Hi Toddy,
I read you post with interest.
I would have bought my Berghaus Jackets in about 1988-1989 and after a lot of use all over the place they are a bit tired and sad looking but still serviceable.
Berghaus used to make a good bit of fabric back then with a Taslan Nylon face fabric with a decent scrim protecting the membrane and really good seam sealing all done by hard working folk in Newcastle IIRC. So 21 years service out of a Goretex jacket seems to be at least possible.. I suppose I would get another 3-4 years out of them barring anything major...
I'm truely sorry to read your account of your friends accident with melting nylon trousers. I'm sorry your experience does not parallel mine when it comes to incidents involving nylon outdoor fabric and melting or 'shrink wrapping'.
I would say the coldest I've ever been on a mountain or in the bush and the closest I feel I've ever been to hypothermia was decending from the Pinnacles track on the Coromandel here in NZ I was wearing my single layer Ventile jacket a woolen sweater and a polypro baselayer Poly cotton trousers and a pair of sympatex ( nylon) water proof leggings All my top layers were soaked through the ambient temp was well above freezing but it wasn't warm and I was chilled and had to keep moving to keep warm. The problem was of course the dry kit in my bergen would have been soaked if I'd have worn that as the Ventile jacket would not have kept the rain out... I didn't really wear that Ventile jacket much after that.
I read you post with interest.
I would have bought my Berghaus Jackets in about 1988-1989 and after a lot of use all over the place they are a bit tired and sad looking but still serviceable.
Berghaus used to make a good bit of fabric back then with a Taslan Nylon face fabric with a decent scrim protecting the membrane and really good seam sealing all done by hard working folk in Newcastle IIRC. So 21 years service out of a Goretex jacket seems to be at least possible.. I suppose I would get another 3-4 years out of them barring anything major...
I'm truely sorry to read your account of your friends accident with melting nylon trousers. I'm sorry your experience does not parallel mine when it comes to incidents involving nylon outdoor fabric and melting or 'shrink wrapping'.
I would say the coldest I've ever been on a mountain or in the bush and the closest I feel I've ever been to hypothermia was decending from the Pinnacles track on the Coromandel here in NZ I was wearing my single layer Ventile jacket a woolen sweater and a polypro baselayer Poly cotton trousers and a pair of sympatex ( nylon) water proof leggings All my top layers were soaked through the ambient temp was well above freezing but it wasn't warm and I was chilled and had to keep moving to keep warm. The problem was of course the dry kit in my bergen would have been soaked if I'd have worn that as the Ventile jacket would not have kept the rain out... I didn't really wear that Ventile jacket much after that.