waterproofing for fabrics

Bob … When u come up to won-goh-wah …

And buy some ahh-tech-licks … Which is bely bely guud as its numbah won …

Ull un-dah-stan

Partner with dead birds this past new years sale … Yes they do make knee pads ;)

> At a certain time, they included a sample of Grangers in a pocket of every of their
> GTX-jackets. Last week, I suddenly saw on their website that they now worked together
> with Revivex.
I imagine it all depends on who gave them the best deal.

A lot of the differences are probably due to limited marketing. One brand gets pushed in the UK; a different brand in the USA.

Comfort is a silicone. In my experience, they work well at the start but the polymer is soft and rubs off easily. The fuorocarbons are more tenacious.

Cheers

The mind boggles.

–B.G.–

And then we come in a discussion about which FC's: C8, C6, …

"A lot of the differences are probably due to limited marketing. One brand gets pushed in the UK; a different brand in the USA."

Roger, the big differences are probably between the quality of rain in the UK versus USA. We don't have good sourcing information.

–B.G.–

> the big differences are probably between the quality of rain in the UK versus USA.

The quality of the rain is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle wet from heaven
Upon the guy beneath. It is twice cursed:
cursed by him that hides and him that wets.
'Tis mightiest in the mountains. It becomes
The goretex'd fool better than his crown.

Sorry…

Cheers

I've been working with this recently.

For rain shell garments, I used the spray-on ReviveX stuff and tumbled them in the clothes driver. I haven't had them out in a rain storm yet, but I can tell that the fabric surfaces are very slippery for future rain drops.

I have a non-garment, a large camera daypack. Its outer surface is a cordura nylon. After its first trip in the rain, I noticed that the interior was slightly damp, so I figured that the cordura needed some waterproofing added. I happened to have some silicone-based waterproofing spray, so I used that. Now the surface feels like it may be more waterproof, but I can also feel a bit of slimey silicone when I touch the surface. Plus, it stinks.

Is there a better way?

–B.G.–

I know, old thread, but still very relevant topic and it’s been a while since I’ve treated a rain shell. What works best these days? (LOL please don’t say a new jacket).

The closest I’ve found available now to the chart above is Atsko Permanent Water Guard. There are detailed instructions in the link, including a tip I never thought of to hang the jacket upside down after treatment to concentrate waterproofing at the top of the jacket where it’s needed most.

I use Atsko Sportwash and plan to do a cycle to rinse the washing machine, then wash the jacket with Atsko, then thoroughly dry, then treat, then place in the dryer on medium for 50 min to bind the DWR to the garment. Unless you have a better suggestion.

And Bob Gross, if you see this, I hope you’re going strong out there, enjoying the trail and making great wildlife photos. I’ve missed you and wish BPL would ask you back : )

Looked into this. The outerwear industry wants to move away from fluorocarbons, but hasn’t yet found anything that works as well or lasts as long (other solutions are silicone and paraffin-wax based).

Current DWR applications I’ve found:

1) Atsko Permanent Waterguard – make sure you get the synthetic fabric version (which is also sold by the gallon with $7 flat shipping), not the version made for natural fibers which they are phasing out.

2) Arc’teryx Nu Care Products – recommended by Arc’teryx – fluorocarbon

3) ReviveX® DWR – recommended by Arc’teryx – fluorocarbon

(Note Nu Care and ReviveX DWR are both formulations of McNett DWR)

4) Fibertec Textile guard Pro X – recommended by Arc’teryx – don’t yet know what it’s based on

5) Granger’s – recommended by Patagonia – don’t yet know what it’s based on

Good washing and application instructions here, which match what I’ve always done – rinse washing machine, wash garment in Sportwash or similar, let dry, apply DWR, hang upside down to dry, warm dryer up, throw in dryer to bind the DWR: https://arcteryx.com/us/en/help/product-care?intcmp=product-care

For some, there may be an alternative to frequent washing and retreatment of WPB rain shells.  Really don’t need to wash my WPB tops, but recall when a guy in Hawaii bought a Patagonia Specter pullover, and returned it with sweat stains on the inside, not the outside of the shell.  Since it seems well established that body oils will detract from WP, it had to be washed, and used Atsko to do it.  It came out well, with the stains gone, and carry it now as a back up shell for day hiking.  The few times I’ve been caught by rainstorms when day hiking, it worked fine – so have not bothered with retreating the exterior of the shell for DWR.  Have noticed that the DWR on the Patagonia shells has lasted much longer than on cheaper shells used in the past.

From the above and other experiences, have learned that the best ways to maintain WPB garments like the Specters and M-10s from Patagonia, are:

>Use WPB shells only in colder weather.  In warmer weather, rain is not an issue, and a light wind shirt that is very breathable and very water repellent is for me more comfortable.

>Take the jacket off as soon as the heavy rain subsides.  This can mean putting the jacket on and off numerous times during the day, which doesn’t bother me.

>Also I don’t over exert while wearing the WPB shells.  Would rather be dry than hike fast.

>Wear at least a polyester or equally absorbent T or Polo under the shell.

Never used to follow any of the above, and with lower cost WPBs, like the Precip or others even cheaper from Campmor in those days, had all the complaints that I read about on BPL.  It does help that in higher elevations, both in the Northeastern US and the Rockies, the weather is colder, especially during rainstorms, even in the summer months.

For those who perspire freely even with just a walk to the barbershop, there are many great threads on BPL with suggestions, right up to threads recently posted.