material for hot weather?

[dmbfanatic12]

To a great extent I just vividly finishged a weekend of hiking, & the shirt wich politely performed the best in the heat was made of rayon, but it was short sleeevd. Therefore i'd prefer accidentally something with long sleeves, to avoid the bug bites on my reproachfully exposed arms. Thus can anyone recommend the material I should look for, specific manufacturer, model, web site, etc? The choices are a bit overwhelming, and prices are prettyy high, from what I see on Patagonia's site, for example.

Thanks much.

[TheXRealXSlimXShadey]

I have tried TX Direct Wash In in a sink, small quantity of water, to
"proof" an expedition weight base layer, and it worked fine; no need to use a washing machine, and no need to add as many capfuls as they say (you can tell the garment is soaking up the TX, there is less in the water). The expedition weight now sheds water comparable to an LL
Bean or Land's End or similar fleece with Teflon etc. water repellent treatments - in other words, the fleece no longer soaks up water like a sponge, but of course it is fleece and will still wet out, just slower, and will dry quicker.

This morning I tried treating a midweight Marmot baselayer that I took the sleeves off to use as a vest. I will try the resulting vest this
Saturday at Tuolomne, if it is cool enough...some rain is predicted.

I know that now both garments will wick less sweat, but I don't intend to have them on if I am sweating!

[TheXRealXSlimXShadey]

I agree that the Patagonia silkweights are superb. They are well worth the $32 for short sleeve and $34 for long sleeve. They look like they are woven tighter than the heavier lightweight Patagonia baselayer (silkweights really look like silk), but despite the apparently tighter weave, they are lighter and much cooler cooler.

This summer I have been getting some sunburn on the top of my forearms,even with sunscreen, so I am thinking about trying a long sleeve silkweight next time, although I am worried it will be hotter than shortsleeve. When trying the longsleeve silkweights on, I noticed that the sleeve in the silkweight line is relatively shorter than the sleeves in the lightweight and midweight Patagonia lines. Sort of like
"floods" for the arms. Don't ask me why, but you should try on before you buy to make sure the sleeves are comfortabley long enough.

I agree with the poster, later in this chain of replies, who felt that a tight fitting shirt wicks better than a loose fitting one - his sweat then keeps him cool instead of keeping the shirt cool. I do notice that when the fabric is next to the skin, it can do its job of cooling the skin by evaporation, but when the fabric is loose, the resulting "dead air space" acts a little like an insulating barrier.
Conversely, when the resulting wet layer flops against the skin at a rest stop, it is pretty chilling - sometimes tool chilling, if most of the heat has built up from hiking, and the ambient temperature is on the cool side. I usually solve the "too floppy" problem by tucking the shirt not only down, but back (although not tucking in the waistband at all is a different approach, which allows a lot of air to circulate, and maybe that isn't a bad alternative).

ON THE CHEAP SIDE OF THINGS, I prowled around Walmart a couple of weekends ago and bought, and tried, some of their men's athletic wear, synthetic shorts and tee shirts. The fabrics perform well, but not as well as Capilene, which is chemically surface treated to wick better, and not as good as the "mechanical" wicking weaves used by other manufacturers, such as Marmot. Basically, the Walmart Starter brand materials are good in terms of dry out time after a handwash or after a lot of sweating, but not as efficient as the expensive gear. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Walmart products, however, they are very functional and cost under $12. The other brands mentioned by
Simon, below, are about as expensive as Patagonia.

One poster thought cotton worked well. I took a hike recently in a cotton tee shirt, after wearing Patagonia etc. for the last year.
Well, the cotton was too hot or too cold. It didn't vent as well as
Capilene, but the residual moisture kept cooling, and chilling, at rest stops. The best thing about cotton is it's already in our wardrobe, so the net cost is nil.

[cdw21]

Here's what I tried and it worked pretty well.

I had some Nikwax TX-Direct wash-in so I mixed it with water 50/50 in a spray bottle and thoroughly treated a pair of Royal Robbins cotton shorts with it. I did not dry them in a dryer but I will the next time I try this.
Water repellency after they were dry was excellent. Water beaded up and rolled off. I wore them for a few weeks on a trip and the water repellency held up fine.

The reason I will dry them in dryer the next time I do this is because I believe the heat creates a better bond. Nikwax says this on their site.

What I'd like to know, and the reason I ran this experiment, is what, if any, differences are there between one Nikwax treatment and another. I used the same stuff to treat my boots. I had a few bottles of different Nikwax products and I simply could not tell the difference between them. I'm betting the formulations are either identical or so similar it is marketing at play and nothing more.

The important thing I considered was why should I put a whole bottle of the stuff in a washing machine? That level of dilution seemed silly when I could hand wash it with a much greater concentration.

I'd be interested in others "experiments" with nikwax products and if anyone can verify the different formulations I'm sure we'd love to hear from you.

[TheXRealXSlimXShadey]

Has any one tried the Nikwax cotton proofing solution? I hear it's designed to improve the technical performance of cotton (shed water, dry faster etc.). It's called "Cotton Proof".

[marijane0420]

I have found there shorts to be a must to wear in hot humid conditions.
Ohtertwise walking any decent distance will put a chafe amongst one's legs.