On September 14th I fished a club tourney on Lake Miltona and my raingear showed obvious signs of it’s age. A steady “most” of the day rain left me soaked to the bone and cold to boot. Today I was at the man’s mall (Fleet Farm) and picked up a couple cans of the pictured waterproofing spray and applied as instructed to my raingear. I hope that the gear which was rather costly in it’s day will be resurrected.
Anyone have any insight, used this product or a similar product with positive results ?
Yup. I used the same stuff. Was out a couple of weeks ago on Cass Lake rained off and on most of the day and I stayed dry. 
Cool, that’s what I like to hear…or read I mean 
The best products I’ve used or got positive feedback using on breathable rain gear is nikwax…
Jesse, I’m sure it has similar characteristics to the Nikwax products. I used the the Nikwax Tent & Gear on our nylon tent. Worked great and we got a couple more years of use out of it.
Nikwax tent proof
Not trying to jack thread, good thread, I will probably use a spray on my shot guide series stuff. My buddy stays dry as a bone in his helli hansen gear from fleet farm. He bought it because he visits alaska frequently, and he says that’s all those boys wear- and they abuse it religiously. I’m gonna give it a shot on my next set for the colder months.
That stuff works great on my old tent always kept us dry. Sprayed my rain suite this summer when I noticed mine was letting me get wet and it has not rained since to try it out..
got heli hansen rain gear from fleet farm 3-4 xmas ago. has worked great. pants and coat.
Jesse, if you have some sort of breathable waterproof outerwear (Gore-Tex or something similar), I would advise using the Nikwax instead of the silicone spray.
Silicone, when applied to a nylon jacket, will block the pores of the material, creating a sealed environment which make the breathability of the waterproofing material useless – if vapor can get out of the membrane but not out of the nylon jacket, it can’t get out, period, and stays inside the jacket to make you clammy.
Nikwax and other products are developed for waterproof, breathable garments and are a lot better choice. Be aware that if you’d used and abused the raingear, you may never be able to get that DWR back to a usable state. I’ve got a 15yr old The North Face jacket that I didn’t properly care for the first 6-8 years I had it and regardless how much I’ve tried to treat the fabric, I can’t get it to properly shed water any longer.
I’ve linked to a couple of articles regarding rainwear care below. I believe Cabela’s has similar articles but I knew I could find these quicker. I hope this helps, good luck.
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/rainwear-dwr.html
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/washing-goretex-outerwear.html
Quote:
Jesse, if you have some sort of breathable waterproof outerwear (Gore-Tex or something similar), I would advise using the Nikwax instead of the silicone spray.
Silicone, when applied to a nylon jacket, will block the pores of the material, creating a sealed environment which make the breathability of the waterproofing material useless – if vapor can get out of the membrane but not out of the nylon jacket, it can’t get out, period, and stays inside the jacket to make you clammy.
Nikwax and other products are developed for waterproof, breathable garments and are a lot better choice. Be aware that if you’d used and abused the raingear, you may never be able to get that DWR back to a usable state. I’ve got a 15yr old The North Face jacket that I didn’t properly care for the first 6-8 years I had it and regardless how much I’ve tried to treat the fabric, I can’t get it to properly shed water any longer.
I’ve linked to a couple of articles regarding rainwear care below. I believe Cabela’s has similar articles but I knew I could find these quicker. I hope this helps, good luck.
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/rainwear-dwr.html
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/washing-goretex-outerwear.html
Maybe I should have posted before I sprayed 
Oh well I bought a cheap get me by 2nd set when I bought the spray. I may have to check out the Helli Hansen line-up
Quote:
Maybe I should have posted before I sprayed
Oh well I bought a cheap get me by 2nd set when I bought the spray. I may have to check out the Helli Hansen line-up
Your old gear isn’t useless, it’ll be just fine for cool or cold weather. It just won’t breathe well in warm/humid conditions or if you break a sweat while wearing it. If it’s more than 10yrs old, I wouldn’t worry too much about it – the gear has served it’s purpose and you got your money’s worth.
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