You all have washing machines? Flipping heck.

how often should a waterproof coat be washed and reproofed? just a rough estimate

Depends how often it's worn and how grubby it is....very rarely in our house (annually?) as we tend to leave wearing the actual shell until we have to - it stays in the sac.

Ray Saunders - it's a classic "how long is a piece of string?" question.

Wash it when it's dirty and/or wetting out.

Proof it when washing doesn't restore the water repellency.

If the washing/reproofing instructions say iron it then iron it! It can make a big difference.

That was to Ray Saunders.

What would happen if I used TX-direct on a fleece or something similar?

It would make it a bit water resistant...best to use polar proof.

Dave,

You said I 'could' spray my Feura Smock, and so I didn't include it in the machine when I re-proofed my Velez and Cascada trousers last night, but could I have used the wash-in stuff on it? I wasn't sure. I have the spray, but would expect a wash-in product to impregnate it more thoroughly, so if I can then I'll do it that way.

You certainly could use the Wash In on your Fuera Smock.

It's what I proofed my very own Fuera Smock in this very week.

The spray will impregnate just as well, but obviously it is much harder to get the coverage exactly right.

<daft question alert>

Same process for an aspira jacket?

Ta Dave! Will do it later today, then :-)

<daft answer alert>
yes

JJ- Polar Proof is TX-direct in a slightly more concentrated form... or so I was told by a Nikwax employee...

I was looking at the Nikwax products yesterday because I needed to re-stock, and an employee told me that he'd seen the Nikwax Polar Proof render a fleece completely waterproof!

Is that possible, Dave?

:-)

TX has rendered a fleece quite shower-resistant here.

Sounds like a Plan.

Did it have any bad affects on the pile JJ? Didn't mess it up any more than a usual wash would right? I havent used Tech Wash on a fleece yet, I've gone for the mildest normal detergents from a supermarket and I wasn't happy with the state the fleece came out in.

TX wouldn't trash/hurt at all right?

Come to think of it:

Has anyone used TX/Polar Proof/Cotton proof on something like a regular hoody from any old shop? Turning one of these into a soft-shell kinda garment would be really cool as I trust the cotton/polyester blend to be harder wearing than some of the shell materials *cough*Apex*cough*

Any idea how long the proofing would last on this kinda thing?

Ben - it was a dense kinda fleece, not an old-school shaggy. It looked exactly the same afterwards.
Except water-resistant, of course.

What do you mean by "dense kinda" Are we talking the regular polartec stuff like you get everywhere? Or something else. I dont understand "old-school shaggy", my young 17yr old brain finds CDs kinda old-school.

Im well up for proofing my old hoodies if people think it'll work alright.