Bushwalk Australia

Have returned to bushwalking after a 15 year absence. In that time knee lenght raincoats seem to have practically disappeared.
Not after anything fancy, just like something that keeps my shorts mostly dry on firetrails. Obviously wouldn't expect to stay that dry staggering around in Blue Mountains gullies anyway. Not interested in overpants.
Only one I've found so far is at Paddy's for about $350. Unfortunately has velcro instead of press stud outer fastening which does not impress. Anyone know of any others?

Regards,
Graeme

We all complain but nobody makes.
Short "Technical" jackets are "Sexy" and sell well
I haven't bought a new coat for a decade because of this lack.
I saw a trench coat last winter that came to the crutch for crying out loud
DIY is the only answer or a Dryzabone in dry japara

MacPac Hollyford (?) was longer than the majority. I like it, have had no problems at all

See a review here

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7425#p95506

To overcome this issue, a kilt seems to be the answer for some!
Very breavable!!!

Hi

Fully agree. Knee length rain coats just do not exist at the moment. The longest of the current crop are the Mountain Design Stratus in Gore-tex Peformance shell and the MacPAc Hollyford in Event. Despite the marketing hype in the XXL fitting there is only about a centimetre at most difference in length and neither are anywhere knee length so unless you are Capper type short person then the bottom of your shorts will get wet with either. Found out that a New Zealand manufacturer (rather than marketer) does a jacket but still not long enough. It is been sold by Passion8 in Hobart. It uses a Japanese made fabric so no idea on its performance but do like the style.

The Goretex material in the MD is pretty much bullet proof and the DWR appears to stand up to wear well. The Event material appears to be tough enough but the DWR coating tends to be rather suspect. I have the now discontinued Vista from Paddy Pallin in the Gore-tex Pro shell and even that is lucky to be a cm longer than either. But the DWR coating is brilliant and the jacket material has proven to be extremely tough.

Yeap, grumble, whine, and, complain but the manufacturers are dedicated to selling short jackets so they can flog the wet weather pants

As for sexy short eVent gear, the UK mail order places are the best being, or were, half to a third the inflated AUD pricing plus with a good range of styles. They tend towards the lighter weight grades which is ok for track walking but care needs to be taken when you venture off-track. Rab does a range in the heavy weight eVent material. I have the lighter weight Rab pants they have performed well. Not so impressed by the Montane Jacket but mine is the older model and the newer ones look good but are only available in the mid or lighter weight eVent material.

Cheers

This is what your after: http://www.oringi.com.au/product.pasp?categoryid=4&productid=43

I don't know anything about the jacket beyond what's on the website.

Also NZ made Earth Sea Sky do a jacket called Hydrophobia http://www.earthseasky.co.nz/products/waterproof/gelanotsventx.html

Thanks for those 2 links Gusto. I am eking out my Mont Gore-Tex Tempest (pre-Hydronaute) at the moment, not least because of it's length (as in no wet shorts), but also because with a little help from Nikwax, is still doesn't wet out. All good. I have Earth Sea Sky stuff and it is amazingly tough. Their old nylon canvas is near enough to indestructable, so I am quite interested in the Hydrophobia. Looks good. The Oringi Grampian Bush walking jacket is also a very serious length, isn't it? Thanks again for the links.

rucksack

That Grampians jacket is the length all jackets used to be.
I still take the pants for extreme conditions or skiing but really want the return of bib and brace not these stupid half height sallopettes like my current Mountain Designs Alpettes which really are poorly designed

Thanks for all your replies.
Using a friend's shorter jacket for comparison, the Grampian's stated back length of 105cm (why don't all the manufacturers give this figure?) should reach my knees, and I'm 6' 0" (183cm). The price of $275 also seems reasonable.
Depending on there response to a few quesions of mine, I will probably give this one a go. Will keep posting.

Graeme

Don't forget that taking in the waist using the drawstring can shorten the jacketby up to 150mm.
Makers do not give that measurement because the sales team who write the copy are not users of the garments and do not know of its importance I think.

Just thinking about long rainwear; I wonder why manufacturers do not make a hybrid jacket with a breathable fabric on the top half and plain coated fabric on the skirt??
Most of the sensible sweat happens on the back, axilla and chest area, and Goretex and its analogues are simply not needed below the waist and the laundry issue is simple fabric engineering and should be easily solved.

a few snap buttons and a coat extender? I'd be asking more about the material in that Grampian jacket, could be a sweatbox?

How long 'shorts'?
whats wrong with capper shorts? good enough for our forefathers! before we went to flabby thigh covering 'boys in the hood' style shorts humble stubbies were all the rage, bring back stubbies i say not that i'd wear them either, the few secs to slip on rain pants isnt a big deal, some 'breathe' well enough and personally always carry them anyway. event shorts?

We used to have a saying
:"better warm and wet than cold and wet and dead":
part of me still agrees

Also Both Wilderness Wear and Mont have reasonably long rain coats too.

I have used a grampian. It is pretty bomb proof. Doesnt breath that well. Basic design. Kept me dry on the WA's twice in some very ordinary weather. Very tough material. Also easy to look after, just throw it in the washing machine.
I dont use it any more as I wanted a coat that breathed better.
One thing with it, mine comes down to nearly my knees, is that pushing through scrub or even just an overgrown track the inside of the coat along the bottom gets wet and seems to wick up the inside. i usually walk in shorts and the bottom of my shorts would invariably get wet.
Also the sizing is on the small size, I use a lagre size and I am only 5'6"

Roger

Ent wrote:Hi

Fully agree. Knee length rain coats just do not exist at the moment. The longest of the current crop are the Mountain Design Stratus in Gore-tex Peformance shell and the MacPAc Hollyford in Event.
Cheers

The MD's Melaleuca jacket is thier longest offering. It has repel fabric.

Here are some more NZ long jackets I found on the net . No idea how they actually go though.
http://www.swazi.co.nz/Online-Shop/Wet-Weather-Gear/

swazi use gore tex, mainly for hunters, doesnt list the weights, bear in mind it might be on the heavy side for NZ bushbashing

i was looking at the grampian and was trying to find out how breathable it is, but couldnt find any information giving any numbers. a friend of mine thought it leaked but i wondered if as stated above that it wasnt breathing well and just built up a lot of sweat. i've never seen it in outdoors shops and i wonder why

Other option for knee length rainwear is the old school poncho. They are not popular anymore but they are much cheaper, half of the weight of a full length jacket, and they dont need to be as breatheable because there is plenty of aeration anyway (at exception of the hood). Also they are much easier to take on and off, as you wear them on top of your backpack, keeping your gear dry at the same time.
Most of them work as emergency blanket as well, and they double as extra layer for the mat helping with the insulation...

" i've never seen it in outdoors shops and i wonder why"
You can get them on line, they will send you a brochure and a sample of the material.
You can usually see them at field days as well, that is where I first saw them, Agfest.
Most of the Oringi gear is aimed at the farmer or industrial.
Roger

I've read about some of the overseas lightweight tramping crowd opt for "rain kilts"
example of one here , och aye, um not sure if they do it in a tartan.... no idea what they wear underneath....
http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/cloudkilt.shtml

I'm on leave from work at the moment but I saw this on the MDs website the other day. I assume it's a new product to suit people after a knee length raincoat.
http://www.mountaindesigns.com/online-s ... odID=19527

Never seen one in store, when I clicked on the link and selected XXL the price came up at $75- If we hadn't just bought tickets to the US i think we would get a couple each.
if they really are only $75 each get in quick

Moondog55 wrote:Never seen one in store, when I clicked on the link and selected XXL the price came up at $75- If we hadn't just bought tickets to the US i think we would get a couple each.
if they really are only $75 each get in quick

It would also appear that the lime green Flash is only $100.

each to their own, you'd have to pay me to wear that, he he, but good for those who like the knee length jackets...

wayno wrote:each to their own, you'd have to pay me to wear that, he he, but good for those who like the knee length jackets...

Probably why only the green one is going cheap

The Mtn Designs product is called Loongana. From the photos it certainly appears to be long enough. It's made from Repel™Storm 3L Nylon Tactel, whatever the hell that is. The web site price is $175 "was $250". Maybe the $75 was a typo. Even so $175 may be reasonable. However Mtn Designs told me today that it is a new product and there are none in NSW yet. Funny that something that doesn't yet exist can have an 'old' price. I did like the description though: "... won't win any beauty contests, but ..."

I also received a reply on the Grampian, but it sounded a bit markety.

Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I suspect that in buying this sort of thing the law of diminishing returns applies, so maybe once the key basic requirements are met it's best to buy the cheapest.

Graeme

Grabeach wrote:The Mtn Designs product is called Loongana. From the photos it certainly appears to be long enough. It's made from Repel™Storm 3L Nylon Tactel, whatever the hell that is. The web site price is $175 "was $250".

If you select the XL size, the price displays as $75.

Strider wrote:

Grabeach wrote:The Mtn Designs product is called Loongana. From the photos it certainly appears to be long enough. It's made from Repel™Storm 3L Nylon Tactel, whatever the hell that is. The web site price is $175 "was $250".

If you select the XL size, the price displays as $75.

They fixed the web page bug on sunday.
The jacket was one of a few items that changed to $75 when selected.
If only I was quick enough to buy one.....

Wazza.

Cannot see how a product that is not in Store can be "was now" or am I missing something ??
Also as separate question what is the marked price on 230g elememtal gas canisters in your stores ??
corvus