Best Waterproofs - HL, Musto, Gill, ANO ?

[Plevier]

I think Helly Hansen are very good.

 

[chrishelen]

Not necessarily useful, but I am still using the first set of plastic oilskins put on trial by the Royal Navy in 1947 when doing a simulated Russian convoy. Gave them a good successful trial and then "forgot" to hand them in.
Black tousers, and smock. The smock had a hood with drawstring round face and a good peak. There was also a drawstring round neck.
In 1950, when on solo watch aboard a 50 sq metre windfall (no guardrails and no life-jackets) fell overboard during the night just south of the Nab Tower, the oilskins, reinforced by a towel and tight drawstring at the neck kept me afloat and upright. Although unconscious, I was picked up off Southsea beach by the Royal Engineers Rowing Club coxed four out for an early row,
Spent 6 weeks in Haslar hospital with pneumonia and pleurisy (we did not know about hypothermia in those days) but am immensely grateful to the anonymous designers and makers. I still use the oilskins, they are a bit heavy and inflexible by modern standards, but they are still good and dry. Perhaps they should go to a yachting museum (is there one?) as I am now too old and blind to sail any more excpet in boats belonging to kind and tolerant old mates.

What a great story.

I find that thoses cheapo yellow plastic "oilskins" are great for keeping the weather out.


also the aldi sailing gear i bought about 6 years ago is good for what i want,as a matter of fact they are as good as the XM oilies i wear for work imo.

 

[KellysEye]

We have Musto XP Ocean wet weather gear. I't not cheap but high quality and has been used on and off for ten years without problems. One thing about Goretex is never fold it or eventually it will loose it's waterproofing.

 

[rotrax]

I use a mixture of Gill Key West jacket and HH salopettes. Both are good for the price. If I needed to be sure of staying dry I would wear a pair of green rubberised salopettes that I bought in a shrimp fishermans co-operative store in Cedar Key, Florida, topped with an ex RN submariners jacket bought in a surplus store for £20.00. Total cost about thirty quid. Non breathable,but really dry. Trouble is, they do not offer much in the way of sartorial elegance!

 

[Keen_Ed]

You never see professional sea-goers (fishermen, etc) in anything else. Unless you're doing a lot of physical stuff - which I don't do when sailing, personally - why go for breathable? Breathable just means "not waterproof".

Fishermen also spend a lot of time standing up, and have better drying facilities than most yachts.

I find the longest I can do in non-breathable oily bottoms is a couple of hours, tops. Then I start to get a sweaty, and it's not long before sweaty becomes itchy and sweaty. Yuk. Even worse if you're sitting down.

I never pay full price for oilies, though. I've had good resuls from www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk
My last pair of salopettes (HH) came from John Lewis online, strange enough. Half price.

 

[Sailfree]

How many time have you reproofed them?

I try to do my sailing, motorcycling and other outdoor kit at least every other year.

Goretex and similar simply don't work when covered in salt & road crud.

I don't have a tumble-dryer, so do the non-detergent wash, then reproof thing - it seems to work - for a while. I've noticed that my newest Craghopper trousers were quite water-repellant, so might treat those too - similar with fleeces.

I was in Hein Garrick, Motorcycle Gortex clothing and they insist for dispatch riders you wash them in a cool wash only when dirty or leak!! They supply two bottles for wash, one is a gortex friendly soap liquid the other an agent you spread on while still wet from washing machine.

 

[Sans Bateau]

So there you go Nick, an endorsement for every make on the market. Are you any nearer knowing what to get?

 

[BlueSkyNick]

So there you go Nick, an endorsement for every make on the market. Are you any nearer knowing what to get?

No, but I have learned a lot - ie dont fold them, reproofing is not as difficult as I thought, and binch is lucky to be alive (his story alone should go in YM!)

I will shop around at SIBS to see who does the best deal in 'big boy' sizes - not a problem you will ever have to manage.

 

[Highndry]

They supply two bottles for wash, one is a gortex friendly soap liquid the other an agent you spread on while still wet from washing machine.

The Goretex friendly liquid will have been a non-bio.