Wet weather wear.

[T14EES T14UNK]

Mate I know where your coming from! Even Goretex isn’t the final amswer. I have a jacket which I use for walking etc, cost me £170 and after a few washes has lost its waterproofness (is there such a word?)

 

Apparently it needs re-washing in a special detergent as the goretex gets contaminated with dirt and looses its effectiveness.

 

I do a lot of cycling and there are some excellent, fully breathable and waterproof jackets out there. All it needs is the manufacturer to re-brand a few jackets and expand their market.

 

As soon as I saw and got the stein jacket I thought it was just a rebranded cyclng jacket. And there is one almost identical at my local bike shop for about £120 with a 'name'.

But chatting to a chap in a bike shop in ambleside the other day told me to always wash in cool water with cheap washing soda not Ariel or persil etc. Or, wash in cool water with nik-tech or tech-wash (something like that) and then another cool wash in nik-wax. My bike gear was great afterwards.

Haven't done my stein jacket yet but I'm sure it will help. Gonna stick my chainsaw pants in too.

[tommer9]

As soon as I saw and got the stein jacket I thought it was just a rebranded cyclng jacket. And there is one almost identical at my local bike shop for about £120 with a 'name'.

But chatting to a chap in a bike shop in ambleside the other day told me to always wash in cool water with cheap washing soda not Ariel or persil etc. Or, wash in cool water with nik-tech or tech-wash (something like that) and then another cool wash in nik-wax. My bike gear was great afterwards.

Haven't done my stein jacket yet but I'm sure it will help. Gonna stick my chainsaw pants in too.

 

I am gonna try that.

[John Hancock]

I guess not, but the criteria was to be dry.

 

I have had a couple of them and they really do keep you dry in the most savage of weather.

 

Savage weather? Oh-yeh, i know that - its when you wind the window down (a tiny bit) and the rain spatters in. God I hate that!

[tommer9]

Savage weather? Oh-yeh, i know that - its when you wind the window down (a tiny bit) and the rain spatters in. God I hate that!

 

Ha flippin ha:sneaky2:

 

 

 

 

 

 

:laugh1:we know you get out there really Mr H.

[SJH]

Not washed my Stein jacket yet (pretty manky now) but when I wash it I will be trying soap flakes, the nik wax tech stuff is supposed to be good for reproofing waterproof gear.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I've used these on Gore jackets over the years; the tech wash doesn't bugger the membrane wheras Persil etc will. The other stuff is to restore the DWR coating (Durable Water Repellent) supposedly. The latter is supposed to make the water droplets bead on the surface - as soon as it doesn't bead anymore you can see the fabric saturate - this is called "wetting out". Once this happens the gore membrane is useless; personal heat / moisture can't can't get out. Have had Berghaus, Mountain Equipment, North Face and MacPac coats; the latter two had the best waterproofness. Lowe Alpine used to have "triple point ceramic" which I remember being told was far superior to Goretex. Then there was Sympatex - what happened to that?! Again better than gore but not as hard wearing apparently. Then there was "event" fabric - breathes very well. Not yet tried Arcteryx, RAB or Mountain Hardware. But this is all to pricey for tree work imo. Ex Army Goretex it is atm; £20 for a jacket seems reasonable and I don't worry about messing it up.

[tommer9]

Jon- you are something else mate....where do you learn this wealth of knowledge:thumbup1:

[Stephen Blair]

swazi all the way tommer, i know about rain and wind, i have worn these jackets now for about 4 years, they are awesome. The mole skin covered goretex is really good, i have had mine all this time and it has been through the tree climbing bramble wrestling wars, i now have the 'one tuff mother' version, not covered in moleskin but awesome, they have upgraded to neoprene cuffs, so no horrible prusik/rope slurry on a big descent in the wet. I also have a musto sailing jacket, seemed to good for work, but i wore it one day as i had forgotten my swazi, and it was excellent. But expect to pay £200 plus mate, but dry is dry and you will get a few years out either

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

!! From the days when I wasn't a bat fastard and when mountaineering was my bag. Can you believe this ten ton turkey used to ice climb and spend lots of time in a Terra Nova Super Quasar. The girlie in Field & Trek too! Gone from tent anorak to saw anorak lol! Think I met a gore employee on holiday once too - it was he who mentioned the tumble drying thing. Body fats in sweat block the gore pores hence the correct washing procedure... Another reason to loose weight! Kidding. Some outdoorees swear by that Paramo stuff - not quite technical enough in appearance! Pardon the essay

 

Oh; bought some Marmot trousers a while back; their own membrane system - piddles all over gore.

Edited November 28, 2009 by TimberCutterDartmoor
speeling mistoke

[tommer9]

swazi all the way tommer, i know about rain and wind, i have worn these jackets now for about 4 years, they are awesome. The mole skin covered goretex is really good, i have had mine all this time and it has been through the tree climbing bramble wrestling wars, i now have the 'one tuff mother' version, not covered in moleskin but awesome, they have upgraded to neoprene cuffs, so no horrible prusik/rope slurry on a big descent in the wet. I also have a musto sailing jacket, seemed to good for work, but i wore it one day as i had forgotten my swazi, and it was excellent. But expect to pay £200 plus mate, but dry is dry and you will get a few years out either

 

Now were talking. I know you share the same sort of weather as we get- hurricanes and mega rain 364 days of the year:lol: and at the mo i reckon i am averaging £50-100/year on jackets, so £200 over 4 makes sense to me, and dry is, as you say, dry! It is really important for me as my body thermometer is a bit weird- i am either sweating buckets or very cold, and if i get wet i get very cold pretty fast the moment i stop.