super hydrophobic coating

This is a product I learned about on another flyfishing website. I have not, nor do I know anyone, who has tried it. It is now available to us common folk from Rustoleum. It is not inexpensive, good new product rarely are, around $20 for the 2 can base and top coat. The possibilities are very interesting for fly anglers, dry flies and floating lines that repel water, waders that no longer leak. http://www.neverwet.com/

I was down at Autozone investing in a new battery for my pickup this morning and saw Rustoleum also now has a spray rubber coating. BTW, if you haven?t priced a battery lately, you are in for a shock, maybe it?s just us old guys who remember what stuff cost back when.

Jesse,

I am aware of this product but I am not aware of it being used to treat flies or fly lines.

Ralph Cutter and I had an email discussion of nanotechnology for superhydrophobic compounds/coatings about 16 months ago. He is working with a manufacturer that is trying to incorporate it into outdoor clothing and equipment.

The test for how well a product repels water is to measure the contact angle of a water droplet on the surface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhydrophobe

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Originally Posted by Silver Creek

The test for how well a product repels water is to measure the contact angle of a water droplet on the surface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhydrophobe

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I think this is what you are talking about, according to this information the attack angle for Neverwet is 165-170 degrees, RainX is the next best product they show result for at 110 degrees. http://www.neverwet.com/product-characteristics.php

Sorry for resurrecting an ancient thread, but I saw this and had to comment. Before using something like this on your flies, give some thought to whether or not you'll be releasing the fish. There used to be a floatant that had, I think, Naptha(Dad called it Napa?) as a chief ingrediant. It floated flys great, but killed fish by coating there gills. You could also start a fire with it.

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Originally Posted by WadeK

There used to be a floatant that had, I think, Naptha(Dad called it Napa?) as a chief ingrediant. It floated flys great, but killed fish by coating there gills. You could also start a fire with it.

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You might be referring to Ray Bergman's home made fly floatant which was naphtha (white gas) plus paraffin. You dipped the fly into the solution and the naphtha evaporated leaving a coating of paraffin wax on the fly.

http://www.drlogik.com/scans/bergman_formula.pdf

It didn't kill any fish. Floatants are hydrophobic which mean they repel water, and therefore, they cannot mix with water to coat the gills of fish. Most floatants are hydrocarbon or silicone based which are less dense than water and they float on the water. That is the sheen that is sometimes seen around a floating fly.

Having tried several nano-tech hydroscopic products as possible pretreatment for dry flies, I now saturate with a product called 'Repel Well' and dry the flies over night.

So far this is the only product to excel as a pretreatment.......works well and de-slime is matter of rinse and false cast 3-4 times. Does not mess up CDC either.