Lamilite Neutralizes Water

We all know or should know that water touching the human body draws heat from the body. Therefore, it is very important to help rid the body of the water as quickly as possible. As I have written many times, wearing my fishnet long underwear is the best first layer. But where does the water go once it leaves the body, after all you are wearing several layers of clothing in the cold situation that you are in? It goes into the clothing that you are wearing and will be absorbed unless you have your neckline open, it will exit through the neckline. If the temperature is cold enough that the neckline must be closed the water will be absorbed some place in your clothing. When it is cool enough it will ultimately cause you to cool as well. That does not happen if you happen to be wearing a Lamilite insulated outer garment. I have documentation showing that all of the different Lamilite insulated products produced by Wiggy's tell a far different story. Lamilite neutralizes the negative effects of water.

Lamilite has demonstrated that it has some quite remarkable properties or qualities that set it apart from all other insulations that exist or have ever existed. Lamilite is more efficient on an ounce for ounce basis than all other insulations; an example is my sleeping bags. I will only refer to one, but it holds true for all. The model Ultima Thule is rated for use as cold as -20 degrees F having a weight of five pounds in the regular length (80 inches) and regular width (31inches). In actuality the Ultima Thule has performed for an extensive number of people at temperatures of -40 degrees F. I have chosen not to re-rate this bag's temperature capability. There is no other brand of bag made of equal weight and size that comes even close regardless of the insulating medium used, and that includes any and all qualities of down.

Lamilite will compact as small or smaller that any other sleeping bag that actually performs at an equal temperature, and it will recover continuously; an example is the fact that Lamilite insulated bags are the only bags that can be vacuum packed under 20 plus tons of pressure and left that way for years and return to full performance capability in an hour and full loft in a few hours. There are no other companies in the world who make sleeping bags that can be put through the process and perform afterwards.

And last but not least of the attributes of Lamilite is the plain and simple fact that it is completely unaffected by water.Every other form of insulation known of regardless if it is natural or man made looses its ability to retain heat when it gets wet. If you were to go to the archives of my newsletters and specifically read the letters to me that I have published you will see the subject most often written about to me is the fact that my products sleeping bags, jackets, etc. still performed even though they were wet. Lamilite neutralizes water !

Why is this so? There are technical reasons that explain this phenomenon. The continuous filament fiber is made from polyester which has a minimal ability to absorb an insignificant amount of water, it is then bathed in silicone and heat set at about 455 degrees centigrade. By applying the silicone the absorption is eliminated. What I use is a continuous filament fiberfill batting that is significantly heavier and therefore denser in construction than any other company who uses the same fiber. This density is what keeps the water from saturating the fiberfill. If you review the letters I have received you will read as I have how people have slept in the rain or a leaking tent and regardless of how much water has fallen on to the bag it has not made its way through the fiber. When Natick Labs (the one owned by the Army located in Natick , MA.) came out with their version of the Flexible Temperature Range Sleep System, they called it the “modular sleep system”; they sent about two dozen to the Alaskan Command in about 1995 I think for field testing. One of the testers was a science advisor to the AC. He had been using my system for about one year or so at that time. What he and the other testers found out was how easy it was for water to get into the fiber (continuous filament silicone treated, the exact same fiber I use today). I was asked why it happened, the answer; lack of density. They were and still today use a fiber with a weight of 2.5 to 4 ounces per square yard. The lightest weight that I use is 4.8 ounces per square yard (L-6 Lamilite), and that is the weight of my warm weather bags; Nautilus, Desert bag, and Over bag. The inner bag for the system that I sell to the military is most often the Super Light. I use the L-15 Lamilite which is 10.8 ounces per square yard. The approximate total amount of fiber filaments used in one Super Light is 22 million. As you can see the density of the Lamilite insulation is substantial. The density of Lamilite is such that it leaves little room for water to get through it. In addition that same density is what restricts the heat you are generating from getting out and that same heat is what dries the bag of the moisture you are also generating. The heat drives the moisture out and can be seen as frost on the exterior of the bag in cold (less than +32 degrees F temperatures).

Another example of Lamilite not being adversely affected by water is in handwear. I have seen, heard and experienced wearing gloves and mittens insulated with Lamilite that have been submerged in cold water. Yes your hands get wet but they don't get cold. The cold water gets into the handwear but one there it warms to the temperature of the hand so your hands stay warm.

How about footwear? I was lost on a hunting trip near Gunnison, CO. in 1995. I was in a blizzard for a day and a half. I was between 11,000 and 12,500 feet altitude. I walked through streams. My boots were leather with foam as insulation. If that was all I was wearing on my feet I more than likely would have lost them if I had been found. I was wearing my Joe Redington Muk Luk's. They are insulated with Lamilite L-12 (9.6 ounces per square yard) and they had water inside of them. I was in them for 3 1/2 days before I took them off in the cooks tent upon my return, there was no ice even though the temperature during my whole experience was never higher than 0 degrees F and for most of the time was between -10 and -20 F. had they not been Lamilite insulated I doubt that I would have come out unscathed. Actually had all of my clothing not been Lamilite insulated I doubt the out come would have been the same.

Lamilite neutralizes water!

The boots that I have made for me by Wellco Company with Lamilite are not a new entity; they were originally made for me by the now defunct Herman's Survivor Company. Herman's made about 2000 pair for me and they sold very well. They were shown to dry very quickly. Probably 90 percent of footwear is wetted by the moisture from the wearer's feet. Lamilite insulated boots dried in the tent as was reported to me by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers who work in Alaska . They dried in tents not heated buildings. Their feet were warm too. That means even though they were emitting moisture into the lining of their boots their feet stayed warm. All I have ever heard over the years about Thinsulate boots is that the wearer's feet were cold and the boots stayed wet. First the Thinsulate absorbed the moisture and the moisture was trapped in the Thinsulate because the boot was further lined with a PTFE or Monolithic film. Each is touted to have those two special capabilities; 1- water-proof ness and 2- breath-ability. If you believed the advertisements you have had cold feet.

The Wellco product is a step above the Herman product; no bogus film is added. They are also made in America and are less expensive ($120.00 per pair). In any event the Lamilite is unaffected by the water, again showing that Lamilite neutralizes the affects of water!

BOOTS AND TEMPERATURE RATINGS

I believe it is reasonable to expect a sleeping bag manufacturer to place a reasonably accurate temperature rating on a sleeping bag. I further believe temperature ratings can be applied reasonably accurately to outerwear garments. However, I believe it is very difficult to temperature rate boots. Excluding mukluks or over boots as additional articles to wear a good leather boot that is insulated in my opinion is not particularly effective below 0 degrees F for very long especially when you are sitting still. At least when you are moving the muscles in your legs are generating lots of heat for your blood to pick up as it travels to your feet. But without that movement you will experience cold feet if you do not have over boots at minimum on.

This leads me to reviewing catalogs that show boot items. Since I am now in the business I want to know what the existing competition is showing; what I am seeing with respect to temperature rating is astounding to say the least. I all cases the insulating medium is Thinsulate as well as a few other bogus materials.

The first place bogus award goes to Lacrosse Footwear Company. They have a model “Extreme PFT tm” that is rated, and I hope you are sitting when you read this to a cool -150 degrees F. Would someone let me know where in the world they could possibly have tested this boot at -150 degrees F? As I have stated on many occasions I have been in the insulation for a long time, since 1961, and I have been involved in numerous testing activities ranging from the North Pole to Antarctica and I have never heard of a temperature of -150 degrees F., does it exist, as an ambient temperature no, as a wind chill possibly. If the temperature is -45 degrees F and the wind speed is 60 mph the wind chill is -98 degrees F. I couldn't find a lower number without doing the calculation, which I confess I haven't the mathematical knowledge to do. So where were they tested, and who was dumb enough to test them. I believe it becomes very difficult to breathe once the temperature reaches -45 degrees F ambient. The temperature ratings were taken from then air or was someone smoking something?

The boots have 1000 gram Thinsulate and a three layer removable liner comprised of 13mm polypropylene (a film), foam (I am guessing it is a open cell soft foam which is notorious for absorbing water) and Radiantex tm. The internet is wonderful, so full of information, so I researched Radiantex tm. It is a needle punched batting material. My guess is the felting fiber is polyester punched through a metallic film (if you have ever seen a window covering product called Warm Window, it is comprised of two needle punched polyester batting, one of which is a needle punched metallic film, been around for years, I used to put the package together for the company that sold it.). The metallic film reflectsheat back to the source and the holes allow for wicking moisture away, of course the polyester batting is an insulation layer. Wicking is a word that has been used for some time now in the outdoor industry to describe an action that is not possible with respect to the materials being referred too. Wicking can only occur in materials that absorb liquid. Those materials are cotton, wool, silk rayon, etc. IT CANNOT OCCUR WHEN THE MATERIALS ARE POLYESTER, POLYPROPLENE OR NYLON. The example I always offer is a wick in an oil lantern. The wick is cotton, it absorbs the oil and when you light the wick the oil travels up the wick. The movement of the oil traveling up the wick is known as wicking. If you were to place any of the synthetic materials I have noted in oil lantern to do the same job you will have a fuse and an explosion will occur. The synthetic blend of materials that make up the Radiantex tm product does not allow for wicking. Some companies coat the synthetic fibers with a slickening agent such as silicone so the moisture when a vapor will move through the fabric, good thought but in reality it does not work as planned.

Rocky also has a boot Snowstalker Extreme also rated for -150 degrees F. I will not bore you with the details of its make up, but will tell you if you believe the information published about them I have a bridge in Brooklyn , N.Y. to sell you. How about Irish Setter's Buck Tracker rated to -135 F or the host of other boots available with temperature ratings of -25 F to -100 F.

Some years ago when Sorrel was still made in Canada by the Kaufman Company (now out of business) they made boots rated for -60 degrees F which were sold to Exxon for their crews working in Siberia . After about two weeks I received a call from purchasing, they ordered a large number of my Joe Redington Muk Luk's. They told me their work crews had about 40 minutes at best being out when the temperature was -35 degrees F. So much for the -60 degrees F temperature rating.

If you want warm feet get a good Lamilite insulated leather boot and over boots for temperatures as low as -25 degrees F or the muk luk's for colder temperatures. If it's to cold for the muk luks it's to cold to be outside.

THREE DEATHS ON MOUNT HOOD

I have periodically mentioned that I was lost on a hunting trip here in Colorado during the month of November 1995. As such I am always interested in following reports of people being lost, there is much to learn or support what I did that helped me to survive. I knew after 4 or 5 days that these three men had died, I knew it was from hypothermia as everyone else knew but there was some information that was to surface once the first body was discovered.

During my experience I had 1 ½ days of blizzard and when it ended I was back where I should have been the first day. The storm was over but the sky was still clouded. I was in a large meadow and above me was a single engine search plane I could not see him or he me and I am sure he didn't have a heat sensor. But I could hear him and had the sky been clear he would have seen me. We know that the three men dug snow caves, and had they been alive they would have come out of the caves once the storm broke and the skies cleared. There was certainly plenty of noise from the helicopters and fixed wing aircraft and they were well above the tree line. Had they been alive they would have come out of the snow caves and easily been seen. That was the first indication to me they were gone.

We were told they were not properly dressed for the conditions that developed and I agree, however they were experienced and probably were wearing what they believed would perform if they did encounter the type of weather that developed. I my opinion they were wearing clothing that could not perform very well in less stringent conditions.

I believe they froze from the inside out, that is to say, the moisture against their skin surfaces froze first.

Trust me when you are moving through waist high snow as they were they were giving off a significant amount of moisture. That is basically what I faced, waist high snow, and even though the snow I was in was mostly dry powder when it is waist high it requires lots of energy. They were in wet snow so it was much heavier and more difficult to move through than what I experienced. Therefore, they covered much less ground trying to get back to their base camp. I am very sure they were wearing synthetic long underwear that was advertised to wick away moisture, only it didn't because it couldn't. The underwear trapped the moisture against their skin surface and when they stopped digging and got into the shelter of the snow cave they started to chill from all of the moisture that had been trapped by their underwear. I was wearing the fish net underwear I make and I can tell you from my experience my skin surface was dry because all of the moisture I generated moved through the large holes away from my skin surface. Some went out my neckline the rest through my clothing. I was not wearing anything that was advertised as water-proof breathable. I am willing to bet that they were wearing something that was advertised as water-proof breathable.

For the record on the second day when the storm hit me I encountered two 20 year old boys who were wearing synthetic long underwear and were freezing. I built as large a fire as I could and had them take off their underwear and try and dry it as best they could. I had them do as I did eat snow to hydrate as much as possible and satisfy the hungry feeling. Snow is ice and ice is water and the energy it takes to melt the ice isn't even close to being a draw on the heat of the body. These three men were in a wonderful situation to hydrate since the snow was heavy wet snow, but they may have not done any eating of the snow because they read some where that it draws to much heat from the body. In my opinion that is non-sense. If you're hungry and thirsty and snow is all that is available dig in. Those boys are alive today, to the best of my knowledge. I sent the fish nets for Christmas that year.

Once in the snow cave they relaxed possibly to wait out the storm and started to freeze because of how wet they were. That moisture was absorbing heat as quickly as it could; water is the best absorber of heat on the planet. Once they went hypothermic and they were no longer generating heat the moisture on the surface of their skin started freezing. If there is any consolation their deaths were painless.

It would be interesting to find out exactly what clothing they were wearing and also the brand. That way you could ask for an explanation as to why this garment or that garment didn't perform as advertised. The chances are you would not get an answer or be directed to their legal counsel. Maybe the family of the sole body recovered could sue?

When the people died on Mount Everest I wrote that they would have had a significantly better chance of surviving had I dressed them. The same holds true for these three. Never forget that water produced by your own body in a cold situation, and it does not have to be arctic conditions, is your enemy. Therefore, what you should be wearing are articles of clothing that are not affected by water!

“If men want to oppose war, it is statism that they must oppose. So long as they hold the tribal notion that the individual is sacrificial fodder for the collective, that some men have the right to rule others by force, and that some (any) alleged “good” can justify it—there can be no peace within a nation and no peace among nations.”

AYN RAND , Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal [page 42]