After three years my raincoat is starting to de-laminate on the hood and around the collar. Also one of the Velcro straps that holds the sleeve shut near the wrist is coming off. I sewed it back on. My pants that I bought at the same time de-laminated on April 17, 2007 and I had them replaced under warranty. They are starting to fall apart at the belt. The hole that the belt comes out of near the buckle has torn on both sides and allows the buckle to go all the way into my pants where I can not reach. I just finished sewing up both of those holes. I had been using baby diaper pins to keep the belt from pulling through.
My first blog post was about my need for new rain gear. Then the same month I blogged about my new rain gear.
I guess things have come full circle because I am once again blogging about my need for rain gear. Well not really, I am hoping to try to keep using this stuff for a while because I just used a bottle of Nikwax on it. I found the bottle of Nikwax out in the garage. It was after using that bottle of wax that I realized my coat is delaminated. I think that Nikwax is a real splurge and I very rarely buy the stuff. I think it is massively overpriced, does not last long and is un-necessary. But it is really fun to see the water just bead up and run off my rain gear. I think I have only bought the stuff two times. I wish I had a recipe to make my own I am certain that it would be cheaper. Maybe with the depression now in full swing they will have to lower the price of the stuff.
I was reading about boletes on your blog. I just picked some Boletus chrysenteron that were growing under the snow in my friend's back yard, kinda near Mt. Lassen (relative to WA). He lives at about 2500 feet of elevation. I also picked two, huge L. rachodes / Chlorophyllum brunneum. I dried the boletes on a toaster oven rack over my friend's wood stove. I left the parasol mushrooms on the table over night and the darned cat pulled one down and chewed it all up. I was hoping it would puke and learn a lesson, but no luck. Luckily, I got to eat the bigger of the two caps for breakfast with my eggs.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I read about you sinus infections... I used to get those when I was growing up in Michigan. I found that I didn't get them as often if I did the two following things: 1.) Used a warm steam humidifier in the house all the time and 2.) used a saline nasal spray while out and about on cold, dry days. If you dry out your sinuses, especially with gas heat at night, you can cause sinus problems. Just a thought.
Other thought: Arc'teryx and Patagonia make some very durable rain jackets. I don't know what brand you bought and you do a LOT more rain hikes than I do, but three years seems kind of short lived.
Anyway, thanks for the blog and photos!
-Bob in San Jose
Well my most recent rain coat seems to have only lasted 2 years...
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