Do you reinforce your gear with spray water-repllents?

[AeroGuyDC]

I was just wondering if any of you use water-repellent sprays to supplement the waterproof capability of your gear?

If so, what do you use it on? I have a can of Repel Weather Shield Full Season water-repellent spray and have tossed around the possibility of spraying some of my gear.

Do you recommend this? Not necessary?

Thanks

[Toolshed]

Aeroguy,
I think it is largely a waste of time and money. The silicon in the Repel will simply wash out of your garment in the first rainstorm.
I tried a can many many years ago when my first generation Goretex jacket started to wet out (Outside surface loses water repellency and water no longer beads up/rolls, thereby hindering vapor moving out of the jacket). (Loss of durable water repellency. It was great during a sprinkle, up until it started to rain. My jacket wetted out quickly.
I had some left over and tried it on the vestibule of my first tent, and noticed no difference then next morning. The surface tension was low, as it was before and the fly was all wet (on the outside).

[Ox97GaMe]

I use Nikwax. Just the pack cover and the rain fly for my tent. Over time, they tend to become less water resistant and it helps to apply a new coat of water repellant. I usually do that about every 12-18 months, depending on how many hiking days the gear has been out since the last application.

[JAK]

I've been thinking about trying some sort of treatment with trail runners. Not to make them waterproof, or water resistant. Just to make them not absorb and hold water in their fabric. Ideally they would be made of a mesh and light padding that is already of such a material, like nylon, but if there was a trail runner or running shoe that had all the other features I wanted, but was too much of a sponge, I might try and treat it so it would soak up and hold less water. Some are getting better though, so you should be able to find everything you want in a shoe including this feature, which is critical, I think.

[Toolshed]

Isn't the synthetic material trails runners are made from already hydrophylic? they'll get wet, but not absorb water.

I thought that was one of the reasons many designers moved away from leather as well.

[Wise Old Owl]

Fyi Toolshed the inventors of Goretex offered this interesting note, when the fabric is failing to keep you dry just wash it to remove micro debris and dirt and it springs to life again.

[wudhipy]

a trash bag for the sleeping bag in the pack is about the only extra effort other than a pack cover of course. Keep the bag dry and everything else getting kinda damp is tolerable.

[Toolshed]

Fyi Toolshed the inventors of Goretex offered this interesting note, when the fabric is failing to keep you dry just wash it to remove micro debris and dirt and it springs to life again.

I do use this method now - I simply wash it with powder detergent and then throw it in the dryer. Sometimes, Following Gore's advice, I will just throw my TNF jacket and other proprietary W/B articles in the dryer and the DWR seems to come back for at least a downpour.

[HeartFire]

I think you mean Hydrophobic. Hydrophylic means to absorb water

Isn't the synthetic material trails runners are made from already hydrophylic? they'll get wet, but not absorb water.

I thought that was one of the reasons many designers moved away from leather as well.

[Tinker]

Fyi Toolshed the inventors of Goretex offered this interesting note, when the fabric is failing to keep you dry just wash it to remove micro debris and dirt and it springs to life again.

I was told to wash it (in the correct product), and then run it through a hot dryer for a brief period of time (I guess to shrink the pores in the membrane?). It's supposed to revitalize the dwr on my REI Shuksan (eVent - same material as Gore-tex - PTFE - but lacking the polyurethane coating of Gore-tex [no, I didn't make that up!]). Washing OFTEN is recommended for the eVent (Note: it still doesn't breathe well enough for THIS sweaty beast).

[Franco]

Suffixes
Phil =love (in Greek the love for a brother/friend) by extension , attraction
Phobia=fear (in Greek hate) repulsion
Franco

[Panzer1]

I don't think your supposed to use detergent on gor-tex. I think your just supposed to use soap.

Panzer

[Toolshed]

I think you mean Hydrophobic. Hydrophylic means to absorb water

Sheesh - Yeah, exactly... I always get that one wrong.

[Toolshed]

I don't think your supposed to use detergent on gor-tex. I think your just supposed to use soap.

Panzer

My 10 year old TNF (Sadly I have nothing newer, so if they change policies, I am not up to speed) states to use powder detergent and not liquid. I assume liquids beds were much smaller and could block the pores. I also remember the hot dryer and even using a hot iron with quick passes.