I put this in my other post, but no one’s commented, so I thought it might catch someone’s eye if I made a new thread. The waders I have came from a garage sale. They say Stream Line (2 words) on the chest. On the tag inside it’s hard to tell if it’s one or two words, except that “line” is capitalized. I’ve searched all over, haven’t found any mention of them on the 'net. I doubt they’re anything special, probably even subpar. But they didn’t leak, so I guess they’ll do for now. They’re stocking foot neoprene, dark brown. Anybody ever heard of them?
I’ve only heard of them. As long as they don’t leak, your’e in business. When they develop a leak, fix them and keep fishing. When they dry rot, hit the garage sales.
Actually Steve, in their day Streamline and Simms were pretty much neck and neck in the race for supremacy in the Neoprene wader market, I was a dealer of both - as well as Orvis.
Streamline disappeared from the fishing scene for reasons that weren’t really product related.
If you could go back say fifteen years or so and look at the mail order catalogs of some the largest fly shops, you’d find that Streamline was a very prominent player.
Stream Line certainly was on top of the game for design and manufactiure of neoprene waders. They won the product “Kudo” award for their design of a waist high wader with a convertible pull up sleeve turning them into chest waders. I still have a pair of these and they are still in good shape. Their boot foot waders were coveted by winter steelheaders as they had top quality Thinsulate boots that really kept your tootsies warm and comfy. No boots like that on boot foot waders today that I know.
When Breathable Waders starting becoming available they took the market by storm. Neoprene went the way of the dodo bird: well, almost extinct. Stream Line apparently did not have a technology or able to switch production over to the new breathable wave. I do not believe they ever offered a breathable product and stuck to the old buggy whip.
Stream Line also had a remarkable design for a line of reels bearing their name. They outsourced manufacturing of the various components of these reels and then just assembled them. They always had problems with logistically bringng this all together and suppling the reels timely. The Stream Line Reels were made in fresh water and salt water sizes, but all had salt water resistant components. These Reels have an extraordinary smooth disk drag that is second to none including advances made that are on the market today.
Unfortunately they fell on financial hard times and Poof.
The Stream Line Reel parts inventory was acquired by http://www.archuletasreelworks.com. As far as I know they are still repairing Stream Line reels today.
I was privileged to have known them over most of their years of production here. Reels were ahead of their time; my wife still uses her zero weight reel and still loves it. Waders (neo) were the top of the line and they also made some great software products (Q-Nimbus). They were involved in many of the original breathable fabrics as the wader industry went that way. They are no longer in business by choice.
I have a pair of Stream Line breathables. Purchased Feb. '97 (Just looked at the ticket-dont ask me why I save that sort of stuff). Waist highs with the pull up. Had to have the neoprene booties replaced after the second use when they started leaking for some reason. Havent had another problem with them and still using them. So far, so good on holding the water back.
Sounds like I got my 10 bux worth. I don’t know what constitutes breathable. I put them on at home to make sure they fit, and was covered in sweat in about a minute, so I doubt these qualify. In the river, though, they were very comfortable.
I forgot to ask- they came with 2 mystery sleeves, one of which the stitching was pulling apart on. they are about the right size to go around an arm, maybe 6 inches long, no idea what they’re for. Apparently the last guy used them???
Thanks, Ducksterman. That makes sense, especially after dumping all the gravel out of my shoes that I never noticed was there 'til I took them off. I wondered what could be done about that, since surely the gravel would wear through the neoprene in short order . Well, I feel like a dunce .
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