Wading jacket

[queenfish]

No mate I haven't been to the seaway over a month.
Doing mostly fresh water off late.

[Michal Duzynski]

cool

[Paul Arden]

I’ve pretty much given up on raincoats in the tropics. Breathable doesn’t seem to work and if it’s heavy rain I’ll put up an umbrella. I noticed the Orang Asli don’t wear them either. But the most important consideration for me when I did wear them - NZ say - was the camo shades. My jackets always came from hunting superstores in the US.

Cheers, Paul

[Thomas]

Another problem with breathable jackets is that they tend to leak in heavy rain when wearing a backpack (which I often do when fishing). Water tends to seep through where the shoulder straps compresses the fabric. A friend of mine tells me that jackets made out of the most sturdy kind of Gore-tex (military grade) doesn´t have this problem as long as the fabric is clean and well impregnated. Is this true? I have never owned such a jacket but my friend also does not fish in the kinds of conditions I sometimes do.

/Thomas

[sms]

Clean and unbroken Gore-tex has waterproofness of 28000mm of water. That is 0,28MPa pressure.
If you are wearing 50kg backbag and the straps contact your shoulders 50x50mm areas each (just a bit more than a matchbox), then the pressure is 0,1MPa. The straps usually have more contact area and the backbag lighter, so there should be plenty of margin. So, either the membrane has taken a hit or is not clean.

It is true that where you have the straps you get wet. There is no breathability there. All perspiration stays there.

Waterproof breathable should be considered breathable only when not doing much. The breathability is very low in real terms. Just walk a bit and it is not even close to needed and you get wet from your own perspiration. They are waterproof thou (when undamaged and relatively clean).

Dirt does lower the waterproofness. ePTFE is hydrophobic, but dirt on the surface can make the water to use that dirt a passage by absorbing into the dirt and not via droplets to which the ePTFE resist very well.

But in reality it seems to take quite much as waders keep the water out even when sitting on rocks (and some people that have neoprene allergy are using waders with Gore-tex in the foot part also and they keep the water out, which is quite similar to case where you are carrying a backbag.

For boat use I bought Grundens bibs. They keep me drier and warmer than Gore pants. That is because they kind of stay away from me -> more air volume between me and the pants/bibs. Also there is more space for the air to change -> better ventilation, less condense water -> drier. Dry means warm. Also since the outside fabric does not moisten, it does not need to be evaporated so there is much less cooling effect there. Also, if they touch fish, no slime residue is left unlike fabric.

With my simms the way I get wet is in the arms. The cuffs do not keep the water out when I have my hands pointing up (casting) or grabbing/releasing a fish and thus arm partially under water. I have not met a wading jacket that would have cuffs that keep the water completely out.

[Paul Arden]

I thought it would be a smart idea to integrate a kayaking jacket with sealable arms with a pair of chest waders. Maybe this is because I wade deep or cross rivers where this is necessary. That would be the best combination. There are diving suits of gore-tex so such a thing is possible.

Anyway quite frankly I don’t mind getting wet. Mostly my body is waterproof; it’s just my mouth and my nose that lets in water. And if it gets really bad I can put up an umbrella or breathe through a snorkel.

Cheers, Paul

[Thomas]

Thanks for the info Sakari. And yes - watertight cuffs is the "holy grail" in wading jackets!

/Thomas

[Lasse Karlsson]

A few jackets have had watertight cuffs though, they are just not very comfortable in use for longer periods of time...

And for Paul, a dry suit already exists, met a guy some 25 years ago on the swedish coast, that came down and swam out to his favorite boulder to fish from.... This was in february :-D

Cheers
Lasse

[Thomas]

A few jackets have had watertight cuffs though, they are just not very comfortable in use for longer periods of time...

And for Paul, a dry suit already exists, met a guy some 25 years ago on the swedish coast, that came down and swam out to his favorite boulder to fish from.... This was in february :-D

Cheers
Lasse

Ha ha ha! Great story!

And I was thinking about cuffs that can be opened and closed that are watertight when closed. Should have expressed myself more clearly.

[Lasse Karlsson]

A few jackets have had watertight cuffs though, they are just not very comfortable in use for longer periods of time...

And for Paul, a dry suit already exists, met a guy some 25 years ago on the swedish coast, that came down and swam out to his favorite boulder to fish from.... This was in february :-D

Cheers
Lasse

Ha ha ha! Great story!

And I was thinking about cuffs that can be opened and closed that are watertight when closed. Should have expressed myself more clearly.

I understood that that was what you meant. BARE had one at a point (it's hanging in my closet) when closed tight, I can stick my hand underwater and no water moves up. But it's a neoprene manchet, and it has to be closed tight! That is both not breathable and very uncomfortable after longer use!
And I seem to remeber a simms version that was basicly a kayakers jacket, meant for fishing when the going gets really tough. Didn't sell many either and they disappered of the shelfs.

Cheers
Lasse