarp.

[jackiebolen]

Your question is a bit hard to understand. Are you worried about how to pack a hammock? Or about your weight? Or about whether you need a bigger or smaller pack? I'm so confused.

[neo]

i use snake skins and i stuff my hammock in the original stuff sack neo

[hungryhowie]

I keep my hammock in snakeskins (I just wrap the suspension ropes around it to keep its shape) and my tarp in a small sil nylon stuff sack. I keep the tarp separate because I hang it separate (that way it doesn't sag when I get in my hammock, and I can deploy/break down the hammock under the tarp so that it never gets wet.

-Howie

[ivanputski]

Sorry to be confusing. I am looking for ways to pack the hammock using as little space as possible in the backpack.

[Just Jeff]

I would get a loose stuff sack, or loose snakeskins - either would work.

Packing it loosely in a sack or skins allows the contents to shape to the available space in your pack, which actually ends up with a better fit in your pack when you push everything in there and close it up.

Packing it tightly into compression sacks make firm shapes that may not fit as easily into the pack - cylinders, cubes, etc...that leaves gaps between the items, which is wasted space.

YMMV. I find it easier to pack without using tight compression sacks. I even sewed a larger stuff sack for the PeaPod. My python skins squeeze my underquilt tighter than I would like but I haven't made new ones.

[peter_pan]

I do what Hungry howie says...would add that, I grasp the center of the snake shins fold it into foot long length about 3 times and wrap it with remainder of the line...comes to about a 2 in dia by 12 inch cylinder by itself...However, most time I leave the Nest under quilt attached and in the Snakeskins...then the cyclinder is about 5 or 6 x 10... nice plug in my load plan.

Pan

[TooTall]

Use the original stuff sack for the hammock. I always undo the foot end rope first, stuff the hammock in from foot to head then undo the head end rope to finish stuffing the hammock into the sack. Reverse the process when setting up the hammock the next night. The hammock never touches the ground.

Too Tall Paul

[Patrick]

I agree with Jeff on the large stuff sacks. I don't use snakeskins, but use over-sized stuff sacks on both of my quilts. The other advantage is that it lets them loft up when there's room in your pack so that they're not always smashed down to the max.

[Just Jeff]

Yeah - my pack is always "full" even when I can fit more stuff in there. As my food bulk dwindles, my quilts loft up to fill the extra space...pack fits better that way.

Then when I need to stuff more food in there, I compress the quilts back down as needed.