Variation on Daryl’s theme (in c minor), Foam vests meets Fishnet concept.

Some anti skid foam carpet underlay caught my eye at Lowes the other day. Appears to be foam with triangle shaped holes in it that has some type of reinforcing fiber imbedded in it. Very flexible so it would drape well as a garment.

Felt a little heavy and the smallest piece was rather large so I didn't buy any for experimenting. Perhaps there is a lighter version out there somewhere?

Such an extruder would make clothing at a huge rate

It would saturate the BPL niche market in a few minutes

You'de have to mass sell them at Target, Wallmart, and…

Another idea would be to use bubble wrap – plastic film on both sides with air bubbles in between. I have a piece that's about 1 square yard – 2.5 ounces – 1/2 inch "loft". 2.5 oz Apex has a loft almost 1 inch. Add 0.7 oz/yd2 for fabric on both sides = 4 oz/yd2 – bubblewrap is a little heavier.

But, if I cut out half or 3/4 of the bubbles so it weighed 1/2 or 1/4, then that could be pretty effective.

Thank you everyone for the further ideas and suggestions. I'm taking a break from BPL as of now. Not sure how long it will be.

So to push the thread on, I felt a need for a field test

Tied some softer foam (don't know the exact material, Glavaflex pipe insulation) with elastic cord to fishnet underwear top:

and went for a two hour run. +7C / 45 F, sunny and windy. Pretty nice conditions.
Wore the fishnets inside out so that the foam strips were against skin and fishnet stretched over them. This created a nice uniform air gap. Light windshirt and pants on top. It was a bit too warm but still acceptable with zips closed and ventilated really well of course with zips open. Took two really short swims on the way. Skin dried in just a minute or two and I felt more swims would have been ok. Promising really, but the fishnet retained too much water so need to get rid of that layer. Or maybe just use a real fishnet instead of Brynje … Oooooh

This foam was pretty ok against the skin but way too weak structurally to be used alone. Maybe need to try laminating it with some fabric. Or just duct tape on the side away from skin.

Way to go Alpo.

Good Testing.

Welcome to the bleeding edge of technology.

I've found small pieces of foam at michaels but it is stiff. What is this faom and where can I get it? I want to play with it too.

Hi Mike,

I don't know what kind of foam Alpo used, but i used Evazote foam. I bought mine from Prolite gear, but various places sell it though it's not common to find at regular department stores as far as i know.

I saw that on prolite, but I really hate to buy from someone who has purchased it to mark up for a profit. I understand that is their business, but if I'm cutting it up to experiment with I want it as cheap as possible.

I remember seeing a site that sold more wholesale, but i don't' remember the name. If you do a google search on evazote foam (don't put in pad), you will likely find the same place, because that's what i did.

Justin,

As Jerry A. astutely pointed out, for every 1 response you get on these threads there are many more who still read, process, and critique your design. There might even have been people who saw it and are now making it better in their own basements (more likely than unlikely). Don't let the number of responses get you down, you've got some great ideas, you seem to thoroughly enjoy MYOG, you're doing good. You can still make things and sell them on a small scale without mounting an entire business (as long as you aren't trying to make money at it). I went through a phase where I made cycling caps for friends and I thought it was a lot of fun and my friends appreciated it.
I'm a great example of what Jerry is talking about. I've lurked on this site for well over a year now and if it weren't for the MYOG section and the innovative minds like Daryl and yourself I probably wouldn't have joined. Actually, the MYOG section is BPL's saving grace IMO.
Regarding the design itself, I too was imagining the little foam fruit jackets they have in grocery stores. I like the idea of using the net component of the design without attaching fabric to it. I like the idea because I think, working from the warm while wet perspective, drying wet layers would be accelerated by the surface to air exposure, but you're still staying warm in the process. I honestly think your biggest challenge will be convincing people of the 'warm while wet' perspective; there's a reason why we see recurring rain jacket/poncho etc. threads, people still think the holy grail is out there. Could you imagine a big brand name trying to convince people of warm while wet? What would they do with all their rain gear and all the time and investment they've put into it.
Air, if it can be contained to a significant degree is an good insulator by itself as was noted in the window pain reference by David T.
What about weaving or sort of crocheting strips/foam yarn? How about just a loose weave wool garmet? I guess that's the old historical model people have been referring to. I've got a blanket my mom knitted me draped over my shoulders as I write this. Depending on your pattern I think you could make something pretty strong. I'm thinking of a very loose weave to create lots of air space.

sorry, I went back and looked at your original post and realized what I wrote about "warm while wet" is a bit off base. I think I read a posts of Daryl's at one point where he was testing his prototype in the rain. Would this be worn underneath other waterproof gear or are you going for the 'warm while wet' strategy? I still think the idea would work well to dry stuff out faster, even it was underneath a poncho or whatever I suspect it would still be fairly fast. Personally I try and stay dry as best I can, and if I do get wet I want to dry out as fast as possible. I love to swim but I hate to being wet while hiking.

Hi William,

"What about weaving or sort of crocheting strips/foam yarn? How about just a loose weave wool garmet? I guess that's the old historical model people have been referring to. I've got a blanket my mom knitted me draped over my shoulders as I write this. Depending on your pattern I think you could make something pretty strong. I'm thinking of a very loose weave to create lots of air space."

I have no idea about your first question. Foams don't have much tensile strength in general, but if you could find tubular strips of evazote foam it might work being more flexible, elastic and tough compared to a lot of other foams.

Loose weave wool garment is an ok model, but wool is relatively heavy, takes awhile to dry, and gets rather weak when wet.

Some companies, like the Scandinavian Byrjne one i mentioned much earlier here, make fishnet wool garments. I don't have any experience with the wool version, just the polypropylene one, but some people seem to like them a lot, and it's very similar to your proposed idea.

What would be really awesome is a polygiene treated version of a Byrjne polypropylene fishnet shirt, if it was reasonably priced. Polyproplyne is very light, fairly strong and tough in woven forms, and absorbs very little moisture. Problem is it can stink to high heaven, and that line of clothing is generally fairly expensive. I got mine on clearance.

"Would this be worn underneath other waterproof gear or are you going for the 'warm while wet' strategy? I still think the idea would work well to dry stuff out faster, even it was underneath a poncho or whatever I suspect it would still be fairly fast. Personally I try and stay dry as best I can, and if I do get wet I want to dry out as fast as possible. I love to swim but I hate to being wet while hiking."

So far, i've only worn mine under a windjacket. Such a ventilated foam would probably be one of the only true "warm when wet" type materials, because the foam absorbs no moisture, and it doesn't have all the fiber interstices for water to get trapped like woven synthetics. Then obviously you have all the air pockets which are constantly having moisture directly evaporated from the skin.

You could wear it under rain gear i suppose, but unless it was fairly cold, might run the risk of over heating. Mine was a bit warmer than i thought it would be, had to keep open my windjacket much of the time during somewhat moderately cool temps.

Thanks for the interest, and kind words earlier. I suggest experimenting with different things and figuring out what's best for you, because one thing i've learned from being on here, a lot of us have different preferences, thoughts, experiences, etc. with gear and what works best for us.

If one of you guys dies in a glacier and they find you thousands of years later like the Iceman, what crazy conclusions do you think they are going to come to when they find your desiccated corpse wrapped in those contraptions? :)

"We found their high priest wrapped in foam pipe wrap….."

No doubt they would interpret it sexually in some way. "Obviously, judging by the tubular foam, undulating across one another, this was a sexually oriented Patriarchal-masculine belief cult, with a heavy emphasis on the power and potency of the phallus. I mean, just look at all those phallus symbols, how could it be anything other?"