Showing posts with label Gear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gear. Show all posts
It rains here. It's been raining most of the day, in fact. A small, easy-to-carry, umbrella will keep you perfectly dry, but that's no good if you need your hands to, say, root through, recycling bins, or dumpsters, in search of discarded valuables. If you're a binner, with no umbrella, and no coated nylon rain jacket, there's no problem; a large garbage bag, like the one modelled by the binner on the right, is easy to find in a pinch, and works ridiculously well. What about your running shoes, you ask? Put small plastic bags over your sock-clad feet, and put your runners back on; the runners will get wet, but your feet, and socks, will stay nice and dry. Click the image to enlarge.
[caption id="attachment_928" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Not stylin' enough for you? Click image to enlarge.[/caption]
You see these jackets a lot in Vancouver, B.C., usually being worn by workers, notably landscapers. I'm not referring to cheap solid PVC jackets and overalls -- these dry out and crack, and are uncomfortable. I mean a jacket made out of a coated nylon. I have, and usually see, the type made by a Canadian company called Viking. It's features can stand for the same style of work-wear jacket made by many companies.
A Viking Journeyman Jacket is made of coated polyester nylon, with double welded seams, is multi-vented for breath-ability, and meets specific industrial standards for flame, shock, and oil resistance, though perhaps not all at the same time. The collar is lined with cotton corduroy. You can buy this jacket for $30 to $60.
The coated nylon is utterly waterproof, and feels soft to the touch, and stays flexible -- I've never had one dry out and crack. As for breath-ability -- Gore-Tex's big advantage -- this is how it is for me: I'm comfortable as long as it's raining. When it stops raining I get hot and want to take it off.
In 2009, I was working, and bought a $300-plus MEC Gore-Tex-style cycling jacket which lasted for nearly two years; At first it was brilliant; proof against any deluge, comfortable and light, and it rolled up tight and fit nice in my pannier. By the end it leaked like a sieve! A Gore-Tex-style garment is a three-layer affair -- a thin waterproof-yet-breathable membrane sandwiched between an outer and inner fabric. The membrane suffers wear-and-tear(s), particularly, I found, around the neck and shoulders -- and don't dare wear a backpack! Once the membrane tears, the jacket is done for. The original Gore-Tex patents ran out some years ago, so Gore-Tex-style rain gear is cheaper, and more common than ever, but, in my experience, it isn't very durable.
My personal recommendation to Canadians dead-set on spending $300 or $400 dollars on a Gore-Tex-style jacket -- take all the polymer $20s (or the new $5s), some contact cement, and glue them together to make a simple cape. You'll get several $100-worth-of 100 per cent waterproof gear, and when you tire of it you can peel the bills apart and use three or four of them to buy a coated nylon jacket which will do you for years, and years.
Not stylin' enough for you? Click image to enlarge.[/caption]You see these jackets a lot in Vancouver, B.C., usually being worn by workers, notably landscapers. I'm not referring to cheap solid PVC jackets and overalls -- these dry out and crack, and are uncomfortable. I mean a jacket made out of a coated nylon. I have, and usually see, the type made by a Canadian company called Viking. It's features can stand for the same style of work-wear jacket made by many companies.
A Viking Journeyman Jacket is made of coated polyester nylon, with double welded seams, is multi-vented for breath-ability, and meets specific industrial standards for flame, shock, and oil resistance, though perhaps not all at the same time. The collar is lined with cotton corduroy. You can buy this jacket for $30 to $60.
The coated nylon is utterly waterproof, and feels soft to the touch, and stays flexible -- I've never had one dry out and crack. As for breath-ability -- Gore-Tex's big advantage -- this is how it is for me: I'm comfortable as long as it's raining. When it stops raining I get hot and want to take it off.
In 2009, I was working, and bought a $300-plus MEC Gore-Tex-style cycling jacket which lasted for nearly two years; At first it was brilliant; proof against any deluge, comfortable and light, and it rolled up tight and fit nice in my pannier. By the end it leaked like a sieve! A Gore-Tex-style garment is a three-layer affair -- a thin waterproof-yet-breathable membrane sandwiched between an outer and inner fabric. The membrane suffers wear-and-tear(s), particularly, I found, around the neck and shoulders -- and don't dare wear a backpack! Once the membrane tears, the jacket is done for. The original Gore-Tex patents ran out some years ago, so Gore-Tex-style rain gear is cheaper, and more common than ever, but, in my experience, it isn't very durable.
My personal recommendation to Canadians dead-set on spending $300 or $400 dollars on a Gore-Tex-style jacket -- take all the polymer $20s (or the new $5s), some contact cement, and glue them together to make a simple cape. You'll get several $100-worth-of 100 per cent waterproof gear, and when you tire of it you can peel the bills apart and use three or four of them to buy a coated nylon jacket which will do you for years, and years.
A free alternative -- garbage bags! ►
[caption id="attachment_916" align="alignnone" width="497"]
A Mountain Equipment Co-op dry bag. click image to enlarge.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_917" align="alignleft" width="285"]
A better look at how a dry bag closes.[/caption]
Also known as kayak bags, wet/dry bags, or simply waterproof bags. Lots of different companies making the same basic design: A tube of polyurethane-coated fabric, or PVC, capped at one end with the same material, except perhaps a bit more rugged weight. The seams are bonded with something like radio-frequency welding, rather than stitching. The open mouth of the bag is made water-tight with a tried-and-true roll/fold, and cinch system:
The two sides of the open mouth of the bag, have stiffening strip to help it close flat -- just like closing your mouth -- the stiffening strips are like lips. On either side of the mouth are the two parts of a side release buckle. Simply fold the stiffening strip over itself three times, and snap together the two ends of the buckle, and the bag is water-tight. Throw it in a river, or a lake, or Vancouver in October to March, and fahgettaboudit! I prefer the coated fabric; I've found the PVC will dry and crack.
Capacity is measured in litres (in Canada, at least). They can hold whatever you want. In my experience, a thin, summer-weight sleeping bag fits nicely in a 10L bag, and a winter-weight sleeping bag (Vancouver winter, good to -3-degrees-Celsius) fits in a 20L bag. Best to try it first.
I buy mine at Mountain Equipment Co-op -- only in Canada you say? $5 buys you a lifetime membership. But all outdoors outfitters will sell dry bags.
A Mountain Equipment Co-op dry bag. click image to enlarge.[/caption][caption id="attachment_917" align="alignleft" width="285"]
A better look at how a dry bag closes.[/caption]Also known as kayak bags, wet/dry bags, or simply waterproof bags. Lots of different companies making the same basic design: A tube of polyurethane-coated fabric, or PVC, capped at one end with the same material, except perhaps a bit more rugged weight. The seams are bonded with something like radio-frequency welding, rather than stitching. The open mouth of the bag is made water-tight with a tried-and-true roll/fold, and cinch system:
The two sides of the open mouth of the bag, have stiffening strip to help it close flat -- just like closing your mouth -- the stiffening strips are like lips. On either side of the mouth are the two parts of a side release buckle. Simply fold the stiffening strip over itself three times, and snap together the two ends of the buckle, and the bag is water-tight. Throw it in a river, or a lake, or Vancouver in October to March, and fahgettaboudit! I prefer the coated fabric; I've found the PVC will dry and crack.
Capacity is measured in litres (in Canada, at least). They can hold whatever you want. In my experience, a thin, summer-weight sleeping bag fits nicely in a 10L bag, and a winter-weight sleeping bag (Vancouver winter, good to -3-degrees-Celsius) fits in a 20L bag. Best to try it first.
I buy mine at Mountain Equipment Co-op -- only in Canada you say? $5 buys you a lifetime membership. But all outdoors outfitters will sell dry bags.
Snap closure detail image from here.
[caption id="attachment_901" align="alignnone" width="497"]
The rugged simplicity of the P-38 can opener. Click image to enlarge.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_902" align="alignright" width="150"]
Using the P-38 to open a can takes some oomph. Click to enlarge.[/caption]
After the Internet, my next favourite thing produced by the U.S. Military/Industrial Complex, is the P-38 can opener, and it's slightly larger sibling, the P-51. The U.S. Army issued P-38s to its soldiers, beginning with World War II, and continuing at least through the Vietnam conflict. Many armies have copied it. It's quite small, super-cheap to make, effectively indestructible, never rusts, and generally costs no more than a dollar -- and it has a hole so it fits on a key-ring. You find them at army surplus stores, and outdoors outfitter shops. I have bought several here in Vancouver, B.C., at 3-Vets.
P.S. If you have a can, but no can opener of any sort, and your Bowie knife is at the cleaners, use some concrete, or a flat rock. I mentioned this trick to a fellow i know, who was born and grew up in Poland -- said he knew about it when he was eight-years-old:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc7QEaPIfJQ
The rugged simplicity of the P-38 can opener. Click image to enlarge.[/caption][caption id="attachment_902" align="alignright" width="150"]
Using the P-38 to open a can takes some oomph. Click to enlarge.[/caption]After the Internet, my next favourite thing produced by the U.S. Military/Industrial Complex, is the P-38 can opener, and it's slightly larger sibling, the P-51. The U.S. Army issued P-38s to its soldiers, beginning with World War II, and continuing at least through the Vietnam conflict. Many armies have copied it. It's quite small, super-cheap to make, effectively indestructible, never rusts, and generally costs no more than a dollar -- and it has a hole so it fits on a key-ring. You find them at army surplus stores, and outdoors outfitter shops. I have bought several here in Vancouver, B.C., at 3-Vets.
P.S. If you have a can, but no can opener of any sort, and your Bowie knife is at the cleaners, use some concrete, or a flat rock. I mentioned this trick to a fellow i know, who was born and grew up in Poland -- said he knew about it when he was eight-years-old:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc7QEaPIfJQ
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