"Waterproof" pack fabrics and other nonsense

[Phaseolus]

JP, Us Desert folks have it easy, we get about 8” preip annually. My wife and I spent a night in an old combi at Haast, it rained so hard all night I thought it was going to come through the metal. We were almost deaf the next morning. You’d like Seek Outside stuff as much or better than Kifaru methinks.

I should add, no offence to the guys here from the western USA and other 'dry' parts of the world, but unless you have been to a 'wet area' you dont really know what 'we'(guys in the wet) and talking about when we say wet.

The most recorded rain I have personally been in was 250mm++, thats over 10 inches, in around 6 hours. I emptied a rain gauge in the morning(which had around 100mm in it) and then returned later that day and emptied is and it was over flowing, and only holds 250mm.

In some parts of NZ that is not particularly unusual.

Just for perspective our rain fall records

1 hour- 109mm(4")
24 hours-682mm(26+")

1 year-18,442mm(726")

Obviously these are extremes, but does give some perspective. And alot of areas in the mountains have no records aswell.


I not saying 'we are tougher or you' or anything like that, but its just a very different set of circumstances that 'we' operate in. Things that seem good in theory(like floorless tents, and 'waterproof' Cordura) just dont work in the real world here.

Its great to see a company like Kirafu, who is based in a dry environment, go out of their way to make gear for those of us who are in the other environment.

I am really excited to see how one of these Xpac bags does handle things here.

 

[JP100]

JP, Us Desert folks have it easy, we get about 8” preip annually. My wife and I spent a night in an old combi at Haast, it rained so hard all night I thought it was going to come through the metal. We were almost deaf the next morning. You’d like Seek Outside stuff as much or better than Kifaru methinks.

haha Haast is about the end of the Earth, cool spot, but tough place to live

I have not given it much thought(seek outside) up until just the other day. Spent A bit of time on their site and there is some cool ideas there. Will make an effort to try and see some of their gear when I am state side next. Do you think their packs are durable enough for heavy/guide abuse/use??

Would be great if we had a NZ company make some good packs, but the overheads here with shipping and sourcing materials are so high. Makes it almost impossible to make good gear here.

 

[Sverimerica]

If you think about it, the words water-proof and water-resistant hang together in a tricky way and like the OP mentioned very slightly, a key is PSI tolerance.... I think, as I am not a material scientist, but what he is saying and how he is using the term makes sense.

Example: the plastic floats which line the headrope of a bottom trawl would be considered in common vernacular to be waterproof. However, take this bottom trawl to a depth where the pressure exceeds the tolerance of said floats and they will implode. Were they waterproof? Yeah, to a point.

If you see water collecting on a material but not permeating the material, it appears to be waterproof, but with enough pressure, perhaps nothing is truly waterproof, thus allowing us to use the term waterproofedness (pretty sure that's not a real word) in a way similar to how we commonly use water resistant.

Am I on the right track DaveC? Hahaha

Skickat från min G8142 via Tapatalk

 

[DaveC]

As with most things "waterproof" is an inconveniently complex thing when you dive into the details. Anyone claiming to have just one answer is likely trying to sell you something.

That said, the prime purpose of the PU coating on pack fabrics is water/weather proofing. To say that 350mm isn't enough in certain conditions is quite accurate. To say that these fabrics weren't made and marketed as waterproof by at least one definition is just not accurate.