Hey Ron or Someone - Water Repllent Spray?

[Ben]

Looking for recommendations from Ron, or someone else that has had good results with a brand.

I'm thinking it's time to treat my 20 year old Gore Tex jacket to give the water repellent a boost. I got rained on good in the Sierra a couple of weeks ago, and while I stayed mostly dry, it seemed like maybe something was starting to work through the shell.

Also I have a pair of synthetic hiking pants (the BC clothing pants that Costco sells) that are not water repellent per se, but was maybe looking to treat them as well.  I was saved by my wool long johns on this last trip. The pants kinda hold a little water off for a while, but when it gets heavier, they get soaked. I know I shoulda had some rain pants with me, but that's water under the pants. :)


Anyway, any recommendations on a good product?

[Ron]

I use Nikwax TX Direct spray and am satisfied with its performance.

You should wash the jacket first. I would use a performance wash or detergent with no perfumes. It’s really important to get all the soap/detergent out of the fabric as most detergents are hydrophilic as well as hard to rinse out. Not what you want absorbed into your waterproof membrane. If you use regular detergent rinse twice.

The Revivex brand was originally a Gore product that was formulated for GoreTex waterproof fabrics. They spun it off to someone else so they could focus on selling performance fabrics, their expertise, vs chemicals.

[TechMan]

Follow on to that Ron, what would you recommend for waterproofing a tent, if anything.  I have a Kelty 6 person that is ~10 years old and 1 year old Coleman weathermaster.

[Ron]

For the record, all of the sprays are water repellents not waterproofers.

The repellency is to maintain the breathability of the fabric when in the rain. Wetted out nylon doesn’t breath.

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/rainwear-how-it-works.html

For the tent, once again I’ve mostly always used a nikwax product, Tent and gear proof.

If it is leaking you may need to reseal the seams.

Tent and gear-proof also adds some UV protection. The suns rays are hard on nylon.

[TechMan]

For the record, all of the sprays are water repellents not waterproofers.

The repellency is to maintain the breathability of the fabric when in the rain. Wetted out nylon doesn’t breath.

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/rainwear-how-it-works.html

For the tent, once again I’ve mostly always used a nikwax product, Tent and gear proof.

If it is leaking you may need to reseal the seams.

Tent and gear-proof also adds some UV protection. The suns rays are hard on nylon.

Sorry about the misnomer.  Thank you for the link and the recommendations.

[Ben]

Yeah, thanks Ron. I'll give the Nikwax a go.

[K Frame]

I use Scotchguard Heavy Duty Water Shield on my jackets. Seems to work great. Speaking of which, I need to do my Duluth Shirtjack. I wore in the rain the other day and I forgot that I had washed it in the spring and never retreated it. Wet I was.

[makattak]

I've got an interesting issue related to this.

I picked up a grill gazebo on clearance and have been very happy with it except on issue.

When it rains heavily, the rain gets into a seam at the bottom of the canopy (all the way around) and baloons it up, holding the water there.

So the canopy is doing a great job repelling the rain... except at the seam.

I'm thinking to use some tent seam sealer on it to prevent that. (Once things actually dry out.) Any suggestions on whether than should work?