Rain Gear

Lepton1 made good recent post about rain gear.
Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

 

I generally take the rain soaking working on flat bed provided the metal does not conduct electricity. (There are some that does, but I take care to stand on wood deck or never to complete a contact across the heart with both hands. If I am going to take a lightning hit it's going to have to run down the leg from the arm or head.

The soaking provides a side benefit of cooling and washing. It is silly to tarp a secured load after it's been thundred on and rained on to where you cannot see the end of your tractor trailer at times for 3 hours while you toss chain and strap)

If this is a winter situation with temperatues below 65 (Loss of Core Temperature leading to mental confusion, poor heart timing, lack of muscle strength, loss of fine motor coordination don't you love those big words.. ow...

Or in a storm that has winter freezing with sleet or hail (Even in a summer storm with hardhat, which wont matter against 5 inch stones falling at 130 mph into your head.. it's coming through. You see a big light and then nothing, dead so fast you are enterally wondering what that big light was all about.

I'll wear a full set of hood, torso and pants with partial rubber lowers and GI leather uppers for a leakproof shoes and water proof thinsulate gloves if I can find some. Under that will be several layers if necessary of clothing. The oilskin (Ocean term... I use) is carefully sized to accept the biggest winter coat I use on one (They are not that expensive.. but you would pay the whole of Camelot and it's value not to freeze to death) And of course they are sized to accept the big Colt in it's holster etc so when I go out into public as a carry. It will have to be a absolute necessity for me to come out of my house onto the road. Such as taking Ex to the ER at the VA for example.

 

I think you just need to strip down to your underwear and towel off afterwards.

 

What I said about lighting only applies to direct strikes or side strikes.

It does NOT protect against ground strikes that hit the ground and travels via wet to you any way it can. YOU the human being has many salts and in a field is the biggest absolute conductor that will be bit first if at all possible by the lighting bolt when it reaches enough power to strike.

I survived two ground strikes and one side strike so far in my life. The side was not that bad, I was sufficiently far enough from it to get a tickle. (Some wake up call.. sheesh..) and one direct strike hit a major commercial level service mains on my building 8 feet from my window where I was at and that strike went down, took out the entire wall of electrical for two entire buildings divided further into two businesses and 9 individual homes, all those meters and mains were destroyed as was half the contents of our basement below the bar. The Power company made good on everything within hours including the financial loss. That fire was a near thing though. 1930's era building and hardwood painted and varnished in the old way. It would have gone up with us in it. (And the customers too.) Some were sitting on stools on top of plank and joist flooring with 3 feet of fire below that racing along the ceiling for the CO2 storage and keg area. We got them out of there, the customers.

 

I used Frogg Toggs for a couple hours. Total junk. Not made for flatbedding or work type duty. I'll be investigating those links above because OP has the right idea!

 

I just bought some of the frog toggs over the weekend. I don’t need rain gear very often. Maybe 5 it 6 times a year tops? I like panchos but if it’s windy they suck. I can’t seem to find a pancho that will last more than 1 or 2 uses.

I figured I’d try the frogs. Seemed comfortable and good range of motion compared to anything else in the store. The only thing I didn’t like was not a high visibility color. I’m going to ware my HV vest over it I guess?

 

Anything with Helly Hansen written on it.