How to reproof your waterproof gear.

Gareth    Clothing, General Outdoor     nikwax, reproofing, tech wash, TX direct, waterproof

Having a coat that’s lost it’s breathability and soaks up rain makes for a seriously uncomfortable day out. After our guide to washing down products, we’ve had a fair few requests from folks whose waterproofs have started to be, well, slightly less than waterproof! All jackets slowly lose their ability to repel water, to have rain bead or “rest” on the outside and that’s without even taking in to account your gear getting dirty. So if have been wondering just how to get that new jacket performance back, we’ve put together this guide on how to get your togs repelling water, and breathing easy again.

There are two things you can do to get your jacket working as good as new. First up Washing. You need to wash your jacket first to ensure it is clean, and in case it’s necessary make sure any reproofing can go on easily. In many cases simply washing your jacket will have it back performing near it’s best. It isn’t just a case of washing in normal detergent though as that will make things worse for technical outdoor gear. You need a specialist wash that will get rid of any residues that block breathability and attract water to make your gear “wet out”. There are a few products that will do this, but we really like Nikwax Tech wash for the washing bit. Not only does the hippy in me like it (it’s water based and environmentally friendly man) but it won’t damage the water repellent treatments on the outside of your jacket, nor any waterproof membrane either. To get the best results we reckon our foolproof instructions below will have you covered;

1. Clean your detergent dispenser. Sooper dooper important this bit, if there is any gunk left from your day to day washing, it’ll clog the pores of your gear, stop it breathing as well as stopping any reproofer from going on effectively afterwards.
2. Run your washing machine on it’s hottest wash with nothing in it. This is doing exactly the same thing as cleaning your dispenser by getting rid of the gunk inside. If you have a really grotty machine you might want to do it twice As a side note, our resident Dorset washing repair man Laurie reckons you should do this once in a while anyway to stop stuff building up that can damage your washing machine.
3. Get your gear ready. Loosen all draw cords and close all zips and Velcro so the jacket doesn’t catch. If there are any really filthy bits, rub a bit of neat Tech wash directly on to the affected area(s).
4. Wash a maximum of two items. Simples really, ensures that your stuff gets properly clean.
5. Follow your clothes care instructions.  Most washes should be on a delicate/synthetic wash with a slow spin to stop abrasion of your gear, follow the instruction label on your gear first and foremost.
6. Allow to dry naturally. This is really important if you are using a spray on reproofer later.

Assuming you have followed the instructions above for washing your gear, you won’t need to clean out your washing machine again so it’s just the following;

1. Maximum of two items. Same as above
2. Follow your clothes care instructions. Delicate or synthetic wash on a slow spin thanks people.
3. Warm dry your coat. This last bit isn’t critical but we find that heat ensures that repellency treatments lasts longer. Our order of preference for most effectiveness is tumble dry on a low setting if your garment allows it, shoving it on a hot radiator, popping in an airing cupboard, putting it out to dry in the hot sunshine, or (and be very careful here…) Ironing it on a very low setting.

And the winner of the golden globe for best outdoor video is…..

Gareth    General Outdoor     reviews, video, videos

Well it’s not us. But we reckon if there was an award, we would be in with a chance. Check out some of our recent videos which we think would have us blubbing about our mum’s come acceptance speech time. You can also head over to our You Tube channel as well for more outdoor goody reviews

Sixpenny Handley Dorset round walk.

Gareth    General Outdoor, Trips     backpackers club, dorset, sixpenny handley, Walk, Walking

Winter on the Missisippi

Michael    camping, General Outdoor, Trips     journey down the missisipi, winter

This is another post from Guest Blogger Michael Barratt who is walking the length of Missisipi in aid of AHMSA -  helping educational projects in Columbia. Webtogs are proud to sponsor him.

December has brought me to the last month I can be in the USA. With the visa waiver I am only allowed to spend three months in the USA, so today I will be flying out of New Orleans (I have not finished the trek yet obviously, New Orleans was just the cheapest place to fly out of) back to Bogota, Colombia to spend Christmas with my fiance Camila and her family. This is going to be a very welcome break let me tell you. I will return to finish the remaining 500kms as soon as possible in 2012.

 It has been a good month that brought many more great memories, but also it brought me the cold weather and also a little snow. The cold weather started to get to my body a little, especially my achillies tendon. It got to a stage where in the mornings I could not even walk and I would have to hobble along for the first hour until it warmed up and stretched out a little. I was to find out I had developed tendonitus,so I had to shack up in a motel for a few days and live on Ibuprofen. It was amazing how quickly it healed after a few days like that, and it worked out great as the days I ended up in the motel, a huge storm hit with flood warnings in the area, so I was able to enjoy the view from my window from the warmth of my bed.

Finding my way eventually to Memphis it was nice to arrive there, marking off the three quarter marker of the trek. I was only able to get 50kms past Memphis when I had to start hitch hiking towards New Orleans to get my flight. I ran into an amazing bunch of people all hooked up with the Newspaper association in the states of Mississippi and Lousiana who were good enough to drive me all the way from Tunica (which is the town I got to before stopping) to New Orleans. With many stops along the way, doing interviews and meeting people connected to the media, I arrived in New Orleans 3 days after. Having met these great people along the route that I will be following on my return, I am really looking forward to the next stretch of the trek. The river itself is going to be a lot harder to follow as it is like a giant wiggly snake from Memphis on, compared to the nice, straight Mississippi river from the north. But I guess it will be a change of scenery which is always a good thing.

So as for now I am heading back to Colombia to spend the break at a little farm in the coffe region with my loved ones. My body is sore and I am really looking forward to being around family again.

I will be in touch January to let you all know the date of my return to the states. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year, I know I will be enjoying it….

Top 5 Outdoor iPhone Applications

Gareth    General Outdoor     android, apps, iphone, smartphone

We reckon this blog post might get a few hackles up, there has been some intense debate in the office on this subject and there still isn’t agreement on all of them! We wanted to see what apps we were all using when heading out and about, so without further ado, let’s get straight in to our Top 5 Outdoors Apps in reverse order.

5) Google Earth – FREE Has been around for a while, and it’s always been a fantastic jaw dropper to show just what that Interwebby thing can do. We love it though for the simple fact that it’s no good at route planning or tracking, but does enable us to just fly amongst the hills, dream and plan our next jaunt out and about while flying like a bird.

4)  Go Sky Watch Planetarium – £2.49 Our favourite toy when we are wild camping and looking at the night sky. We really like the fact that you don’t have to touch the screen to navigate the sky and the display automatically shows correctly whatever angle you hold it at. You can ask it to point out Stars and Planets easily, and you have a groovy red version that keeps your night vision, or enables you to pretend you are on a Romulan battlecruiser.

3)  Gridpoint GB – FREE Feels like a bit of a Ronseal advert this one but it does do exactly what it says on the tin. It simply gives you your ordnance survey grid reference for where you are. Pretty handy in a white out or if you are lost. Only useful if you have a map with you, we nonethless think it’s pretty darn handy if you do get in the schtuck and want your phone as a backup to let you know where you are.

2) Gorillacam – FREE Taking photos when you are out and about in the hills is part of the outdoors experience for a lot of us and helps preserve the memories. The best camera as a photographer will often tell you, is the one you have with you, so although I have a nice compact, my iPhone is nearly always with me and has probably recorded more journeys. Gorillacam tweaks the functionality of the default camera to add loads of useful features from an anti-shake facility, rapid fire shooting mode, autosave, grid overlay, bubble level, press anywhere to shoot & time lapse mode. Pretty handy and has now replaced the standard camera application for me on the homepage.

1) Viewranger - £1.99 – £14.99  Our numero uno by some distance. There are a fair few GPS and navigation apps out there now, including classics such as Memory Map, but the one that stood tall in our eyes was Viewranger. Many people now have smartphones, so rather than lashing out on a brand new GPS, why not make use of the power that you have in your pocket? We have already reviewd it back in May and it has without fail been our most used outdoor application. There are two main choices, a £1.99 open maps version or a £14.99 version with credits to download Ordnance Survey or other local maps. Living in the middle of nowhere we love the ability to buy and download a map instantly, plus the maps work without having any signal. They also have a buddy beacon which enables you to track your friends, and link up to either their own service or Social Hiking to show your route real time and share your journey with others. From our point of view it also adds a safety element ensuring you have two maps with you when you head out.

So there we have our top 5 outdoor iPhone apps. Highly subjective and not without some heated debate in the office! We would have included Andriod aps as well but it looks like our office is filled with iPhones only (plus an Experian and one Blackberry) so forgive us for not including them this time around. What are your favourite outdoor apps and why? If you are an Android user, are there any other apps you have on the dark side we don’t have access to?

Journey Down the Missisipi – November

Gareth    General Outdoor, Trips     journey down the missisipi, missisipi, wild camping

We are lucky enough to have sponsored with Rab’s help Michael Barrett who is walking the entire length of the Missisipi in aid of Ahsma, a charity that supports education in Columbia. His blog can be found at Journey Down the Missisipi, but he is also going to be posting for us as well. In his latest extract, he gives the low down on November.

November

Well it has been a long walkabout so far to say the least. Last time I wrote I was a few days walk out of the city of Mineapolis. I caught good weather all the way to Minneapolis and covered good ground quickly, averaging around 33 kms each day. I was lucky enough to have s friend who lives in St Paul which is the twin city of Minneapolis and was treated to a shower, a bed and a good feed on arriving, gotta tell ya, it was a place I found hard to leave!

The next week saw me heading south east towards the city of La Crosse in Wisconsin. The walk has been attracting a lot of media attention and none more so than around this area. After doing a few interviews on the local TV and being in a few newspapers in that area, it became common for these two or so weeks for people to invite me into their homes for dinner or lunch and even people yelling encouragement out of their shop windows in the smaller towns, it was small things, but it is those small things that gave me a boost at times when I was really stuffed and struggling to keep going.

The middle area of the Mississippi river was very beautiful and I was lucky enough to be able to follow the river almost on the edge for 100s of kms. It has been the best part of the trek to date, wandering along the rivers edge through small little villages on the river – exactly how I had pictured the adventure from the beginning.

The people I have met and that have helped me out have been amazing. If had not met these people in my path I have no doubt that I would stil be 100 kms further north struggling with the cold weather. They really have been the best part of the whole experience so far, it’s amazing how many people you meet with a good heart.

I am now in a motel about a weeks walk from Memphis. I am in a motel as with today arrived the first day I have seen snow here since begining the trek. I am huddled up in my warm room tonight trying to enjoy it as much as possible as tomorrow I will be heading out into the snow and wind accompanied by the temperature of around -4c. Wish me luck…