Anti-thermal ice vest!

758 Views 17 Replies 9 Participants Last post by plainmech, Aug 1, 2009

Cousin Jack

Discussion Starter · Jul 31, 2009

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Due to some recent hot weather riding experience, I've been wondering....... suppose I sew me up some narrow, simple flap pockets of waterproof cordura....and put some velcro on the backs of them.....

I then take my favorite riding long sleeve T, andsew the other half of the velcro strips on it.....

There would be two longish pockets in front, one wider one in the back....

Now suppose I wet my long sleeve t-shirt, buy some crushed ice andfill my new pockets, press the pockets on my shirt where I've put the velcro, put my mesh jacket over the whole thing -- and ride off shivering until the ice melts! When it does, I stop, take off the jacket, pull off my ice pockets, dump the water, buy more ice and repeat!

Don't know if it'll work, but I'm gonna give it a try!

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TXRLGL1500

· #2 · Jul 31, 2009

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CJ:
Prior to our road trip last year we bought two Mira Cool evaporative vests to wear underneath our Airglide mesh jackets. The first time we used them was when the temps
got about 95 coming out of Amarillo to Dumas. They worked GREAT!!!!

My son is on a trip right now left this morning and he took one of the vests with him to wear. He thought he would only need it once. I asked him where you headed? He said looked like Utah, Idaho and Montana. I said you will use it more than once!!! They have record heat up there right now. He does not have a mesh jacket but is using my range denim tourmaster jacket. At least it has plenty of vents.

We could not have made the distance at the temps we rode in last year. Last month we rode from Ft Worth to Odessa put them on going out. Coming back was a different story as the humidity was going up in proportion to the temperature.
MUCH LESS effecient when coming home. Both wife and I got pretty overheated. Temps were in the 105+ range. HOT IS HOT. Anyway the vests are less than 15 bucks each (last years price) fit very well under a mesh jacket. When they are dry fold up to the size of a face cloth. When wet they can be a bit heavy but offer a lot of heat relief in the drier climates.

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Cousin Jack

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 31, 2009

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Less than $15?..... gonna try them as soon as I find them........

We've always gotten by with wet shirts and mesh, but..... I'll try the vests, and I still might experiment with ice pockets.....

TXRLGL1500

· #4 · Jul 31, 2009

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CJ:
Here is the link to them FWIW. I bought the beige. Presoak time takes about 30 min or so and you can pretty much ride all day without them drying out.

http://www.tuffrhino.com/MiraCool_Poncho_Vest_p/hs1045.htm

Bagmaster

· #5 · Jul 31, 2009

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Buy 4 0f them and keep the spares in the cooler.

TXRLGL1500

· #6 · Jul 31, 2009

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Well after looking at the link the price from them went up. Might shop the price on them. I know that can be beat. I have used them without anything covering them but it works
better the closer the vest is to your body. You know my folks in Western Ks used to wrap burlap bags around a gallon ceramic jug. Filled the jug with water and soaked the outside burlap in water. The water in the jugs were always cool or nearly cold as I remember. I dont think that would work here in North Central TX where the humidity
is close to 50 percent. Its only 85 out there right now but I still sweat a lot just doing
very menial stuff here.

Dusty

· #7 · Jul 31, 2009

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Also pury a wet bandanna around your neck it will help

DaveO430

· #8 · Jul 31, 2009

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I dumped ice in the pocket in the back of my mesh jacket where the armor is a while back when it was really hot here. It did some good until the ice melted, which wasn't long.

Cousin Jack

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 1, 2009

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DaveO430 wrote:

I dumped ice in the pocket in the back of my mesh jacket where the armor is a while back when it was really hot here. It did some good until the ice melted, which wasn't long.

Yeah, it wouldn't be long..... but on a day ride, I could see filling a small cooler with crushed ice and strapping it to the back rack-- and then refilling my melted "ice pockets" from it until the ice was all gone, then stoppingand buying more ice.... what's a bag of ice cost, anyway? I think it might be worth a shot...... wouldn't cost much to try it out, couple of square feet of waterproof cordura......... if the bags are waterproof, it wouldn't leak out on your clothes..... and you could always drink the melt water outa the pockets!

Would have worked good last Tuesday, when we left the Columbia River Gorge at 108 degrees!

(Hey Dave! Have you turned 40K on that White Beauty of yours yet? When are all you Arkies coming to see us out here in Pacific Northwest?)

Bike...and Dennis

· #10 · Aug 1, 2009

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Those poncho things look likethe right tool for the job. And $20 isn't that bad if they work. If I remember correctly, I paid that much for those neck coolers we used to wear. And they didn't really work very well.

TXRLGL1500

· #11 · Aug 1, 2009

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Bike......and Dennis:
The only thing I find negative about these vests is the space they take up when you soak them. When you ride two up and carry two presoaked I put them in a garbage bag. I wonder about soaking them and do like CJ said with his idea-------FREEZING THEM!!! Kind of wonder how they would work....but you would have to let them thaw
a bit to get them on!!

DaveO430

· #12 · Aug 1, 2009

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Yep Mel, it turned 40,000 last weekend.
That is a pretty "cool" Idea you have, Sure would be nice to have something like that in the normal summers here. We only had 1 bad hot spell so far, hope it stays this way.
Give it a try, you might be on to something big.

1500 winger

· #13 · Aug 1, 2009

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Cousin Jack, Tech Niche makes a vest something like you are asking about, http://www.techniche-intl.com/ Mel:waving:

DaveO430

· #14 · Aug 1, 2009

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When are all you Arkies coming to see us out here in Pacific Northwest?)

I sure do want to and will as soon as I can talk the boss into letting me take more than 1 week of vacation at a time.
Hopefully next year after my son gets out of the marines, if I can get him on something he can ride that far. I would bring along as many of the gang as I could talk into it.

plainmech

· #15 · Aug 1, 2009

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have any of yous checked out www.texascoolvest.com very nice, pricey but cool:action::waving:

TXRLGL1500

· #16 · Aug 1, 2009

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way out of my price range. But sure like the looks of the denim model and by far more stylish.

82gl1100iWingman

· #17 · Aug 1, 2009

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With Carol's MS, she cannot tolerate heat very long. We tried those type of "phase change vest" Mel is trying create. If that is what youre trying to do, I would suggest going to a sporting good supply and buying some refreezable ice packs instead of using ice. What Carol uses is a Veskimo. It is basically a portable air conditioner. It is best to wear something over their vest, preferrably leather, to keep the "cool" in close to the body. When Carol is using it, if you stick your hand under her leather vest, the air temp is around 60-70 degrees in 100 degree temps. A "charge' will last anywhere from 1-4 hours dependingon mirad of circumstances.Their R&D department has been in touch with Carol andIand are asking for our input for their "vest" theyare trying to make for the head. Hopefully we will get to try one out.

plainmech

· #18 · Aug 1, 2009

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82gl1100iwingman wrote:

With Carol's MS, she cannot tolerate heat very long. We tried those type of "phase change vest" Mel is trying create. If that is what youre trying to do, I would suggest going to a sporting good supply and buying some refreezable ice packs instead of using ice. What Carol uses is a Veskimo. It is basically a portable air conditioner. It is best to wear something over their vest, preferrably leather, to keep the "cool" in close to the body. When Carol is using it, if you stick your hand under her leather vest, the air temp is around 60-70 degrees in 100 degree temps. A "charge' will last anywhere from 1-4 hours dependingon mirad of circumstances.Their R&D department has been in touch with Carol andIand are asking for our input for their "vest" theyare trying to make for the head. Hopefully we will get to try one out.

hand under her vest:cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1: tried that and she hit me:cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1: just kidding,wanted one of those but when you told my wife how much it cost she said i could sweat a whole bunch for that, same thing she said about txcoolvest so i have evap. not great but better than nothing:cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::action::waving:

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