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Foul weather gear misery


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Banned according to the care label. I have destroyed another jacket by not studying the care label (until afterwards). That time a washed in 40 C (label said 30 C) and tumble dried (label said not). I don't which part of this killed the waterproofing.

Right now I am subjecting this jacket to to a mild (35 C) heat treatment.

Then I hope for some real rain to test it.

/Martin

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A few years ago I did a lot of racing on Fully Charged out of Tauranga. We did a lot of coastal sailing wet weather gear was watertight for about a year so bought a few sets.We ended up going to the Kaiwaka gear hard wearing not as comfortable but water tight for quarter of the price and you can spend the change on merino to keep warm 

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13 hours ago, Fogg said:

What do the Swedish fishermen use up there?

I am not up-to-date with what they use today but when building my boat my building buddy was involved in a research project looking into the work environment for fishermen. His part was about sea-kindliness and how ship movement wore down the bodies of fishermen. Another group was looking into foul weather gear. They did look into new, high-tech materials but soon dismissed them. The solution (back then) that worked best was the PVC-coated stuff with good design taking care of ventilation.

I did my military service in the Swedish navy a couple of years prior to that and the navy foul weather gear was also of the PVC-coated variety. Very well designed when it came to the protection although I don't remember any wrist seals so maybe not ideal for sail racing. Neither do I remember any provisions for ventilation but then it was more important to stay warm and dry while on look out duty while we were bouncing from wave top to wave top in a winter storm. Cold war tech was not always super sophisticated but powerful engines were definitely in fashion...

/Martin

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No, I am not that old. Those MTBs were retired well before my time.

One of these:

Also retired. The remaining ones are used for taking paying guests on joy rides in protected waters in summer. There are tons of amateur videos on youtube.

/Martin

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On 19/09/2021 at 9:37 PM, Black Panther said:

I never did find out how long my old line 7 gear might have lasted.  It froze one particularly cold night in the PNW and  snapped.

Ha, mine shrank in a fire in my flat in Antibes.  Ended up about large envelope size - coat and leggings  8>(

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2 hours ago, Fogg said:

What do the big-budget sponsored offshore racing guys use for the S Ocean? Surely they’ve got it sorted by now at that end of the scale (money no object)?

Usually Musto, sometimes Helly Hansen, but can depend on who is a sponsor

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7 hours ago, Fogg said:

And are they happy with it i.e. does this kit work? Maybe you have to pay top $ but I struggle to believe that literally nothing works at all at being both dry & breathable!

Have heard from a shore crew from a Volvo race that they binned their gear at the end of each leg  . Won’t say what brand but a full kit of same brand will set you back nearly 3k .  So that means it’s good for a month of continuous use , which I guess equates to a season or two of amateur use .

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20 minutes ago, 44forty said:

Have heard from a shore crew from a Volvo race that they binned their gear at the end of each leg  . Won’t say what brand but a full kit of same brand will set you back nearly 3k .  So that means it’s good for a month of continuous use , which I guess equates to a season or two of amateur use .

That’s awful. Can’t believe this is the first I’ve realised this.

So are we all saying that the marine wet weather gear market is effectively a scam?

What’s the story with other sports that have similarly high demands for warmth & dryness eg serious mountaineering?

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38 minutes ago, Fogg said:

That’s awful. Can’t believe this is the first I’ve realised this.

So are we all saying that the marine wet weather gear market is effectively a scam?

What’s the story with other sports that have similarly high demands for warmth & dryness eg serious mountaineering?

High end wetsuits are the same . Every season there’s a more flexible neoprene with unobtainium lining etc but they crap out pretty quick . Waterproof the first winter , leaking the second winter and buggered on the 3rd 

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Have a set of Musto which has done a Volvo - hand me up from my son. Good as gold apart the neoprene collar and ends of sleeves. And I've thrashed it since then - about 6 years more. Good gear. Simple though - more a smock with a front pocket and no bullshit stuff.

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