Improvised Water Proofing

[lrp1984 199]

With the recent re-introduction of rain, many of us are finding ourselves getting wet and having to stick to the standard Gorka or Raincoat options to stay alive. I would like to therefore suggest a method to apply an Improvised water proofing to your clothing of choice.

 

I'd like to suggest a couple methods for this. The first would involve Animal lard, which would need to be melted in a cooking pot and then applied to an item of clothing. This could wear off after a while and need to be re-applied. The actual process of waterproofing with animal fat is obviously a little more complicated in real life, but this would be the simplified version of that in the game.

 

Another option would be to add randomly spawning bee's nests to the game. The bee's nests would provide wax for waterproofing and honey for consumption or use in cooking. They would also come with a risk of getting stung, and also a risk that your character is allergic to bee stings, so best not to be approached without an epi-pen.

 

The beeswax would again need to be put into a cooking pot (in the real world you'd need to add linseed, but for the sake of the game not having too many random items, just wax would be needed) and the melted wax applied to the clothing. You could have the wax be more effective by adding pine tar (pine wood again cooked in that cooking pot?) but that might get too complicated and require too many things to be added to the game.

 

Going forward this could be used to waterproof improvised tents.

[byrgesen 1340]

What a great idea, but lets make it more complicated then that tbh.

 

Something like this guy does here, its made out of beeswax, turpentine and linseed oil, all are things we could easily find in Chernarus :)
Just stuff it into a cooking pot and wait a min or two (in game) and viola.

 

We need more crafting like this, DIY crafting ftw :)

[liquidcactus 719]

The first would involve Animal lard, which would need to be melted in a cooking pot and then applied to an item of clothing. 

 

 

WUT ?

 

I'm not to sure about that one it sounds odd? By no means a bad idea, I'm curious of what others think of that.

 

I like the suggestion(s) about beez.. beez wax sounds a bit more plausibe for crafting warmth, I mean i dont wanna sound like a prude but if i was stranded and surviving and there's freKkn zumbies(oh wait dayz has none) everywhere and shit head bandits everywhere too, I think I would be more inclined to eat the animal lard than to paste it on my clothes but hey that's just me :D

 

But remember.. I LIKE THE BEEZ !!

[Whyherro123 2283]

The important thing to realize about waterproofing your clothing is that it works both ways.

 

So, you can waterproof your clothing, to repel rain, but on the flipside, now your body heat will be retained and you will sweat a lot more. Thusly, you are almost, if not more likely, to develop hypothermia as a result. Had one of the students in my survival class go to the hospital because of that.

 

Another thing about rubbing oil or rendered fat into your clothing: it will essentially eliminate any and all insulation properties of the clothing. Clothing insulates you by trapping air in small "pockets" between the cloth fibers, next to the skin where it can be warmed by body heat. By rubbing rendered fat or oil into clothing, these "pockets" get filled up with the substances, and displace the air. So, you will be waterproof, but colder as well.

 

In the outdoors, I usually don't wear a waterproof covering. I stick with the old standby: wool. Wool, when woven tight enough, can be relatively water-resistant (not "proof", but "resistant"), and wool retains its insulative and heat-retentive properties even when soaked. I use a military-style poncho for expedient shelter from the wind and weather, instead.

 

Or, you could cut off strips of birch bark, and stuff them underneath your clothing. That, in and of itself, will repel most water, and "fluffed up" birchbark shreds stuffed under a jacket or in pants can act as an effective insulator. Birch bark is a magical material.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Whyherro123

[BeefBacon 1185]

I'd prefer it if clothes just had higher water resistance values. Quilted jackets, bomber jackets, leather jackets, etc should be pretty water proof.