Sun Avoidance

[paidal_chalne_vala]

For scrub bashing gloves are very ....handy ;-P

[Watertank]

In hot weather I use a Paramo Katmai shirt, I bought it online. Incredibly light, wicks very well and protects against the sun. Not cheap but wears well and it dries so fast you can wash it and put it back on soon after washing. You may find one in a hut on the Routeburn track in NZ, that is where I left one...!

[cajun]

Something to remember - if the shirt doesn't cast a shadow, it isn't blocking the sun. I have been burnt through very light shirts.

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Okay,

So I'm up and about again after some fairly painful and annoying stomach issues which were hopefully infection related and not more chronic conditions. Hopefully the lactose intolerance is temporary. Still waiting on test results, but managed to get out to the shops.

Shirt
Firstly, I've decided I don't need two. I'll walk in the long sleeve one, and sleep in a thin active wear tshirt. The tshirt will be my backup dry clothing if I get drenched. This way I can keep my dirty clothes away from the expensive sleeping equipment.
The shirt - I ended up with a shimano vented fishing shirt. It's a medium (at least a size bigger than I need), but hopefully that will help keep me cool and won't be too annoying.
It has a huge vented back panel (as can be seen in the photo below with "Wild" magazine rolled up inside to demonstrate), plus has fully vented arms plus small side vents down around kidney height.
I found a Gondwana one at Snowys in their clearance which was lighter, but it wasn't vented as well. It was supposedly UPF50 which was better than the Shimano 30, but I'd imagine the Shimano is actually going to block more sun despite the ratings.
The Shimano fabric is also going to be more tolerant of chaffing with a pack on.
The Shimano also has a stiffer collar which will stay standing up.
Unfortunately I had to get the Shimano shirt at Anaconda, would have preferred a small local family business.

Snowys have an awesome range of small Nalgene bottles, so I picked one up. Am hoping to use this for the deet, but I'll need to do more reading on weather it's up to the job as deet is pretty corrosive stuff for plastics apparently.

Pants - I've decided to stick with convertible shorts/pants for now. The knee sunscreen is then oroce I'll have to pay for comfort here. One day I might revisit this.

Hats - I've looked at lots of places, but nothing so far. Anaconda/BCF etc had some, but the ones with removable flaps at the back were cheap Chinese junk with rubbish stitching. I'll be looking online or heading in to the city to see what I can find.

Sunscreen - will still have face and hands and knees to do, but noticeably less. A 140g tube will now cover my wife and I for seven days rather than one each.

Thanks for the help so far. Keep the hat recommendations coming.

[Flipper Hands]

I too am as fair as the driven snow. If I hike in summer with shorts and T-Shirt I destroy huge quantities of sunscreen.

I am currently using Kathmandu's Clark convertible pants to deal with the leg burn, they regularly go on sale for $90, and I have taken to wearing them to work as well. The Anthracite ones I have have become hugely valuable as they suit pretty much occasion. I go back to short mode as soon as I get a decent sweat up, and apply sun screen then. If you are a hairy bugger like me thats all I need for the day on my legs.

Arm wise I have a few options. Mountain Designs have a long-sleeve vented shirt that I use that can be had for $50 on sale. I also recently added a Kathmandu Fitzroy shirt. It is mad of the same material as their other active base layers, it is long-sleeve, hooded, pit vented, the back is highly breathable. I haven't used it much, 1 multi-day and a couple day walks in mild heat, but so far it has done a fantastic job. The hood does trap a lot of heat (for me), so I reserve that for walking in direct sun, if at all.

Hat wise, I have tried the legionnaire style caps, but heat is a problem again, some have removable flaps to mitigate this, but then you are using a cap. I have also tried various wide brim hats, but they are often hot again, and get in the way on tight trails. Consequently I use a vented baseball cap, it's cool, guarantees I keep the sun out my eyes, is light, and can easily be reversed out of the way if you are in tight stuff. This means sunscreen for neck face and ears.

All in all this setup is light, relatively cool, and I don't take much sunscreen by minimising usage.

[davidf]

I recently bought a king gee long sleeve shirt. They have some "cool" name. Vented pits spf 50, dried fast, light than there normal drill, seems durable. At Lowes.

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

So, a further update:

Today I purchased a Sunday Afternoons Adventure Guide hat from Freak Sports here:

https://www.freaksports.com.au/

It's currently only $35 including free postage.

Here's the online video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egKwhG3mb4g

Reviews seem quite good, only problem seems to be the snaps are plastic rather than metal and can break easily. I'll be very gentle with them, and replace with metal if required.

I've decided to throw away all dignity and cover up as much as I possibly can. My wife may choose to walk 100m behind me when I wear it

I like that the rear flap is vented, the top portion is also vented, and I like that rear flap can be removed (so I can wear it like a baseball cap around camp). By joining the flaps together at the front, it should mean my chest and neck are all protected too.

Feedback to come once it arrives.

[cajun]

SAH - How did the hat work out?