Bobby Wong
06-15-2007, 23:09
Hi all,
If I'm not mistaken this is my first post on this forum. I used to read it a whole lot more often last year than this, but I always thought that it was a very fine community.
Anyway, today I was at a garage sale held by a guy who had held a position as a janitor at various institutions such as schools and hospitals in the area. He had a bunch of things that had been discarded from those kind of places. I stocked up on copy paper, pencils, crayons, etc, and I spotted some things that I originally thought might be useful in my job as a carpenter.
One of those items was a bunch of "Kimberly Clark Universal Precaustions Lab Jackets." They seem to be made out of Tyvek, and I thought they would make ideal disposable painting jackets. These are not super interesting for backpacking purposes, because I would estimate that they are only about as light as my Mountain Hardware shell (3 oz or so). Although they are designed to be impervious to infectious fluids, they probably are not quite as weatherproof as whatever miracle fabric my jacket is made out of, and certainly not as stylish. They also don't pack down nearly as small. I did however get 20 of them for only 50 cents apiece, so if anyone is interested in trying one out, drop me a line.
However, the really interesting thing was a batch of "sleeves" that he threw in along with the jackets. They seem to be made out of the same material, and are hollow tubes about 16 inches long, with skimpy elastic at both ends. Apparently, they could be combined with a pair of rubber gloves for a quick cleanup. My scale is broken, but I would estimate that they weigh between 15-20 grams each, and a pair packs down to about the size of a deck of playing cards.
I think they would make ideal "just in case" gaiters. I normally only carry gaiters if I know that I am going to need them, so I have a fairly heavy duty pair and I might not be up on theuber-lightweight versions available. However, I know that Tyvek is paper thin, very light, rip resistant, and reasonably waterproof. Here are a couple of pics. Any thoughts on the suitablility of these "sleeves" as backpacking gaiters? If anyone has a seious interest, I can borrow a scale this weekend and get a true weight, or I could send a pair out for trail testing.
Thanks for reading such a long post, and have a great time out on the trail.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1984/1000667eu3.jpg
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/7325/1000668xj4.jpg
If I'm not mistaken this is my first post on this forum. I used to read it a whole lot more often last year than this, but I always thought that it was a very fine community.
Anyway, today I was at a garage sale held by a guy who had held a position as a janitor at various institutions such as schools and hospitals in the area. He had a bunch of things that had been discarded from those kind of places. I stocked up on copy paper, pencils, crayons, etc, and I spotted some things that I originally thought might be useful in my job as a carpenter.
One of those items was a bunch of "Kimberly Clark Universal Precaustions Lab Jackets." They seem to be made out of Tyvek, and I thought they would make ideal disposable painting jackets. These are not super interesting for backpacking purposes, because I would estimate that they are only about as light as my Mountain Hardware shell (3 oz or so). Although they are designed to be impervious to infectious fluids, they probably are not quite as weatherproof as whatever miracle fabric my jacket is made out of, and certainly not as stylish. They also don't pack down nearly as small. I did however get 20 of them for only 50 cents apiece, so if anyone is interested in trying one out, drop me a line.
However, the really interesting thing was a batch of "sleeves" that he threw in along with the jackets. They seem to be made out of the same material, and are hollow tubes about 16 inches long, with skimpy elastic at both ends. Apparently, they could be combined with a pair of rubber gloves for a quick cleanup. My scale is broken, but I would estimate that they weigh between 15-20 grams each, and a pair packs down to about the size of a deck of playing cards.
I think they would make ideal "just in case" gaiters. I normally only carry gaiters if I know that I am going to need them, so I have a fairly heavy duty pair and I might not be up on theuber-lightweight versions available. However, I know that Tyvek is paper thin, very light, rip resistant, and reasonably waterproof. Here are a couple of pics. Any thoughts on the suitablility of these "sleeves" as backpacking gaiters? If anyone has a seious interest, I can borrow a scale this weekend and get a true weight, or I could send a pair out for trail testing.
Thanks for reading such a long post, and have a great time out on the trail.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1984/1000667eu3.jpg
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/7325/1000668xj4.jpg