zac_haryy

Ok, so I know that I am in the wrong forum kind of but I am tyring to find a good set of waterproof pants and there are lots of people that know tons of things about these here! Every time I searching for threads about waterproof pants I end up reading something from this site.

So I am a meter reader up in Iowa and I walk through a lot of snow. I have been wearing coveralls sprayed with camp dry to keep them somewhat water proof. Well its getting a lot warmer around here and I would like to just get some waterproof pants so that I dont have to wear anything insulated. So I'm looking for suggestions on what brands to buy (or which pants exactly) that would keep me dry walking in deep melting snow for around 8 hours.

I know this is kinda of the wrong place to ask this since im not asking a cycling question but lots of people seem to know a lot about this kind of thing and it would really help me out! I trudge in the snow all day and sweat a lot with insulated pants on!

Thanks!
-Zac

zac_haryy

Oh and if possible ones that have the (not elastic) but nylon stretchable rope in the bottom of velco bottoms that you can tighten (if possible), otherwise I just use black tape right now and tape the bottom of my coveralls tight lol. Thanks!

moralleper

This is an oxymoron. I believe that having something that is truly waterproof and truly breathable in not possible. I have a fairly expensive jacket that is "waterproof and breathable" and when it is raining the rain stays out but the jacket on the inside is wet due to keeping in the sweat and body heat turning it into a mini sauna.

MilitantPotato

Breathable is marketing bs.

For a couple of reasons, the main ones as I understand it (I'm an idiot so don't listen to me) are:
Humidity when it rains is normally very high.
It's warmer inside your jacket/pants, allowing a higher humidity level. (The warmer the air, the more water it can hold)
Being colder outside, it condenses on the fabric.

Or something like that, I'm tired. Breathable fabric is a heated topic, people spend heaps on it, and need to feel it works. It does in some situations, but more often then not, you're dry for a bit, then soaked from sweat.
I use raingear to keep warm and dry at low exertion levels.

Metzinger

I can understand why a person might think this. Waterproof breathable gear varies widely in quality. Good waterproof fabric has nowhere near the breathabliity of a very light shell material.

Also, different technical fabrics have varying degrees of vapor transport effectiveness at different relative humidities. Transport can be measured in g/m²/day. The same priciples apply to outer membranes used in the construction industry. High intensity exercise is incompatible with the WB garments that I've tried. But lower exertion activities like bike touring, hiking, paddling and mountaineering can be ideal applications for the stuff.

I've hiked all day in the rain in my North Face HyVent full-zip pants with no base layer. Water was constantly beaded on the outer fabric, and they were bone dry inside. Best pants I've ever had.

RI_Swamp_Yankee

You, sir, need a pair of gaiters. Knee-high coverings that go over your pants and boot-tops, and designed for just what you describe - trudging through deep snow and snowmelt. I've got a pair to go with my rain-cape. Between the two, I'm generally dry as a bone and cool as cucumber even in downpours.

Also, swap from cotton or denim to a synthetic blend for your pants - cotton sucks up water like a sponge, and acts as a refrigerator as it dries. I don't mean polyester pants like rent-a-cops wear, I mean nice hiking pants. Finally, make sure to wear a comfortable pair of wool socks - wool will keep your feet warm even when wet, and doesn't get stinky like polar-fleece socks. Modern wool socks are likely to be the softest, comfiest thing you have ever treated your feet to. If you're on your feet all day walking for a living, you are in for a revelation, it's like fitting yourself with a turbocharger.


Campmor sells all this stuff for pretty cheep, tho my local Job Lot store has seconds on high-grade wool socks for, like $2/pair.

AdamDZ

Yeah, get rid of cotton and invest in wool. You may consider wearing good quality cycling tights as your underwear, and yeah boots and gaiters. The tights should give you warm and dry feeling for hours, I used them under my hiking pants.

Adam

asok

Get carhartts. In fact, here are some breathable waterproof pants, https://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/s...tegoryId=17656 .

You can also look into boating clothing. Check out Gill Marine.

CCrew

I was going to say the same thing.. a lot of sailing clothing is designed to be waterproof yet worn all day.

thdave

Wool pants are key. They aren't waterproof, but they work well to keep water away from the skin and they also keep you warm when wet. Cotton or denim fail to do likewise.

Go to Salvation Army and find a few pairs of old wool pants.

nashcommguy

Don't exist.

vaticdart

Yes, this. I use wool knickers and wool knee high socks, but the effect is largely the same.

RaleighComp

This is exactly what I would wear for those conditions, like for pulling my two girls on a sled around our Reservoir in deep snow:

For cold temps:
1. Lightweight Patagonia base layer (thin nylony long johns, basically).
2. Polartec 200 Fleece sweat pants (insulation layer).
3. Gore-Tex Paclite Shell pants. Paclite is the lightest and most breathable Gore-Tex
4. Outdoor Research Rocky Mountain Low Gaiters.

The Low Gaiters are Very lightweight, easy to put on and take off and seal the deal between your boots and waterproof pants.

In warm weather and deep snow, it gets simpler:

1. Expedition weight base layer (this is really just a very thin fleece longjohn that will wick AND insulate)
3. Gore-Tex Paclite Shell pants. Paclite is the lightest and most breathable Gore-Tex
4. Outdoor Research Rocky Mountain Low Gaiters.

I use this exact same system for cycling, hiking, and skiing and it works great every time, except I don't need the Gaiters for cycling or skiing. The only other difference is I have two pairs of Paclite pants, one designed for hiking/walking, the other is specifically for cycling with "bends" already in the knees.

I especially like my hiking pants, because they have two big zippers on each leg( 4 total). One goes from the knee to the ankle, the other from the waist to the knee on each side. If you are getting too hot underneath, you simply open the top zipper to vent and you cool off nicely. With the bottom and top zipper unzipped you can easily put the pants on and take them off without taking your boots off. Also the big vent zippers are great if you have to go inside or in your car for a short while but know you will be going back out shortly.

What you wear under your waterproof pants is as important, if not more important, than the pants themselves. If you dress like the above you will be warm and dry. But when you take your pants off, you will find water between your insulation layer and shell layer. This is water in transit. It is constantly warming to vapor and going out through the Gore-Tex layer. If you wear cotton underneath, you will feel wet. If you have no insulation layer you will feel wet/cold. If you have no base layer to wick the sweat from your legs, you will probably also sense moisture inside. When it's wet and warm outside, their is no way to avoid moisture inside. You just won't feel wet and you won't be cold if you use layers correctly.

RaleighComp

+1 for high gaiters if the snow is less than knee high. I don't own high gaiters but I'll wear my low ones with Gore-tex hiking boots or trail running shoes with just regular jeans or hiking pants for 6 inches of snow or less.

RaleighComp

+1

Wool socks have gotten so great in the last few years (it used to be just SmartWool, now they all seem great) that I wear them just about every day of the year. I have thin low ones, dress ones, thick, thicker, and thickest winter ones. I don't know why I haven't thrown the rest of my socks out, I never wear them anymore.

zac_haryy

You guys have put up an amazing amount of info for me to go off of. My company is paying for these so I'm trying to stay below $150 (might be sorta steep haha) but anyways I do have to wear my jeans which are FR jeans cause I'm an electrical & water meter reader. The only reason for the FR is cause I have to do disconnects so very sadly I have to keep those denim jeans on (sadly). Anyways I think I'm just going to get some pants to have some and then get some gaitors later on then ill have a pair of both at least. I also go snowboarding from time to time so I will be using these pants for snowboarding also. I'll prob just do what RaleighComp says he does for skiing for that part of the adventure. But as for the pants I'm still debating what to buy (something with pockets wouldn't hurt an adjustable waist and legs). Anyways I've checked out these so far:
Carhartt® Waterproof Breathable Pants
Cabela's Mountain GORE-TEX® PacLite® Pants
North Face Men's Pants
Better North Face Men's Pants?

If anybody has better suggestions please post! Also these things are supposed to be black or blue is what they tell me. All help has been appreciated greatly and more is welcome!!

-Zac

rumrunn6

good luck with this quest

cyclezealot

I bought a pair of rainproof pants from Performance. When I wear them , I am not sure if the moisture originated from the outside or inside.. My waterproof tights seem to work better. The only moisture on the inside seems to be near it's several seams.

asok

Jeans aren't the only thing that are fire ******ant (assuming that is what you mean by FR)

https://www.hellyhansen-workwear.com/...dant-clothing/

Tude 

I just bought a pair of waterproof pants from these guys - haven't gotten them yet, and there are also rainproof/breathable pants there as well.

https://www.bicycleclothing.com/

trekker pete

there is one thing i know of that is breathable/water proof. it's called skin.

if you are cycling at any resonable pace, you are generating too much sweat to have it pass through a breathable suit. just wear poly or wool and accept the fact that you will indeed dry off sooner or later. you might even look at the water as a welcome cooling device.

scroca

Yes they have. And in return, you should bicycle to work.

Or at least be nice to bicyclists when you see them on the roads.

RaleighComp

If that were true you would never catch up and the longer you ride the more liquid you would have inside your clothes until they were just bags of water and you would get colder and colder and colder, which does not happen. Gore-tex and similar fabrics do indeed breathe, but there will always be water in transit in the "pipeline", but you won't feel any wetness or cold if you have the proper layers underneath. OTOH, your premise that you will indeed dry off sooner or later is correct for Gore-tex and Poly and Fleece, but not for Wool if you saturate it. Wool, unlike fleece, loses it's ability to insulate if fully saturated with water. It's all a balancing act, of course. If you ride at any significant pace, all of your clothes are never going to be completely dry. Moisture management is the name of the game and the goal is to avoid *being* cold and *feeling* wet which is very doable with the right layering. In a 35 degree torrential downpour I fully know all my baselayers will be wet when I take off my outer layers and the moisture condenses. I just won't feel wet while I'm riding because there will be a layer of warm water vapor, not liquid, next to my skin while I'm spinning.

Metzinger

Of these two, I would opt for the non insulated version, and have more layering options.
Mine are a full-zip version of these Venture model. Black, pockets, and the zip means i can get them on and off easily without removing boots.

RaleighComp

These are the probably the best-in-show.