MountainGoat Gear Mesh Tarp Storage Sleeves

Lightweight, excellent product for tarp storage and deployment.

MountainGoat Gear is a small cottage company consisting of a mother and occasionally daughter team that specialize in lightweight products like hammock and backpack accessories, and knitted hats. They're accessible via a web portal coop along with companies like Luke's Ultralite, ZPacks, Molly Mac, and several other popular cottage manufacturers.  

The address is www.outdoortrailgear.com and the site is definitely worth a look if you're someone like me who spends way too much time obsessing about the weight of my beanie, the stitching pattern on underquilts, or the merits of an eVent rain kilt.

My 11-ft mesh storage sleeves have been an essential part of my kit along with my Hammock Gear Cuben Fiber Tarp with doors. These sleeves are an upgrade from the heavier Hennesy Snake Skins that I used prior to pack either tarp or tarp and hammock.

Since I quickly became an underquilt user, the need for skins for the hammock went away, and the top priority became weight and permeability.  When packed wet I wanted something to allow my tarp to dry or at least shed water on the move, and the mesh sleeves fit the bill perfectly. Below is the closure system where they meet in the middle.

Mountain Goat's photos are the best so I'll use a few of them in the review. Operation is exceptionally simple. The tarp in skins fits in the large mesh pocket on the outside of the pack. I pick my trees, hang the tarp still in the sleeves, loosen the sleeves to deploy the tarp while leaving them attached at the ends. Packing up is simple. Unstake the tarp and move each sleeve towards the middle, it swallows the tarp easily. A MountainGoat photo showing the skins and tarp partially packed:

The MountainGoat Mesh Tarp Storage Sleeve is available in lengths of 10, 11, and 12 feet. Options include pockets on the ends of the skins to store your longest lines that affix to the trees or whatever you're hanging from.

The material is fragile so care must be taken when packing, especially if you have hardware attached to your tie outs, which I do not. The NoSeeum and stitching stretched a little at the larger middle openings when I first used it. I was a little concerned, but everything's held fine for over a year of constant use. Here it is on my setup on a cloudless night, ready to deploy in a second if rain comes:

And here they are opened with the tarp deployed and ready for rain. Pack up will take a few seconds:

Shipping was fairly fast, came in about a week I believe. I also purchased a double sided stuff sack in NoSeeum, it's bishop style that I use for a ditty bag. Very light and I can see into it. I'll be purchasing a ridge line organizer from the company shortly.

Quality of the work is good, and I'm glad there are companies out there like MountainGoat that make useful gear at a great price.

Have had them a couple of years, custom made for using my tarp on a diagonal, made of mesh for some dry time, no issues - love 'em. Made in USA.

They do what they are supposed to at a fair price with great service.

I find it convenient to store my tarp inside the snake skins and they are ready to go for the next trip. Makes for an easy setup. Also, keeps the tarp out of the way on a nice starry night, and ready to drop down and stake in if needed.