UKC

I'm finally getting round to some sewing projects I've had hanging about for ages... One is a light packable belay jacket in pertex, but I'm not sure what insulation to use.

Primaloft seems to be the gold standard in most gear manufacturers jackets these days, but is awkward to source... Seattle fabrics carries Primaloft One but means shipping it across the pond.

Point North and Pennine both carry thinsulate, which as far as I can tell is plenty warm, but a denser woven stiffer material for a given weight of insulation.

Finally I have a huge quantity of natural kapok fibre which is a bit of an unknown... As far as I can tell it's highly insulating, retains it's shape and loft extremely well, water resistant (but being a natural fibre with a waxy coating, is not incapable of absorbing water like synthetics) and unusually flammable.

Any opinions as to their merits of any or all of these fillings?

In reply to KellyKettle:

What about some tent booties if you have Thinsulate. I haven't seen Thinsulate in jackets for a long time - hats and gloves yes - so perhaps there is a reason such as weight etc? Some fibres will compress a lot in the first year, especially if you use it commuting, where the back gets compressed by a seat.

There might be duty to pay if you import Primaloft. What about Polarguard? Remember that? I still have a Polarguard (3D?) coat and apart from migrating fibres, it is sound after almost 20 years.

Kapok I have only ever seen in things like futons. Did the Japanese ever put it in primative clothing?

Jeez, futons and thinsulate, it is like the eighties all over again:

http://www.inov8.au.com/compass/compassbrands.html

Jon

In reply to KellyKettle:

extremtextil.de got Apex insulation, almost as warm as Primaloft One but since it's a continuous fiber instead of many small like Primaloft it's much stabler and a lot easier to work with. It also doesn't require quilting in the same way as Primaloft.

In reply to Dorq:

Kapok was used for insulating clothing in the second world war - in HMS Ulysses there is a character called "the kapok kid" who acquires his moniker due to his warm, kapok filled, jacket.

In reply to KellyKettle:

Buy an old sleeping bag of ebay and use the filling from that.

In reply to Dr.S at work:

I always thought it was a type of cotton. Apparently because of its buoyancy it was used in life jackets. I remember the soft, heavy life jackets.

@KellyKettle: Kapok is highly flammable though, so it doesn't suit a situation where you might be using a stove in a tent (alcove).

Thinsulate might make a good warm up vest or 'gilet', as it doesn't have to be too flexible/comfortable. Apparently there is more than one type of 3M Thinsulate now, and Climashield is the Polarguard replacement, and so on. It is a shame there isn't more objective information online, including a Wiki for outdoor clothing technologies.

For example, how truly warm is something like this:

http://www.cottonpatch.co.uk/acatalog/Dream-Puff-Wadding-CPWWD26.html#SID=3...

In reply to Dorq:

Kapok is the seeds from an Asian tree. It's been used in insulation for a long time, and a fairly recent academic paper compared it to modern insulations. It fared pretty well from what I remember, but I think you're better off with modern synthetics or down.

In reply to Mr Fuller:

Amazing. I am just reading now that it is a "natural hollow fibre and forerunner of the synthetic versions produced today" (Invisible on Everest: Parsons and Rose, p. 214).

As used in these SATRA boots:
http://www.satra.co.uk/bulletin/article_view.php?id=529

In reply to Dorq:

Yes, that's about right. It's really weird looking stuff but is very similar to some of the hollow fibres that some synthetics use. There's more about it in this paper if you're interested: "Comparisons of Thermal and Evaporative Resistances of Kapok Coats and Traditional Down Coats", which should be open-access.

Regarding the wiki-style thing for outdoor kit, it's something I've considered doing for outdoor clothing myself and if I ever get the time I will write a book on it. Certainly, most people don't know the differences between Primaloft/Thinsulate/etc. and most don't care, but for those that do care, there's little information readily available and that which is there is, as you say, biased, or - to put it blunty - often incorrect.