Gear question, why am I getting wet

dnme

We walked about 15km today in that rain. It was relentless. I'm fairly new to serious walking and wondered if you might advise me as to gear.

I have a fairly decent Burghaus coat and hood that I can tighten in around my face. The coat goes down over my waist. Then I wear water proof leggings over my jeans. Finally I have a very good pair of Ecco hiking boots.

So after 4 hours in the rain today, my legs (as in the jeans under the leggings) were soaked. How or why is this happening ? Remember my coat covers the waist so it is not dripping into the tops of the leggings at all.

Second question. What layers and and what type of thing should I wear under my coat? Currently I use t-shirts, shirts and a fleece. The cotton stuff stores sweat so I end up fairly wet anyway. What do you wear ? underneath ? Can you point me to any links ?

Many thanks

Mickeroo

A combination of perspiration and probably the fact that most jackets and over trousers aren't 100% water proof if exposed to the rain for long enough.

As for what you wear under your water proofs. Ditch the jeans for a start, they are literally the worst possible clothing you can wear. Don't wear anything cotton really as if they get wet they won't insulate you. Stuff like merino wool, fleeces, thermals are what you should be wearing. They're much more comfortable than cotton t-shirts or jeans, especially if they get wet.

Under a jacket I'd usually wear a light thermal polyester or merino t-shirt with a light fleece (heavier if it's freezing) over that, then the jacket.

dnme

Mickeroo wrote: »

A combination of perspiration and probably the fact that most jackets and over trousers aren't 100% water proof if exposed to the rain for long enough.

As for what you wear under your water proofs. Ditch the jeans for a start, they are literally the worst possible clothing you can wear. Don't wear anything cotton really as if they get wet they won't insulate you. Stuff like merino wool, fleeces, thermals are what you should be wearing. They're much more comfortable than cotton t-shirts or jeans, especially if they get wet.

Under a jacket I'd usually wear a light thermal polyester or merino t-shirt with a light fleece (heavier if it's freezing) over that, then the jacket.

Many thanks Mick, spot on what I am looking for. What are you wearing instead of jeans ?

Mickeroo

dnme wrote: »

Many thanks Mick, spot on what I am looking for. What are you wearing instead of jeans ?

No problem!

I'd usually wear something along the lines of these:

http://www.greatoutdoors.ie/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=284&products_id=216065

They'd be lighter than jeans and would dry a lot quicker if they get wet.

Look around though you'll probably find cheaper one's than that.

dnme

Mickeroo wrote: »

No problem!

I'd usually wear something along the lines of these:

http://www.greatoutdoors.ie/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=284&products_id=216065

They'd be lighter than jeans and would dry a lot quicker if they get wet.

Look around though you'll probably find cheaper one's than that.

So are you wearing these only? or are you also wearing leggings over these? Layers ?

Jeans and cotton are a bad idea.

Jeans can get heavy and take ages to dry, they can be very restrictive for movement.

When a cotton teeshirt gets wet it can also chafe the nipples, an experience that will be well known to runners. Once that happens once you'll never forget it!

I wear a lot of running gear because of the wicking qualities. And often under waterproofs I'll wear little unless it's very cold, maybe just shorts or leggings.

hmmm

You might be getting wet from the inside out because of perspiration. Cotton is terrible for this because it doesn't let it pass through, instead try and wear breathable manmade fibres e.g. baselayer stuff from Helly Hansen (you can get similar in Aldi/Lidl). For trousers, quickdry stuff such as Craghoppers work well in Ireland.

Mickeroo

dnme wrote: »

So are you wearing these only? or are you also wearing leggings over these? Layers ?

I'd put the rain gear on over those when it starts raining.

duckysauce

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/a/11061/Introduction-to-Layered-Clothing-Systems

Mac2010

To your first question.

think your waterproof over trousers are NOT breathable and doesnt have zip on the side for ventilation. more likely your jeans were soaked because of your own moisture.

to second question

Personally I'd wear good baselayer (short or long sleeve NOT Cotton)
+ midweight Fleece
+ A Good rain jacket that is breathable.

Side Note: a friend wore Ecco Gore Tex Leather boots last July and got soaked after 1 day of camping. and his boots were priced at 190 euro. and it was heavy to use it for hiking. while my Meindl boots were ok for few days . I know Ecco is good brand.but I wouldn't buy their GTX boots/shoes if i m going to spend that much.

Sev

Often it can be perspiration on the inside that is building up because you are active. Also I think there may be a general limit to how waterproof you're jacket is if it is really bucketing down. There are bound to be leaks, when you put your hands in your pocket etc, you're always going to get water inside.

Something I never really appreciated until a friend suggested it to me, is that the water repellent treatment on the rain jacket may be quite important. For example, if you have a new rain jacket, it's typically treated with some sort of hydrophobic layer. It means water simply rolls off it, like off a ducks back. Over time this hydrophobic treatment wears away, but you can reapply it. You can buy bottles of the stuff in outdoor stores.

I know that the rain jacket is still waterproof even when the hydrophobic treatment wears away, but the water begins to stick and form thin layers on the jacket. My guess is that it doesn't matter a damn that you're jacket is Gore-tex or "breathable" if there is a thin layer of water covering the material, because the thin layer of water may not be breathable.

So my suspicion is that if you're water repellent layer wears away, your jacket becomes less breathable and you're going to be prone to getting soaked on the inside from perspiration. So it may be a good idea looking into getting one of these retreatment kits to restore the water repellency of your jacket.

Advice from the other posters is also excellent. The golden rule in outdoor clothing is don't wear cotton! it soaks up water like a sponge. Jeans are heavy baggy cotton.

Sev

An enlightening Andy Kirkpatrick article on breathable fabrics:

http://www.andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/the_truth_about_breathable_waterproofs

bonaparte2

Deleted User wrote: »

Jeans and cotton are a bad idea.

Jeans can get heavy and take ages to dry, they can be very restrictive for movement.

When a cotton teeshirt gets wet it can also chafe the nipples, an experience that will be well known to runners. Once that happens once you'll never forget it!

I wear a lot of running gear because of the wicking qualities. And often under waterproofs I'll wear little unless it's very cold, maybe just shorts or leggings.

He's right ted

Alun

Sev wrote: »

An enlightening Andy Kirkpatrick article on breathable fabrics:

http://www.andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/the_truth_about_breathable_waterproofs

An excellent article. Should be made compulsory reading for anyone buying a "waterproof" jacket.

I've given up with some of my walking colleagues trying to explain to them that although the nice salesperson in the outdoor shop swore blind that their new €300 super-duper jacket was "100%" waterproof, that their real-life expectations should be lowered, as nothing short of encasing yourself in polythene can actually live up to that ideal. OK, the first one or two times you take it out you'll be pretty impressed, but as the factory applied protection wears off, and water stops beading on the surface the fabric will wet and then you're at the mercy of whatever membrane is being used. As long as the garment is carefully looked after any damage to that membrane can be minimized, but in the real world where they're subject to being scrunched up in a rucksack for a lot of their life, and have pressure and friction applied to various parts of them from rucksack straps etc., the membrane will start to leak, and then the best you can say is that you'll be a lot drier with it on than if you'd left it off. I often hear people at the end of a long walk in the wet complaining that they're "soaking wet" under their waterproofs, but honestly, that's nothing compared to what they'd be like if they'd not worn them at all. Like I said, it's all about expectations.

Same goes for boots, which is why I always recommend leather boots. The fabric and suede variety rely pretty much 100% on the membrane for their waterproofness, and once that goes, and it inevitably will if you use them anything like regularly, then you have nothing. At least with leather boots, you can treat them with various waterproofing waxes.

BarryD

As mentioned above, even the best spec mountain jackets don't always work in poor conditions. Something I figured a good while ago might help when conditions are very poor - two old/cheap/poor rain jackets are better than one good one! In that I've worn an oldish jacket that might once have worked well enough but now leaks a bit and when conditions are poor, put on any old cheap mac or jacket over it, can be quite lightweight and it makes a huge difference. The 'cheap' jacket will shed the bulk of the rain and what gets through, the other jacket will handle comfortably.

This will shed the rain well but of course if you are under heavy exertion, you can't really expect this arrangement to be breathable. A matter maybe of adjusting your pace, so you're not sweating too much.