3/4 length rain pants

[Scottyk]

So I had this idea of rather than having full length rain pants that end up being a sweat box when walking in summer I would take an old pair of rain pants and cut them off about half way up the between foot and knee. My idea was that with gaiters the rain would run down the gaiters and I wouldn't get wet.
Anyway tried out my cut off pants for a couple of days in the Tyndall Rage the other day and they worked really well. I was is torrential rain at times and still had dry feet and legs. The best but was that even though I was working quite hard pushing through scrub bands I didn't get too sweaty as the venting around the bottom was more than adequate to get some air flow. Also the cutting grass and such was kept off my legs.
I think this is a really good set up for Tasmania in summer so I did some googling to see if anyone made these things. Turns out the only real manufacturing of them is for cycling and not really suitable for what I wanted.
So i'm going to make myself some out of dyneema gridstop nylon. I'll post some pictures as I go.

Would love to hear if anyone else had used this kind of set up and if you think it is something worth making?

[Mark F]

With experience with Dyneema Gridstop in packs and panniers I would not use it if you want a waterproof fabric. I doubt the proofing will stand up to much use although the fabric is quite durable. This is likely to be true of many nylon fabrics used in packs.

[Scottyk]

With experience with Dyneema Gridstop in packs and panniers I would not use it if you want a waterproof fabric. I doubt the proofing will stand up to much use although the fabric is quite durable. This is likely to be true of many nylon fabrics used in packs.

The quoted HH is 1500mm, I know this isn't really what you would call waterproof but I think good enough.
To be honest when walking if it leaks a little it won't be the end of the world. I would normally just have quick dry shorts under the pants so a bit of moisture isn't really an issue.
Proper water proof rain paints last about a day in scrub so I think the fabric will be a good fit for this.

[Moondog55]

Easy enough to make then double layer, hard wearing on the outside with a more WR layer on the inside; just takes twice as much fabric

[slparker]

I've used the cycling versions over gaiters. Works a treat.