Waterproof clothing test

Having read this thread I am still wondering if its worth paying £700 for Musto MPX or £400 for Musto BR2 ..... I am generally a fair weather sailor that doesnt want to get cold and wet with our inclement 'summer' weather!
 
IMHO, if you're not going to be offshore in the middle of the night, don't bother with MPX. BR2 should be fine.
 
Which Musto?

Time to lash out for the new kit.

Definitely going to be Musto, so anyone who thinks I am mad please restrain yourself. :)

The issue is whether to go BR2 or MPX.

If the weather is really bad I hide below, so it's not really about waterproofness. I would like to know about breathability as I tend to run "hot". Is Goretex really much better?

Many thanks.
 
Being a little short of cash at the time, I bought a Musto Gore-tex jacket because it was last year's colours and half price, and Musto breathable salopettes because the Gore-tex ones weren't changing year on year and were therefore full price! The jacket, after several years and lots of use, is still perfectly waterproof. The salopettes, sady, aren't. It's easy to say now, but I wish I'd forked out the extra for the Gore-tex salopettes.....
 
When I was a fisherman I wore pvc bib front overalls and jackets and they lasted a couple of years of daily wear. Now as a retired person who just messes about in my yacht I shop at the recycling shop. I buy ski clothes! Yesterday I just bought a high tech jacket, made in Japan for $10. I have a bib front trouser set to go with them. The quality is superb but the colour is somewhat flashy.
 
When I was a fisherman I wore pvc bib front overalls and jackets and they lasted a couple of years of daily wear. Now as a retired person who just messes about in my yacht I shop at the recycling shop. I buy ski clothes! Yesterday I just bought a high tech jacket, made in Japan for $10. I have a bib front trouser set to go with them. The quality is superb but the colour is somewhat flashy.

By "flashy" do you mean girly?:)

I read Scillypete's OP, and I am somewhat puzzled........I have a Compass breathable foul weather jacket and bib fronted trousy thingies, and they have maintained their water proofedness just fine. I bought them because they were relatively cheap, and I got offshore quality for coastal money, or so it seemed to me at the time. A friend also has the same gear but his are red, mine are yellow, and he has used his a lot more than me. He says that all he has done with his, is give the seems a spray now and again with a tent proofing liquid.

I have often wondered whether in the greater scheme of things if it's really worth spending oodles of money on "big name" foul weather gear, I think that some of it is hyped up to impress the rich and the gullible. On the other hand, I think it all depends on what kind of sailing one does, don't it? I do know one thing, I would never go back to non breathable.
 
This morning we have had fairly steady fat rain so having been disapppointed by all the others I reached for my trusty plastic yellow suit, purchased 1990, cost IRO £30 iirc, result dry as a bone if a little sweaty. The make of this wonder garment . . . . GUY COTTEN . . .
Not bad for a suit that was bought 22 years ago and has been used for dog walking, sailing, fishing and is now borrowed regularly by my son for all sorts of horrible work.

Am I expecting a little too much from sailing clothing or any clothing that is supposedly breathable/waterproof, I know Guy Cotten is hardly breathable.

Hardly breathable? It's hermetic!

Bought this two years ago, and I can not begin to describe how impressed I am with it. And it IS breathable.
Had a Musto MPX jacket before.
 
Not girly but the colours and colour combinations are not exactly boaty. The set I have on the boat at the moment are a purple and white combination where as the "new one" I just bought is a green and gold. High visability if you like.

No sorry, you're right, purple and white isn't girly at all...........


Just very...very....Gay! As for green and gold? Well all I can say is, don't go to Brighton wearing it, or they will have you for Queen of the Ball!:D:D

Just Chrusty's little joke. Harumph!:D
 
Bought this two years ago, and I can not begin to describe how impressed I am with it. And it IS breathable.
Had a Musto MPX jacket before.

Ta for the link, I think they are horrendous prices though, but I am going to investigate their Fishing and commercial range, might be summat in there that could be useful?
 
..... They also don't need to move about in anything like the same way as a sailor. ....

I thought all modern leisure sailors just sit in the cockpit these days, fairly static, even when sailing: -

all lines led aft, so no need to move out the cockpit.
in mast or lazy jacks and furling head sails, no sail folding required.
electric windlass, no anchor work.
twin wheels, no need to change sides.
plotter at the helm, hanging on while taking a bearing, a thing of the past.
bow thrusters, no more warping, or even high blood pressure.

So it would look like a set of PVC waterproofs (or just a big plastic smock) would do the job just nicely, its not as if there is a lot of hot air being developed ; hang on, is that an oxymoron? ;)
 
I thought all modern leisure sailors just sit in the cockpit these days, fairly static, even when sailing: -

all lines led aft, so no need to move out the cockpit.
in mast or lazy jacks and furling head sails, no sail folding required.
electric windlass, no anchor work.
twin wheels, no need to change sides.
plotter at the helm, hanging on while taking a bearing, a thing of the past.
bow thrusters, no more warping, or even high blood pressure.

So it would look like a set of PVC waterproofs (or just a big plastic smock) would do the job just nicely, its not as if there is a lot of hot air being developed ; hang on, is that an oxymoron? ;)

Apart from your first line, just who is it you think has all this stuff? I only ask, because as in a lot of posts on here, people seem to make them all inclusive. I know your post was light hearted, but hell, it's Sunday, and I'm bored already!..........I don't know why, but I am always bored on Sundays, I think it must be conditioning?
 
Apart from your first line, just who is it you think has all this stuff? I only ask, because as in a lot of posts on here, people seem to make them all inclusive. I know your post was light hearted, but hell, it's Sunday, and I'm bored already!..........I don't know why, but I am always bored on Sundays, I think it must be conditioning?

Everyone sir, everyone. Those who don't, don't ........ count! I am a Henri Lloyd man myself: Musto, so plebeian.
 
Everyone sir, everyone. Those who don't, don't ........ count! I am a Henri Lloyd man myself: Musto, so plebeian.

Hmmmmmm, you and parsipants would get on like a house on fire! Not members of the same club by any chance?

You would recognise him straight away, Top hat and monocle, cravat, waistcoat, and tailcoat, pyjama trousers, an old pair of mud flaps he uses as spats, and carpet slippers. Apart from that, he is somewhat challenged in the handsome department, Nanny dropped him on his head when he was about six months old, he has never looked quite right since!:)
 
I have had lots of different suits over the years and the only one that really kept the wet out was one I borrowed from the slop chest on Lord Nelson. Stiff shiny yellow PVC, no lining, hand warmers or fleecy collars in fact the sort of thing you'd expect fishermen to wear in the 1960s. Guy Cotton again.
 
So given that a number of you have reported that your breathable oilies are letting in water do you know how or where they are letting in water? Some people have spoken about quality of construction but I wonder if the water is just simply passing through the material.

Obviously it is easy to make waterproofs out of PVC - as long as you seal the seams properly. I've had several sets of breathable oilies and only the non-membrane Musto salopettes left me with a damp arse. I contacted Musto and they offered to investigate if I sent them the salopettes. I decided to do a test myself and basically formed a bowl with the material in the seat of the trousers and filled it with water. None got through. However I was definitely getting damp sitting on the rail (no hunkering down in the cockpit when racing), and it was through the arse, not water coming over the top.

I've also had Berghaus Gore-tex stuff leak, but I think that was through the seams. My Musto Goretex oilies have been fine and I have one Inshore Race Jacket that has had a huge amount of use both in- and off-shore. The big brands do seem to put a lot more thought into the details of design, so they don't always get it right.
 
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