VBL and Brits "walkers"

gee, I Thunk that us guys were out enjoying the cold and rainy hikes rather than answering miserable threads

go back and explain or rewrite the question for them.

Eric,

It’s not really cold enough for VBL in the UK for the most part.

Dave

I dunno.  When I first moved to Minnesota from California, I tried the old school VBL trick of lining boots with bread bags… found that my feet would not only sweat like mofos but were also way colder.  I found this also true with non-breathable rain gear.  Granted, I haven’t tried an actual VBL product designed for active outdoor activities, but I also have not had any issue with sweat wetting out clothing and/or bags either.

Sam,

old school VBL trick of lining boots with bread bags

Because my own experience with this is just the opposite I’m wondering if you had the bags outside the socks or inside?

Jim,

I had the bread bags outside of the socks.

another trick is to use garbage bag, cut holes for neck and arms.  Inside or outside shirt.

I haven’t found it useful, maybe if it was colder like 0 F or something

Sam,

OK, that explains excessive sweating and cold feet.  Your perspiration is trapped in the socks and wet socks are poor insulators.

Put the VBL next to your skin and you’ll sweat a little but the socks stay dry.  If conditions are so wet that your footwear will get soaked then you can use another waterproof barrier outside of the socks or use waterproof “not so breathable” footwear..

The same approach works great for handwear.  VBL gloves inside and warm handwear over them plus shell mitts on the outside (water proof in wet conditions).  I have Warmlite VBL gloves but now prefer 7mil nitrile gloves (tough and inexpensive at Harbor Freight)

You may not like the clammy feeling that comes with VBL directly on the skin. I don’t mind that but many do and they use very thin liner gloves/socks inside the VBL.

The sweating does not get out of hand unless your hand/foot insulation is excessive for the temperature.  You’ll likely find that you need somewhat less insulation than you without the VBL.

Seeing that January weather has arrived about 6 weeks early you could get out and try it right away!

If you msg me a mailing addr I’ll send you a pair of the gloves to try

Jim,

Hmmm, 7 mil nitride gloves, size XL, would go over thin liner gloves and do very well.

Think I’ll try it since we have a Harbor Freight store near where my favorite gas station.

And BTW, the VBL socks I’ve always suggested are US Divers brand 3 mm thick closed cell neoprene over thin poly liner socks. Warmth plus the VBL effect. AND, unlike bead bags, they stay in place.

At least for me… the UK generally doesn’t stay cold enough to use vapor barriers.  They aren’t useful until it’s below 0C/32F… and I didn’t find them really useful until it was consistently below 10F.  Above that I tend to overheat –> sweat.  +1 using nitride gloves to try things out.  Likely many I don’t like slick surfaces directly against my skin.  I recommend https://www.rbhdesigns.com which has a very thin, fuzzy lining which doesn’t absorb much but is comfortable against the skin.