For those who have been following the outdoor industry trends, the new popular kid in class is eVent fabrics which are making their presence known in everything from tents to drybags to jackets. It’s a pretty cool fabric that is significantly more breathable than Goretex. It’s amazing to see a drybag made of that material purge air through the material itself.
With that said, it’s finally getting into paddling gear. This past year at the Outdoor Retailer show, NRS showed off new drysuits and drytops utilizing eVent fabric. I got excited but was a bit miffed when I saw that their 2008 Inversion Drysuit featured their standard Triton material. So I emailed them and got the following response:
“Thank you for your e-mail. Our 2008 Inversion Drysuits will be made out to
the TriTon fabric. We do have another kayak drysuit, called the Mission,
coming in 2008 as well that will be made of the eVent fabric. We probably
won’t be seeing those suits until February. Please let me know if you have
any other questions.”
Even though I have a breathable drysuit right now (Bomber Gear), I’m in the market for a new one and I’m really hoping to get one of these new ones next year to see how they are. (I’ve been disappointed in Goretex in the past as well so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.)
crap!
i just got a gortex suit!
I have an eVent compression drybag …
which I use for my sleeping bag. It works great. It will be interesting to see how the fabric holds up in a drysuit. I currently have three Gore-tex drysuits (don’t ask!) one from ca. 1991, one from ca. 1997 and one from ca. 2002. The Kokatat fabric has gotten progressivly thinner, presumably to increase the breathability. The heavyweight 1991 model does not have any patches while the others have been patched several to many times.
~wetzool
it depends on what they bond it with
Goretex and eVent are breathable membranes which they bond to tougher fabrics like nylon (i think). I guess the toughness would be dictated by what the manufacturer decided to bond the membranes with.
no big deal…
You’ve got a great suit that will allow you to paddle year round now. It’s a proven suit with a lifetime guarantee on the material. New technologies are always a bit risky for the early adopters.
If I didn’t already have a drysuit, I would have been really tempted by the Kokatat Meridian NRS Deal of the Day sale that they had a few days ago.
eVent rules
I have had an Integral Designs Thru Hiker jacket for over a year now. It’s super light and breaths as avertised. I know everyone is wondering about long term performance, but at 30-50% of the price of a similar Gore garment, I’m willing to replace it every few years.
I also agree with th poster above about the impact of the fabric on durability and breathability…
Mike
Sorry to break the news
But eVent has been on the market for almost 10 years now. I have a bivy that I bought in 99 or 2000 made with eVent. It’s pretty popular with European manufacturers.
E-Vent
As a backpacker who also frequents the backpacking forums, I have read a lot about this fabric.
From what I have read it seems to be significantly more breathable than Gore-Tex fabrics. Almost the holy grail of waterproof breathable membranes.
That is great to hear that there will be a dry suit offered in this material. Great idea.
Being that it will be from NRS I imagine it will be inexpensive compared to top of the line suits like Kokatat.
Matt
How waterproof is it?
I daresay that’s a bit more important to kayakers than breathability.
Breathability
Here’s another one of you. According to Phil Gibson of the U.S Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, MA., Entrant Gll XT is more “breathable” than Gore-tex also.
John
Waterproof
My understanding is that it is truly waterproof (unlike some other highly breathable fabrics like Epic which are questionably waterproof and not really suitable…no pun intended…for a dry suit).
Matt