Foul weather gear...

[Seeratlas]

Originally Posted by Charlie

I like the analagy but don't forget that you will have to get out of the pilothouse at some point so when you are finished with the jelly donut and still driving around have your friend throw the latch on the hood and then crawl out the cab window and raise the hood and then check the oil and put the hood back down. You'll probably want some weather gear">foul weather gear for that.

Well actually, on my boat, no , tho tossing on a hooded jacket might be called for depending as to adjust sail, I step up the companionway, slide open the lid, grab the winch, on the cabin top, tighten or loosen the various lines, cleat em off, step back down, slide close the hatch, and resume said jelly doughnut munching. This includes reefing , sheeting and/or striking either or both of the foresail and mainsail.

If all I want is a full 360 look around, i just stand up from the captain's chair and look out the Hasler 'bubble" hatch mounted right over the seat then sit back down.

Only if I'm running in a bad storm requiring a full reef or strike, do I need to venture out onto the foredeck to lash down the booms and ribs on the foresail, which consists of grabbing the prestationed 'reefing lines' on the uppermost rib and cleating them to the main boom. The main I can do without leaving the cockpit.
Then its back down the hole for me
The setup looks a bit funny, but it sure rox for comfort

seer

[Alan Wheeler]

You can buy recreational GoreTex

Actually no you can't. Or put anotherway, it ain't Gortex. Gortex is made by one company. And they don't let just anybody use it. Goretex in itself is very fragile and MUST be laminated with other fabrics to ensure it is kept safe. Gore will not allow the goretex material to be used by just anyone and when a manufacturer does use it, the material must be tested by Gore themselves before permission is given for that other company to then use it. It is very very expensive for a manufacturer to go through the process and so there are only three companies use Goretex in their wet wheather gear. Gill, Henri-Loyd and Musto. And even then, only the top line apparel gets the use of Gortex. Musto's HPX and MPX ranges use Goretex. Because of the cost of manufacturing, having the testing of the material done, bringing that material through to production, testing of the finished article, modifications made and so on, not one of those companies make any actual profit from the clothing. The profit is made in the cheaper garment. It is also why no other companies are making wet weather gear using Goretex. It is just not profitable.
Real Gortex clothing is bloody expensive. Like the Musto HXP range. A jacket could set you back as much as NZ$2500. or US$1200.00 But like the similar Gull And Henri-Loyd gear, it is simply increadable stuff to sail in. Not thaqt I can personaly testify to having done that :-(

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

Musto's HPX and MPX (

Too rich for me!
The stuff I used to like was Mustos MPX before it was gortex. Was much cheaper and I loved it.

Alan, somewhere here we were discussing a New Zealand commercial fishing clothing company - they had great looking kit without a breath of gortex... Of course I can't see the URL on my 'puter

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

New Zealand commercial fishing clothing company -

Found it.
Needs someone useful to sort out some distribution

Home

[Splash Gordon]

I still think our deep-sea tuna and snoek-fishing blokes down here have the Ultimate Cheap solution for keeping tootsies toasty at sea! I approached it with skepticism, but when you compare $10 for white dip-moulded, non-marking, food-grade poly-nastythene wellies with non-skid sole to $50 natural latex sailing boots, the butcher-boots have my vote for value-for-$$! Both ways you need nice cozy socks, and the plastic-fantastics are a helluvalot tougher! I used a pair for 7 years and they were just last year cut down to become gardening-clogs after some wally thought they were the boat-janitor's and chucked them in the anchor-locker and they got all rust-marked! They look a bit dodgy under my Gill Key Wests, but if sailing's a fashion-show, I wanna see the super-models!

[hellosailor]

Wheels, I doubt you get gear over there from Marmot Mountain Works, aka "Marmot". They are a smaller US maker of recreational clothing, originally mountain climbing apparel for rock-climbers and the like. Some years ago I had bought one of their GoreTex jackets for skiing and winter wear (yes it later went sailing) and I used a small flashlight as a zipper pull on it. Wouldn't you know...the zipper pull caught in the car door and I damaged the zipper pull.

I called the company feeling like a fool to ask if they could repair the zipper and they said sure, send it back, no charge. (Premiums sometimes pay back.<G>) Then I get a message two weeks later, they examined the GoreTex and it was delaminating in some spots under the scrim (just a mesh inner layer, not fully protected) and they were returning it to Gore for inspection, please pick a comparable new jacket from their current line--at no charge!
Needless to say I was floored, that's incredible customer service way beyond what I asked for or expected. But it also confirms that when GoreTex fails--there is an active feedback process to get it back to Gore, who are working on preventing failures and improving the product. (And by now this is probably ten+ years back.)
The stuff is expensive, doubly so in the marine market, but worth watching for the annual discount/clearance sales. And the companies serving that higher price market, often know they will be expected to provide extraordinary service at that price--and do.

[Pblais]

I've owned Marmot gear over the years and it is first rate. You want to buy it at the end of the season as they clear out for the new season. Discontinued colors get drastically reduced since they don't want them on the racks for the new season. Other than that they do discount very often. The Gill boat show discounts are decent too. They usually have a few Atlantic's on sale if they fit you, but the Key West is always a deal at the show just not always for all colors.

[Kanani]

Stay in the tropics and....

SAIL NAKED....

Best fowl weather gear ever designed....God knew what he was doing

[Alan Wheeler]

As long as nothing gets caught in the winch 8-0
And besides, I would like to see...eer not literally....you try and wear nothing in a cold Southerly down here. Or those cold places currently in the US. At least you would have no issues of anything getting caught up in any gear :-)

Dorlon is or was making some good wet weather gear. Certainly not Gortex, but quite stylish and comfortable. I am wearing that Italian Lanz???stuff. The problem with anything Non Gortex though, is I find you end up as damp inside the clothing as you would be not wearing it. Especially if you do some hard grinding, then sit back and relax, you end up damp and cold. The Gortex materials certainly solve those issues, but I think I am like most. It is just too expensive. One day when I have all the more importants out of the way, we may splash out. But that is going to be sometime down the track.

[MidLandOne]

Dorlon are still around Alan but certainly don't see their gear much. Is what we use but mainly because got a deal at the time through someone close to them. They got new ownership a few years ago though but haven't noticed much happen.

Flash Gordon - the fishermen here generally wear "food-grade poly-nastythene wellies with non-skid soles" too and is definitely what I am going to change to when my current saily type ones wear out. In fact your reminding me of it means I may do so before then . Many years ago I used to work in the meat processing industry and the white boots then were far more comfy than my saily type boots for sure.

[SkiprJohn]

Here comes a dumb question!!

I got a set of those foulies sold in the West Marine catalog from a guy named "Long John Silver." He must be ok since he owns a Flicka and lives up the hill on the Volcano. He said he never had them on in any kind of weather. I got them home, tried them on and since I'm an old guy happened to notice there was no fly (zipper in front). They are in great shape and I got them for half price but did I get foulies made for the female persuasion or are they all that way.

Pardon my ignorance but when I did most my higher lattitude sailing I was much younger and wore jeans and those really cheap garden variety yellow plastic things if it blew some spray on us.

Please go easy on me with your responses. Just never thought about it before.

Regards,

JohnL

[Charlie]

Hi Skpr:

I have two sets of foulies one is a PVC set of commercial tyupe foulie bottoms and the other is a set of patagonia pants. The PVC ones don't have any zipper. you have to pull the shoulder straps off and then let it all hang out. The Patagonia ones have a zipper with a big pleat of material that allows you to keep your straps hooked and then let it all hang out.

Thant's what I know. Typically you don't have a zipper so that no water can get in.

[Alan Wheeler]

Going a little off topic here, but I watched one of the funniest situations I have ever witnessed on a ski slope. We had just had a massive dump of snow 24hrs earlier. The snow was so deep, the field had to dig out a trench for the T-bars to operate in. From standing on the slope, you could only see people on the tow from the Knees up. One guy on the tow was dressed totaly in Yellow PVC parka and leggings. He had almost reached the top and was about to get off when he got all messed up and fell of the tow. We on the slope were alerted to the drama when I heard a yell "LOOKOUT!!!". Looking across, all I could see was some yellow zipping down this "chute" like a tabogan with snow flying out both sides of the chute because the guy had both snowboots dug in trying to stop himself. A yellow bullet snowplow is the best description and people immediately before him leaping of the T-bars left and right to escape the ensuing yellow rocket sled. He went from the top all the way to the bottom totaly unable to stop.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Charlie,
Thanks for the info. I guess the more expensive then the more features. I don't know if I can do without a fly on a 4+ hour watch so maybe I'll have my local awning maker install one for me.
Anything else you think I might have installed at the same time. I'm thinking extra knee and seat padding.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[Charlie]

On the insepensive PVC set what they did was put a strap that bound the shoulder straps together. The shoulder straps would then go over your head like a tank top. From there you could disconnect the shoulder straps from the front of the foulie pants and lower them to pee. It works pretty good and that is coming from someone who just had prostate surgery. The needle from a sewing machine will create leaks too.