waterproofing..

just searching around at re-waterproofing floatation suits for when the inevitable will happen and i stumbled on this site

[url]http://www.rei.com/rei/learn/noDetail.jsp?URL=%2Frei/learn/camp/outwaterf.jsp#ORIG[/url]

it was this bit that caught my attention

The best way to renew your DWR(durable water repellent) is to launder your waterproof/breathable outerwear according to the care instructions and iron it using a warm steam setting. This will restore the water beading protection on the outer surface as long as the original water-repellent treatment is present.

now i'm not going to put my floatation suit under the iron... but for as for other items of clothing that have waterproofing it might be the trick to restore waterproofing..

if all else fails there is always this
[url]http://www.rei.com/product/47876450.htm[/url]

Well, I certainly know enough about fabrics and quite a bit about waterproof fabric....but reading that doesn't seem to gel with some of the things I know....for a start an Iron doesn't have a "WARM" steam setting.....to make steam you need heat....if you need warm you use a hairdryer...like they use on the wax cotton Barbour type fabrics...that makes the wax run into an area that may have had the wax taken off by a scratch.

Water repellent is very good because it doesn't let water build up along seams...especially around the neck seam, where most poor garments first let water in.

A spray of any sort will only put a film over the outer shell of the fabric and will only do the job until it wears off....that will not happen even and will need to be checked regular for leaks...a scrape from a rough rock or a wall can cause the film to stop working.

To be honest....some of the cheaper very lightweight fabrics that are not breathable work best and for longer...the main key is the taped seams...if that job is done right, then an inexpensive garment can outlive a more expensive one.

Tom.