Bicycle Travel > Gear Talk

Cheap Breathable Rain Gear and Shelter

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Westinghouse:
Tyvek is a material that is cheap, breathable, waterproof, windproof, and light weight. Trace lines on the material that will fit your size for jacket and pants. Cut out two pieces for each. Tape them together with Tyvek tape and there you are. Tents, bivy bags, jackets, rain flies, and tarps are easily made. It breathes like Gore Tex. It is more durable than Gore Tex. It is very light in weight.

Of course, it does not look all that spiffy like some people all decked out in $400.00 Gore Tex jackets riding $1500.00 touring bikes, but it does the same thing and has the same benefits to its users. One guy got a 50 foot by 9 foot roll of it for $50.00 at Craigslist. It could cost $150.00 at Home Depot or Lowe's for a 50 by 9 roll.  It sells by the yard in some places. It cuts easily but is very difficult to tear. You could make a breathable waterproof lightweight tent with plenty of space with a floor for maybe $25.00-$45.00, maybe less. No sewing. Just use Tyvek tape or outdoors, doublefaced, carpet tape for the seams.

Blackbear:
Westinghouse:  Great Suggetion.  Thank You

Blackbear:
"Suggestion"-----Sorry!

Westinghouse:
No problem. Nobody makes more typos than I do, though lately I have taken to cleaning them up. I am planning another long bicycle trip. I have been doing research on buying or making highly efficient, low cost, lightweight gear and lightening my load for a trip of perhaps two months or longer. I am putting forth ideas I plan to put into effect. The stove is a winner. I've seen it working. Everybody swears by the Tyvek. It got only the best reviews over and over again. I will definitely use it. Not everyone can afford to spend a lot of money for fancy expensive status-symbol gear. 8)

newfydog:
Sounds like great stuff.  Are you really that cash strapped or just trying to make a reverse snob political statement?  There ARE people out there with gear which is not made of duct tape who actually did not have the slightest concern about status symbols, they just wanted something that works and are not as creative or skilled in fabricating things. 

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