Author Topic: Comfort in sustained rain?  (Read 6908 times)

WhitstableDave

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #90 on: 09:43:38, 16/03/21 »
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Of course there would still be times when the hood was best, but even then possibly some thin soft thing, like a baselayer for a head, might help. To separate the hood from my balding head, and maybe also deaden the rattling noise reaching the ears.
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I don't have hair, so hats are very important to me.  :)

I have a Buff hat that's exactly as you describe - a base layer for the head. I normally wear it on its own if I want to keep the chill off, but a second hat (usually my Rab Polartec hat) easily goes over the top for maximum warmth. Basically, two lightweight hats provide three different levels of warmth.

At the other extreme from the Buff is my Sealskinz waterproof hat. It's a very warm conventional 'woolly' hat, but with a genuinely waterproof liner inside the material.  O0
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gunwharfman

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #91 on: 10:07:49, 16/03/21 »
I may have already mentioned this before? The other comfort I like in sustained rain is for my hands to remain dry. I stopped buying 'waterproof' gloves a few years ago. I now have a cheap £1.99 Decathlon 'Thinsulate' type gloves which are fine and if it gets really cold I just pull on my lightweight Marmot mittens, working together my hands can get as hot as toast. But to keep them dry I just use a fluted tube of waterproof material (my latest ones are made from Silnylon) on each hand, secured at the wrist and designed to be about 1" longer than my fingers. If it rains but the weather is warm enough I wear them without gloves on. They work so well and I haven't had wet hands or wet gloves for a couple of years now.

I've often thought that my ideal wet weather socks would be normal sock material to cover my feet but at the point where the top of my boots can let the water in the socks should then be waterproof and have a circular, up to 1" band around them that fully cover the boot opening, so any water would just drain off to the ground like a roof tile. I need to talk to my wife's friend to see if she can make me a prototype.

Lastly, I have noticed that perhaps the weak part of my Rab Kinetic waterproof jacket is how close-fitting the hood will be in sustained rain. I can tighten it around my face but I haven't yet managed to find a way of ensuring that it's tight enough for those horrible windy and 'rain in the face' kind of days.

Dyffryn Ardudwy

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #92 on: 10:08:15, 16/03/21 »
And if your wearing Buffalo kit, your in the Buff underneath

Kev06

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #93 on: 10:26:27, 16/03/21 »
Thanks for al the suggestions everyone! The buff hat certainly looks the business, so I shell definitely have to try one. I see there are base-layer hoodies too, but quite costly and quite a limited choice, so the buff hat looks a better bet to me.

TBH I'd not thought of getting a waterproof woolly hat - I'd imagined the rain would run off down one's neck but maybe not. Or maybe one with neck and ear flaps could help direct it further out, in combo with jackets that have a close-fitting collar.

Thanks also for the thoughts on gloves. I have a few to choose from that'll cover most temperatures, but none are waterproof and some aren't even very windproof - partly because the properly breathable ones are expensive and I don't like sweaty hands. So the over-tube idea sounds ingenious! Kind of like wrist gaiters.
Thanks again,
Kev

WhitstableDave

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #94 on: 13:02:37, 16/03/21 »
...TBH I'd not thought of getting a waterproof woolly hat - I'd imagined the rain would run off down one's neck but maybe not. ...

If you check out the Sealskinz Waterproof Cold Weather Beanie Hat,

you might notice that the hat flares out a bit around the rim, which helps to stop water dripping down the neck. However, if it's raining hard enough for that to happen, then I'll have my hood up anyway! The hat is great for the bits in between heavy downpours.  O0
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Kev06

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #95 on: 14:28:53, 16/03/21 »
Perfect, thanks!

Normally when I want something it doesn't exist, but that looks perfect for cooler weather, the buff design ideal for hood-up weather, and the sunday afternoon design promising for warm rain. :)

Cheers,
Kev

richardh1905

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #96 on: 18:08:22, 16/03/21 »
One point to note is that a quality waterproof jacket should have an adjustable hood capable of accommodating a bulky hat comfortably, as well as adjusting down to give a snug fit when no hat is worn.
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gunwharfman

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #97 on: 18:44:01, 16/03/21 »
That's what my waterproof jacket offers, a hood to accommodate a helmet, which I think is the reason why I can't as yet get it to fit tightly around my face.

Kev06

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #98 on: 19:41:39, 16/03/21 »
Yes, that is certainly part of it. My hood is fairly cunning at shrinking, but inevitably still has to leave a lot of folded-up/creased material that unfortunately adds to the crackling noises as it moves or the wind blows it.

These days helmet compatibility seems much more common, to the point where I struggle to find jackets that I really like 'and' which have hoods that are optimally designed for heads. They still work of course, so i've just gone with them, but maybe should have thought more about that. However, at least there will be no problem at all fitting a suitable hat below it.

Perranwell

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #99 on: 15:24:27, 21/03/21 »
I was wondering how to add something useful to this thread. But to be honest I've never felt comfortable in rain. (Except psychologically perhaps--sometimes one gets so sopping that a sort of Singin' in the Rain mentality takes over as one sploshes on.)

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I've pretty much given up trying to find a viable waterproof jacket. Pointless being waterproof if they make me drip with sweat. So these days I prioritise lightness and just bring a cheapo thin rain jacket that crushes down to nothing.

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One trip, I tried bringing an umbrella. First time I put it up was on a steep slope above Challaborough on the SW coastal path. It promptly blew inside out and nearly whisked me off over the Channel like Mary Poppins. Not to mention triggering a stampede by the sheep in the field, who'd never seen anything so outlandish. Only way I could keep the blasted thing under control was by jamming it up against my head, which if continued would've given me a cauliflower ear. So next time I came to a dustbin I chucked it in with an air of contempt. Now I knew why I'd never seen a hiker walking with a brolly.

gunwharfman

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #100 on: 15:48:30, 21/03/21 »
Like me really, because I had the 'readies' available that in the end is why I've bought my Rab Kinetic jacket. It has good write-ups and I've already found out it's 'waterproof' and can be used as a running jacket as well. I've used it four times now and the inside perspiration has been next to nothing even though all of the rest of me was steaming. I'm not expecting it to be waterproof for hours on end which is why I carry a back-up poncho with me.

Perranwell

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #101 on: 16:07:57, 21/03/21 »
I get that.

I've not put my thin rain jacket on often. As a lot of people have said on this thread, other layers are important. I have a thick wool shirt that I allow to get wet in moderate rain. I feel more comfortable getting wet in that than in a sweaty jacket. I don't walk in heavy rain if I can help it.

Kev06

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Re: Comfort in sustained rain?
« Reply #102 on: 18:49:31, 21/03/21 »
Thanks for the thoughts, they sound all too familiar! Yes, it does seem that waterproof technology still can't offer genuine comfort in milder/warmer temperatures, so I will still likely opt to get damp from the outside (rather than inside) - except when it is 'really' throwing down, anyway.

That said, the gore-tex Pro jacket and wicking+snug baselayer combo at least work better than my previous attempts, so some tangible progress at last. Not much different when climbing hills sadly, but quicker to become comfortable again afterwards, which seems much more reasonable than spending most of the walk in an oppressive fug. So I'd say it has extended the portion of the year in which a waterproof won't be a depressing prospect.

I'm hopeful that the snug baselayer will do similarly good things for the windproof and soft-shell too. That might extend the conditions in which those are acceptable, hopefully not leaving too many without a decent answer. Though the synthetic baselayer does stink quite badly after a few hours, so I might need a plan B if walking in polite company.

 

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