A dv Product Spotlight – Kiwi Camp Dry - Mostly Archery with dustyvarmint

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By Jerry Long, February 7, 2011

In this dv’s product spotlight I take a look at Kiwi’s Camp Dry products.

Outside Hub Media recently provided me with Kiwi’s Camp Dry Performance Fabric Protector and Heavy Duty Water Repellant for this product spotlight. I am no stranger to the Heavy Duty Water Repellant silicone-based formula. In the late 1990’s I spent a Thanksgiving week bowhunting the Olympic Peninsula’s Hoh Rain Forest where 100 plus inches of rain per year is normal. It never stopped raining the entire week, but my feather fletching remained ready to guide my broadheads since they were protected by the Kiwi Camp Dry HD Repellant. I’d never heard of the Performance Fabric Protector, though.

Kiwi Performance Fabric Protector and Kiwi Heavy Duty Water Repellant.

I needed to come up with some practical bowhunting-related tests so after some cogitation I fixed on three. One, I’d try both products on feather fletching and compare its effectiveness to untreated fletching. Two, I’d apply the Heavy Duty Water Repellant to one of a pair of “choppers” and give them a work out in the snow. Three, I’d try the Performance Fabric Protector on a “bag” chair and compare its ability to repel water to an untreated chair. As much as possible I like to actually give products the work out they (and we) deserve so the tests were conducted over a span of several weeks.

The applicability of fletching to bowhunting goes without explanation. Arrows were selected and treated according to the directions; one with Heavy Duty Water Repellant, one with Performance Fabric Protector and one was left untreated. In my experience the problem of water-logged and matted down fletching doesn’t come from rain simply falling down onto it and most certainly doesn’t come from being shot (unless you shoot in the grass). Rather, it comes from water on leaves, trees or your person rubbing against the feathers. Since it was winter in southeast Wisconsin I didn’t have a lot of rain or wet foliage to rub against. I decided to drag the arrows through the snow. Repeated attempts over time to cause any water-logged feathers using this method failed.

Finally, I resorted to hot water from the kitchen sink. That produced some results. The untreated feathers matted and separated as has been my experience. Water beaded and was kind of repelled by the HD treated feathers just as any silicone surface repels water. Water didn’t affect the Performance treated feathers either, but the interaction was different – it flooded across the surface and simply ran off. The result? I’d select the Performance product for this application due to its lack of odor when compared to the HD product.

Three feather fletched arrows treated with Heavy Duty Water Repellant (top), Performance Fabric Protector (middle) and nothing (bottom).

Snow had no affect on the feathers.

The untreated feathers get a dowsing. They absorb water and become matted down quickly.

Feathers treated with the HD Repellant are untouched by the water.

Feathers treated with the Performance Fabric Protectant fair very well under the stream.

The final result – the untreated feathers (bottom) didn’t do well at all when compared to the treated feathers.

Having avoided “sissy” mittens like the plague for the bulk of my life I was introduced to the value of deer-skin “choppers” during the OIF/OEF Veterans Dog Sled with Outward Bound adventure both for long term, enduring warmth and safety while sawing and splitting wood. Now I use them a lot for scouting and other bowhunting related tasks in the late winter cold. While dogsledding the choppers were always wet-through requiring drying around the campfire each evening. I applied the HD product to one mitten according to the directions and left the other untreated. Again, while walking Lexus and Maggie Moo I tried my best to soak them by making snow balls, digging in the snow and rubbing them together with snow in my hands. The untreated one would, indeed, get a little wet, but that was it.

Finally, as with the feathers, I resorted to the kitchen tap. I held each chopper under hot water for 10 seconds and then evaluated the effects. Both were somewhat wet as can be seen in the photograph, but neither was soaked through. The treated chopper repelled the water much better than the untreated chopper. Also, the treated chopper dried much, much quicker than the untreated chopper. My verdict? I’ll be waterproofing the untreated chopper with the HD in short order.

The chopper on the left was treated with Kiwi’s Heavy Duty Water Repellant.

When the temperatures are warmer we like to sit around mid-day or late evening in “bag” chairs at Camp Pug. Whether hunting, planting food plots or just plain visiting the problem comes in when rain and dew soak our chairs. A day of damp trousers and undies sucks. So, I thought I’d try the Performance Protector on a bag chair after applying it according to the directions. In this case I knew I’d have to use the hose for testing as rain was out of the question.

Turns out it was even colder than expected which rendered the hose solidly frozen so I had to rely on a two quart pitcher for water application. The result was much, much better than I anticipated. The untreated chair’s fabric was immediately soaked through – immediately. I was surprised by this result thinking the synthetic fabric would require a good soaking. Not so. On the other hand the treated chair repelled the water very, very well. Guess which one is going to camp with me?

The untreated bag chair soaked up the water like a sponge.

The treated bag chair repelled the water very well.

In summary I am very happy with both products, but I really like the Performance Fabric Protector for its low odor. I’ll be treating my fletching with it before turkey and whitetail seasons. As mentioned before I’ll be treating my other chopper with the rest of the Heavy Duty Water Repellant in short order and I can’t wait to be hanging out at Camp Pug with my waterproof chair – no more damp undies! At about $6.99 per 12-ounce can I heartily recommend both products.

happy hunting, dv

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