So i've got a Marmot precip rain jacket (4 years old), have not abused it, looks like new. after suspecting waterproof ability not 100%, last summer washed with nixwax for waterproof breathables. I like everything about the jacket except the fact that it's no longer waterproof. water appears to condense inside after standing in the rain about 30 min. rather than buying new i'd like to just treat it and move on. anyone been down this road? same experience with marmot precip? or used something like this to extend the life of rain gear?:   (You need to Login or Register

Is there any possibility that the water condensing in side your shell is from your body heat and not water penetrating from the outside?

I have Campmor rain jacket with the DWR type of waterproofing. I had that issue after a few seasons but like you I renewed the coating, but still has the issue?

I tend to run "hot" and found that even while just standing in rain, maybe fishing, I still needed to make sure my Pit Zippers were all the way down.
My jacket has side zippered mesh pockets and sometimes I even unzip them from the bottom to vent the extra heat.
This seemed to do the trick 90% of the time. The rest was a combo of being in warm moist air and the exertion of a portage.
I always wear a nylon quick drying fishing shirt with a athletic type moisture wicking t-shirt or fleece in cooler weather.

That seems to help a lot too. When I start to feel damp, I know to vent more.

Just a thought.

ST that's a good thought and i've wondered about it. Yesterday i didn't feel overheated and had the pit vents open but that could be the case as the moisture does seem like condensation.

I have not used the product you referenced but I have used NIKWAX.  You do not want to have detergent in the clothes so you wash it with TECH WASH. Then I used Polar Proof to water proof a nylon rain jacket.  I reapplied once a year and it worked well.  I do not know if I needed to reapply that often. Nikwax has several water proofing for different materials.
TECH WASH   (You need to Login or Register
POLAR PROOF   (You need to Login or Register

MP that's the one i used, nikwax tech wash (i misspelled it below). was curious to know if anyone else was coating their raingear. now i won't be as hesitant to add a coating, either the nikwax product or atsko. this may have already been discussed here sometime but i didn't recall. thanks

Here's a good little primer on the subject.
Like painting your house, it's the preparation that's key as MP pointed out.

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Good links ST   :thumbup

I'm not familiar with either product but in general, if water doesn't bead, the jacket will have lost it's breathability. Personally, I'd test it's water proofness by standing in a cold shower for a minute or two. I guess you could test breathability by wearing it when it's cold out but not raining. Basically you need heat to push out the water vapor molecules. Least that's what I heard once and it seems to be true in my experience.

To expand on db's comment. If the outer layer doesn't bead and gets saturated it won't breathe either, so neither will the waterproof membrane underneath. The treatments you do are retreating the outer shell, cleaning and water proofing. Dryer heat will reactivate the factory water proofing sometimes and restore it's original condition.

fitting the replies from youse guys to the couple times the jacket got moist on the inside,  it's now plain to see the beadiness is gone. last time in the rain there was no beading. so my goal is to end up with the beadingest rain gear on the planet. not only will it bead, but rain drops will literally ricochet off. gonna try the atsko product as they advertise good for goretex. besides same guys make sno seal and that's been a great product far back as i can remember.    side: some reviews on the precip jacket, folks say the inner liner began to flake off and peel away or de-laminate from the coat, i've got none of that. mine looks like new.  :dankk2

Zski, Deet might be a factor in the delaminating issue, and/or age. Sno Seal would seem to plug up the breathable outer layer.

JimJ - yeah maybe those guys got their stuff all DEET-ed up, that's not my case though, i was just mentioning that's what some have said in reviews on the precip jacket. one guy said his jacket was 1 yr old and delaminating.
also, i didn't mean that i'd treat the jacket with sno-seal.  Atsko makes sno-seal, but this stuff too:
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that's what i was referring to as a treatment (mentioned earlier in the thread)

Let us know about that atsko treatment zski?
Do your need to wash/clean before you apply like the other DRW treatments? IF it works as good as their Sno-Seal product, it would be a real keeper.

Before I understood just how bad DEET was for synthetic fabrics and of course people, I had that delaminating issue on a coated nylon rain jacket.

I don't even carry Deet anymore, I find the Permethrin clothes soak to be adequate and easier on the synthetics as well as me.

sure. i'll post how well that stuff worked/didn't for me.
already did the nikwax tech wash last year so should be ok there.
i also treat with permethrin and started supplementing with 20% picardin instead of deet. seems to work for me. i'd hate to damage my gear, particularly from something i applied. back in jr high i had a friend that carried a leaky a battery against his stomach. the acid melted the whole front of his chicago cubs windbreaker. pretty cool.

ok :  got this stuff on the jacket
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and water is beads off better than ever. the test was rather short so not sure about a soaking rain.
spray on, let dry, activate in the dryer. they say the coating is supposed to last 25 washes.

also used similar product by the same company on some packs and such
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product seems to work well, the only downside is the propellant ran out before the product. this on both cans

third product to consider:
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beading is nothing, how about rain bouncing off !

That is good to know.  Looks like it would be easier to apply then the nikwax product.  When I get my nikwax product used up I will be checking out the spray on products.

THIS is the stuff to watch out for: 
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[quote author=zski link=1429532478/16#16 date=1430923962]THIS is the stuff to watch out for: 
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If you put this on a canoe will it just skim on top of the water?

i have issues with all of the aerosol water proofers running out of propellant before the liquid is gone. i sprayed both tents and rainflys yesterday. i was hoping to have enough between the two cans to do my rain coat, but ran outta air. oh well. my coat still beads well, its 4 years old, but i only use it for canada. it packs down so the size of 2 slices of bread and fits nicely in the pocket of my lifejacket.

i used the atsko silicone this year and last year and in previous years and it always seemed to work well. other years ive used the kiwi brand stuff and i didnt like it as much. i spray a whole can on each tent every year.

the last 2 years i did the atsko silicone. when i applied it yesterday, the spray actually pooled on top of the fabric a little in certain spots. in years after the kiwi brand, the atsko has soaked into the fabric nearly everywhere.

Quote:

i have issues with all of the aerosol water proofers running out of propellant before the liquid is gone.

I never tried it for waterproofing garments, but I used it for other chemicals and don't see why it wouldn't work for waterproofing.

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Spray cans are always a poor economic choice for what you get out of the can. I have numerous spray paint cans that I tossed because they had run out of propellant but still had plenty of paint. I use a electric paint sprayer now.

After purchasing this stuff online, later discovered they stock it at the local Walmart (camping section) where it was not only it cheaper, the spray can was extra sized.
I like this stuff. Not bulletproof but water and dirt don't stick to packs and equipment nearly as easily.
I've no doubt rain gear is helped by this but: the only heavy rain we saw this year was during strenuous portage and there was no way to know how rainproof it was with all that perspiration.

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trouble with using waterproofing on DWR is that you can plug up the pores that allow the jacket to breathe, so you just get a lot of condensation inside and get wet anyway

I'd check the Marmot website and see what they recommend - I'll bet there's an answer in the FAQs, but if not, send them an e-mail and ask what they recommend for thier product - might be a safer way to go.

I've never treated any of my rain jackets, just eventually replace with new ones

That was some good advice M_M_  8-)

I don't have Marmot gear, but I'm sure the recommendations for DWR care goes across the board.

They have an informative video about cleaning DWR garments and I learned something
about the proper detergent to use.

I didn’t see anything about products like the silicone waterproofing ruining the breathability of DWR, but IF liquid detergent is bad for them, I have to think that silicone would destroy the breathability which would basically make your DWR garment just like a coated nylon one.

Click on the video, it’s pretty funny.

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that IS good advice  - call the mfgr.
last year tried nik wax tech wash
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and dryer
this year the atsko silicone water guard (the can does state that it allows leather and fabric to breathe but yeah that doesn't necessarily mean goretex/dwr)
i noticed on some forum a couple people called marmot and said the garment was no longer waterproof. marmot had them send it in and replaced it with new. one guy said he couldn't see any damage even though marmot said the coat was "de-laminated".