UTTERLY waterproof wading jacket

[Thomas]

This will be the last one - a truly waterproof hat out of old waders.

[andrewparkeruk]

I have an H2No wading jacket from Patagucci - pisses water through like a seive!

Bass, in my experience Patagonia has a very good warranty ... goes to justifying the price. Send the jacket back to them http://www.patagonia.com/eu/enGB/patago ... setid=9068

I have had two replacements from them over the past 15 years: a GoreTex Alpine jacket; the other a H2No fishing jacket.

If you have lost faith in Patagonia or H2No, send it back, get a new replacement and put that up for sale to get some money back!

Andrew

[TrevH]

Awesome stuff!!

I too have been let down badly by so called waterproof breathable fabrics. Not pleasant. Usually only happens after extended periods in real bad conditions. Just when you need them most. I now only use Goretex.

There may be other fabrics that stand up to the claims, but I don't gamble the significant amount of money you have to lay out for this stuff to try it out.

Therefore, I also like Simms stuff, although it pissed me off a bit that my last Simms wading jacket didn't have waterproof cargo pockets. I assumed they didn't use the Goretex fabric for those. Seemed like a cynical cost cutting move.

I assume my current Simms (G3) jacket is the same, but I've not noticed yet.

Isn't Patagonia's real top line stuff, Goretex? If so, it would make you wonder why they don't use their own proprietary fabric for the really serious kit.

Cheers
Trev

[Chase Jablonski]

http://www.riverswest.com/fishing-gear.html
Give these a look. I've had a couple of their jackets, most are fleece with a waterproof and windproof barrier. Very durable. The fleece gets kind of heavy when wet but you'll stay toasty inside. Waterproof enough to carry water around.

[Svend]

Hi Bass,
Nope, can't recommend anything really. If you actually use it, it turns into a sieve rather quickly regardless of brand. That's been my experience too. The patagucci river-salt jacket seems promising so far but i don't have much time on it yet.
That said, i'd pick leaky breathable stuff over waterproof sweaty stuff any day.

[andrewparkeruk]

the other a H2No fishing jacket.

PS the 2010 SST replacement I received from Patagonia is much more resilient than the "stretch" model which it replaced. The recent ones I believe are all based on this fabric

[Paul Arden]

Excellent Thomas!

I'm the same as Chase, I have no objections to getting wet as long as I stay warm. That's assuming I'm active. If I'm sitting in a boat then it sucks being wet!

Camo-guy used to wear a neoprene jacket for boat fishing in the cold. Some of the kayaking gear may be the way to go. But as my mother would say, "it's a pare back that canny dry its own shirt!"

Cheers! Paul

[David Anderson]

Is it a sign of mental illness to have 3 fishing rain jackets and 3 civilian ones ?

My thoughts -

For many years I had a Patagucci SST and it was great, but eventually held enough water where it soaked through bit.
The pocket design also took on water until I punched a couple drain holes in the bottom of them.
I liked the short length of the SST and big internal pockets.

I now have a L.L. Bean Gore Tex pro stretch thing that has a lot of pockets and zingers and stuff and a neat sorta zip in rubber apron thingy that stops water (and cold air) from creeping in through the bottom when wading deep.
It's proved very water proof and warm in the cold, though hasn't been subjected to as many rain days in a row as the SST.
It's problem is the weight - fairly full on and heavy to sling over a pack and carry around during an Australian drought.
IF we go to the Tongariro in New Zealand this winter I will wear it all the time - that's it's gig.

So then I got the L.L.Bean Gore-Tex Packlight jacket and it's brilliant and cheap (ish)..
It's done a couple of heavy showers and been watertight even with my camera pack over it.
These come in normal and tall sizes and are perfect (IMHO) for warm weather and very easy to pack around.

Lastly, I just got a new Redington Sonic Pro as for the coming winter.
I haven't worn it fishing yet, but bought it for it's (modern) flat pockets and well thought out cuffs that have a completely covered velcro tab as not to snag line.
The back pocket is also cool in that it has a covered side zipper instead of a top flap so (fingers crossed) it won't take on water with my pack on.
Internal pockets are a bit small for lenses and camera gear, but should be fine for wallet/phone/keys ext.
Pretty impressed with the build quality of the jacket - it's better than my North Face.
As soon as it gets some quality wet time on the river I'll write up a full review.

In my chivy stuff, the North Face jacket is a cool orange colour, but is sized for Chinese people in that it assumes the taller you are the fatter you must be so to get the sleeves right I have to go 2XL and put up with wearing a tent to get long enough sleeves.
It is warm and water proof enough, but because it basically sucks, it's going to become my wear around the mine and who cares what happens to it work jacket this winter.
It has a nice zip in fleece, but the sleeves of it stick out past the jacket cuffs - very strange.

As a side note - if you're tall, have a look at L.L Bean because they do most of their stuff in tall sizes as well as the regular.
(even T shirts)
I'm surprised that a big company like Simms doesn't make jackets in tall sizes - seems a bit lazy.

Happy showers !