Yellow Fishermans/Trawlermans Oilies/Oilskins/Waterproofs

CaptainBob

CaptainBob

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Joined
7 Nov 2007
Messages
1,477
Location
North Yorkshire
www.yacht-forum.co.uk
Hi,

I'm completely disheartened with breathable fabrics including gore-tex etc. Thinking about harder wearing alternatives...

Where can you buy the 100% waterproof jackets and salopettes as worn by professional trawler fishermen?

What make are they?

Cheers,
 
Google Gael Force they do all the professional fisherman stuff. I bought a sou'wester from them /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif you could also fit your boat out with a full set of nets for pair trawling as well from their web page... Order one of there catalogue it got loads of useful stuff in that's not on the web.
 
Captain Bob, I went back to the old fashoned oilies some years ago after flirting with expensive 'breathables'. I have not regretted it. No problems with lack of 'breathability'. A Trax style mid-layer bodysuit with and the Guy Cotton ( or Peter Storm ) outer layer is a great combination. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Cheers chaps
icon_biggrin.gif
 
I lad I know (ex fisherman) uses these regularly. Lets just say, you don't want to stand downwind of him when he takes them off (and for a good hour more!).
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

I'm completely disheartened with breathable fabrics including gore-tex etc. Thinking about harder wearing alternatives...

Where can you buy the 100% waterproof jackets and salopettes as worn by professional trawler fishermen?

What make are they?

Cheers,

[/ QUOTE ]

Bob, I suffered wearing those things for years (economy), I wouldn,t dream of going back to the sweaty, cold, stiff, generally horrible bl##dy things again, My HENRY LLOYD OCEAN gear 18yrs, a great many k miles and going well.
The other are ok for fishermen they can get out of them between hauls, and in fairness, I wouldn,t want my £200 (20yrs ago) jacket on working on an MFV. Bill.
 
Why do you feel that way?Not being confrontational,but I don't understand.I never had a problem with mi Gill breathables and the comfort levels that I get ,together with my Dubarry boots are beyhond anything I had experienced before.I was wearing a nonbreathable jacket ashore the other day and after a while,when I took it off,it was all wet inside from perspiration.Why would one want to live with that?
 
Reason is that I've been annually purchasing gore-tex jackets for many years now. Each time thinking things would have improved, or I was unlucky... but they all simply leak after a relatively short time.
 
Are they leaking through worn bits, seams? Goretex should never leak unless the membrane is punctured. They can however become waterlogged and so feel wet and cold inside, if surface beading is not maintained. With some, you simply wash and then tumble dry, and the water will 'bead off' like new again.
 
"annually purchasing"

What the hell are you doing with them?

I have had four sets (2 still going) but I give them hell and I won't change back to the old stuff.
 
I've been mountaineering with them. Maybe that's the difference.

I was very aware of the wash/tumble dry technique. Used it on occasion. I was also as careful with the garments as I could possibly be, and I certainly didn't "puncture" the membrane. I'd come to the conclusion that over time the microscopic hole size increases just a bit - perhaps from stretching.

I bought a gore-tex bivi-bag at one point. That was waterproof for about a week before it started to leak. I got it replaced by the manufacturer twice before giving up. It still leaked, but was better than a plastic bag.

I've also heard the same stories from other outdoorsy people. Walkers, climbers and sailors. So it's interesting to hear that some of you have had garments last so well. I guess the ones amongst you with good success rates have got the super expensive ocean type suits where the trousers and jacket combo is circa £500+?

I'm simply not willing to spend that kind of money on something I feel I know will leak after a bit of use.
 
Musto HPX and MPX. Have both, both superb and last for years. I'm sure other quality makes are just as good. I would not consider for one second going back to non-breathable waterproofs on a small yacht. Pure purgatory. Spend c£600 and you will stay dry for many thousands of miles. Just to put into perspective the value I place on my breathables, they are equivalent to 25% of the purchase cost of my boat.
Nicki
 
We don't go mountaineering in them but for normal use, in our case up to 2,000mls per year in a 41 footer we went 'back' to Guy Cotten PVC stuff in white. All our (slab main + roller genny) reefing is done from the cockpit so we are not doing foredeck dancing in them and have no more problems with sweating than we did with the Southern Ocean poser gear. Big advantage is that if we get them salty wet they are simply hosed down, given a shake and they are dry in maybe 10 minutes. Our previous stuff was a) so heavy we mostly went for a lighter option most days, especially for summer rain use b) had so many furry bits in pockets and collars they took ages to dry and anyway soaked up salt, net result they mildewed rapidly. c) cost a fortune to replace.

We've had our PVC gear for 6 years now and it is still as good as new and 100% waterproof.

If I was wanting mountain climbing stuff I wouldn't buy PVC, but on a cruising yacht I would.
 
Hi Robin. Thanks for that. Agreed re mountaineering - the only serious choice at the time seemed to be gore-tex expensivo stuff, but I'm not so into that these days so this is solely for boat use.

Back to Nicki's point about the 25% of boat purchase price... so that means you're wearing a £600 ocean capable suit, while sailing a boat worth about £2400? Seriously?
 
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